Written by Anthony Slater at NewsOK.com
To close the first half, DeMar DeRozan had only a backpedalling Kevin Durant between him and the rim. So he attacked KD’s body, shouldered him out of the way and uncoiled for another of his powerful fastbreak finishes.
But just as he rose, a flying Serge Ibaka entered the fray, spiking DeRozan’s layup into the floor. It bounded to Steven Adams, who handed it to Durant, who dropped in a beautiful touchdown pass for a Russell Westbrook dunk.
Two sure Raptors points morphed into two easy ones for OKC. A would-be nine-point lead was suddenly 13. Four Thunder players were involved in the sequence. But Ibaka created the entire play.
On Monday night, The Thunder won for a season-high eighth straight time: a 119-100 road dismantling of a solid Raptors team.
Westbrook and Durant jerseys peppered the Air Canada Centre stands. And to oohs and ahhs, the headliners delivered. Westbrook tossed up his 16th triple-double of the season with ridiculous ease, finishing with 26 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, while Durant continued his strong all-around play, adding 34 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
But Ibaka’s performance, even with a relatively modest stat-line, stood out most. He finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. But in his 33 minutes, the Thunder outscored Toronto by 39.
“If he plays like that, blocks shots, makes shots, gets out and runs,” Dion Waiters shook his head. “We gonna be hard to stop.”
Fifty-six seconds into the game, Ibaka rose up for an authoritative block on a Jonas Valanciunas dunk, punctuating the tone-setter with a two-thumbs-down celebration. Then a few minutes later, to highlight a 13-2 Thunder run to open the night, Ibaka leaked out on the fastbreak and snagged a high alley-oop feed from Durant and slammed it through.
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