THE Oklahoma City Thunder aim to extend their winning streak to four games Friday against the undermanned Toronto Raptors.
Chet Holmgren had 35 points and 14 rebounds Wednesday night as the Western Conference-leading Thunder (48-20) beat the visiting Utah Jazz 119-107.
The Raptors (23-46), meanwhile, lost their eighth straight game Wednesday, 123-89 to the visiting Sacramento Kings. Immanuel Quickley (personnel) was added to the Raptors’ long list of sidelines on Wednesday.
The Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, born in Toronto and originally from Hamilton, Ontario, will enter Friday’s game in Canada having scored 31 points and seven assists against the Jazz.
Gilgeous-Alexander became the 13th player in NBA history to score 30 or more points 50 times in a single season. He is the fifth to do so in the last 35 seasons, joining Michael Jordan (twice), James Harden, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady.
Holmgren scored 18 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, as the Thunder led by four points entering the final period before starting to pull away.
“It’s tough to run on makes,” said Jalen Williams, who scored 18 points for the Thunder. “I think we collectively came up with some big stops. … From there, (the Jazz) are kind of on their heels. Offensively, we’re in a flow. It goes downhill from there.”
“Credit Utah, they really competed tonight. I thought they were the more physical team after the first six minutes of the game, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said: “Credit Utah, and that really got us put to a test.”
Oklahoma City trailed 61-57 early in the third but used an 11-0 run to take a 68-61 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 points in the third quarter.
“I think in the second half we showed good perseverance,” Daigneault said. “We tried to step it up on the defensive end. The game didn’t open up right away for us, but we kept going, and then that group to start the fourth quarter really fired up the rest of the game .”
Holmgren was present inside with three blocked shots and his 14 rebounds.
“Some shots didn’t fall from the outside, but we did a good job of not just saying, ‘We’re a team that’s going to win when we make shots,'” Holmgren said. “We found other ways to open the game and come out on top at the end.”
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic believes his team still has a good attitude despite the difficulties.
“It’s just a desire to do better,” Rajakovic said. “Everyone is eager to perform better, to compete better. Many players are playing outside of their role and what they are not used to.
“And no one expects this group to be anything that they’re not, but they really have to be stars in their roles. They have to do little things for each other and that’s really going to help them to perform better and be competitive in all these games.”
Gary Trent Jr. scored 18 points Wednesday for the Raptors, who have lost 10 of their last 11 games.
Quickley was added to the list of missing players that includes Scottie Barnes (hand), Jakob Poeltl (finger), RJ Barrett (personal), Chris Boucher (knee) and DJ Carton (ankle).
“When you go through situations like this, it takes time and it doesn’t happen overnight,” Rajakovic said. “And we had a few games where we were very competitive against good teams. Tonight, that wasn’t the case.
“We also missed Immanuel Quickley, adding to the roster, and then during the game we also lost Jontay Porter (illness). We’re like we’re going down the stretch and, you know, we’re pretty thin right now. moment. “
–Field level media
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