Try as they might, the Oklahoma City Thunder could not slow down Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan on Wednesday.
DeRozan scored 37 points as Toronto broke through the Thunder’s stifling defense to hand them their first home loss of the season with a 112-102 victory at the Chesapeake Energy Center arena.
“You have to have toughness to go against this team,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of the Thunder. “This is one of the toughest teams in the league. Billy [Donovan] has created a team that is hard-nosed; a tough place to play.”
Photo: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY
“You have to have a strong constitution to be able to come in here and compete with the Thunder,” Casey said.
That answer came in the form of DeRozan, who made 13 of 22 shots from the field and 11 of 15 from the free-throw line as he scored a game-high 37 in front of a crowd of 18,200.
DeRozan has been on an impressive run. Heading into Wednesday’s game, the 27-year-old guard out of the University of Southern California was averaging 33.7 points on 52 percent shooting this season.
DeRozan was averaging more than nine free-throw attempts per game, which is putting opposing defenses on their heels.
Kyle Lowry had 19 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds for Toronto. Patrick Patterson came off the bench to score 13 points.
“A couple of guys started knocking down shots,” DeRozan said. “We’re going to continue to get better.”
“The key was just continue to get stops and give ourselves the best opportunity to get good looks,” he said. “As long as we did that, we felt like we had a great chance.”
Russell Westbrook nearly matched DeRozan, scoring 36 points for the Thunder.
In Los Angeles, Blake Griffin finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds and five assists as the first-placed Los Angeles Clippers rolled over the Portland Trail Blazers 111-80.
It was the largest margin of victory by the Clippers over the Trail Blazers.
Chris Paul scored 19 points and handed out seven assists as the Clippers improved to 7-1. They won their fourth in a row and lead the Western Conference.
“Everybody’s happy. We want to see each other excel and succeed out there, and it’s cool to see because we have such a deep team this year, and everybody’s here for one reason,” Clippers player DeAndre Jordan said. “When everybody’s on the same page like that, it’s fun to play basketball that way.”
No Portland starter reached double figures. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum finished with eight points apiece.
“We didn’t make it hard on them at all offensively,” Lillard said. “We did a lot of things wrong and the score shows it.”
In San Antonio, Texas, James Harden scored 24 points and dished out 15 assists to lead five Houston players in double figures as the Rockets held on for a 101-99 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Harden also had 12 rebounds, giving him his first triple-double of the season. Leonard hit a step-back jumper to cut the advantage to 101-99 late in the game.
Harden then missed a three-pointer, while Leonard failed to put away a jump shot.
Harden had the ball with 27 seconds remaining to try to expand the advantage. He drove into the paint, but was called for a charge, giving the Spurs a final shot for the victory with 5 seconds to go.
The Spurs got the ball to Leonard, who drove the lane. His layup was contested and bounced off the rim.
In Oakland, California, Klay Thompson scored 18 of his 20 points in the first eight minutes of the game as the Golden State Warriors spoiled homecomings for Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut with a 116-95 rout of the undermanned Dallas Mavericks.
Facing the Warriors for the first time since leaving as a free agent in the off-season, Barnes matched his best points total at the Oracle Arena with 25. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
Bogut, who was dealt to Dallas in a cost-cutting move by Golden State in July, was one of six Mavericks either being rested or out injured.
“I wish we had gotten a win, but I’m proud of how we fought,” Barnes said.
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