How should the Raptors close the season?

From Louis’ piece:

“Barnes was very good. But such things are not the building blocks of efficient team-wide offence. There were misses in there, too. And the Thunder remained a high-octane offence the other way. Oklahoma City’s lead grew and grew. Toronto just couldn’t survive Caruso. He stole the ball away on pick-and-roll passes or on entry passes from the baseline. He finished layups on broken plays. He hit triples. Toronto had a chance whenever it was the more physical team. It simply wasn’t when Caruso was playing. (Caruso’s plus-22 in the game was the only mark that surpassed Barnes’.)

The last time these two teams met, the Raptors out-Thundered the Thunder. This is what they looked like then:

There were moments of winning on the margins that made up the hull of Toronto’s weatherworn boat. Walter — a guard — slipped a screen, caught the ball falling out of bounds, and found Barnes in the dunker spot for a layup. Shead threw a seeing-eye pass to a slipping Mamukelashvili that took an angle I haven’t seen a Raptor point guard attempt since one Kyle Lowry. In the third quarter, he cut baseline on an Ingram post-up, caught it, and slung an immediate behind-the-back pass to Walter for an easy corner triple. Barrett beat three Thunder for an offensive rebound and laid it back in. Those are winning moments from a winning team.

That’s what it takes to beat the champs. Not just beat them. Steal their flow. The Raptors were more Thunder than the Thunder. That reflects exceptionally on everyone, from the coach on down to the stars on down to the role players. This is the type of game that dissuades a front office from making sizeable trades.

The first quarter was a sequel that held up the standard of the beloved original in the series. Toronto fell apart after that, becoming a caricature of itself. (Like most sequels!) Even Darko Rajakovic fell back to bad habits, with a poor challenge in the third quarter on an Ingram charge that took less than a minute to confirm as an offensive foul. Battle committed a flagrant foul. Barnes started to fall for some up-fakes as he chased blocks. Shead missed triples. The Raptors fell apart under the weight of of their own purposes.”