Thunder at Raptors
Oklahoma City’s last visit to Toronto would be hard to match under any circumstance but becomes even harder with reigning MVP Kevin Durant sidelined with a foot injury. The Thunder visit the Raptors on Tuesday and shorthanded Oklahoma City is just a shell of itself with point guard Russell Westbrook (hand) also hurt. The Thunder beat Toronto 119-118 in double-overtime in March as Durant hit a decisive 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left to cap a 51-point performance.
The contest against Oklahoma City begins a stretch in which the Raptors play eight of nine at home. Toronto’s lone loss came against Miami as the Raptors were outrebounded 43-28 during a 107-102 defeat. The Thunder were routed 116-85 at Brooklyn on Monday but did get point guard Reggie Jackson back from an ankle injury and he scored a game-high 23 points.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Oklahoma (Oklahoma City), TSN2 (Toronto)
ABOUT THE THUNDER (1-3): Oklahoma City lost another player to injury in the loss to the Nets when guard Andre Roberson went down with a left foot injury and was ruled out for Tuesday's game. That means the Thunder will be back down to eight players, and point guards Jackson and Sebastian Telfair will be the only available backcourt players. Telfair scored 16 points in 35 minutes against the Nets and made 5-of-10 shots after going 4-for-28 over the first three contests.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (2-1): Guard DeMar DeRozan is just 25 points away from passing Morris Peterson (6,498) for fourth place on the franchise’s points scored list. The high-scoring guard also isn’t far behind third-place Andrea Bargnani (6,581) but still has a lot of baskets to make to catch up with second-place Vince Carter (9,420) and first-place Chris Bosh (10,275). DeRozan averaged 25 points in two games against Oklahoma City last season while point guard Kyle Lowry averaged 23.5 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The teams split two meetings last season.
2. Oklahoma City SF Perry Jones is averaging 23.7 points over the last three games.
3. Toronto F Amir Johnson (left ankle) is questionable.