by Matt Pinto

A defining characteristic of the Thunder in this successful season has been their ability to bounce back when beaten. 15-9 in fact is OKC's record the game immediately following a loss. They have an opportunity to up that by a victory this evening in Toronto against the 33-33, playoff hopeful, number 8 Eastern Conference seeded Toronto Raptors. The 41-25 Thunder still occupy the West's number five spot by percentage points over Phoenix.

In this case a recovery and rebound aren't just about the 100-92 setback incurred in Charlotte Wednesday, but how it happened.  Oklahoma City squandered a 19 point late first half lead and was outscored by 16 points in the second half. The game featured an extraordinary 27 point swing. Thunder defense wasn't up to their season long high standards as they allowed 60%FG shooting to the Bobcats following halftime.

Tonight they confront the highest scoring team in the East, the 104.1ppg Raptors. And unlike when OKC dismantled the Chris-Boshless Toronto squad at the Ford Center February 28th 119-99, Bosh, Toronto's five-time All-Star power forward, will play in this one. He hit the game winning baseline jumper in the final two seconds of a one point Rap triumph over Atlanta two nights ago. He's a tremendous talent, averaging 24.0ppg and 11.1rpg, and lifted the Raptors out of a five game skid by virtue of that clutch shot against the Hawks. 

Bosh is joined by a solid offensive core in support featuring Jose Calderon (11.0ppg, 5.8apg), a dazzling play making point guard, perimeter shooting center Andrea Bargnani (17.2ppg) and versatile small forward 6-10 Hedo Turkoglu (12.1ppg, 4.6rpg, 4.2apg) who was a key cog in Orlando's run to the Eastern Conference crown a season ago. Toronto is fourth in the NBA in scoring, fifth in field goal shooting (47.9%) and third in three point accuracy (37.4%). They stress opposing defenses by stretching them out with long range marksmanship.

 While head coach Jay Triano's Raptors are very explosive with the ball, especially at home where they've posted an impressive 23-10 record at the Air Canada Centre, they are mighty suspect defensively yielding a fat 105.9ppg. This could be one of those games in which OKC must relentlessly attack with it's stable of athletes offensively to put up more points than Toronto to navigate back into the win column. The Thunder's ability to keep the Raptors from running up a big point total in transition and knock down a high percentage of their three point hoists will be swaying factors in the outcome as well.