The Oklahoma City Thunder will be striving to prolong their winning streak to four games on Friday as they clash with the shorthanded Toronto Raptors.

Putting up 35 points and 14 rebounds on Wednesday evening, Chet Holmgren guided the Western Conference leaders, the Thunder (48-20), to a 119-107 triumph over the Utah Jazz.

On the other hand, the Raptors (23-46) suffered their eighth consecutive defeat on Wednesday, falling 123-89 to the Sacramento Kings while dealing with the absence of Immanuel Quickley (personal), who joined the growing list of sidelined Raptors.

Canada-born Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, hailing from nearby Hamilton, Ont., enters Friday’s matchup after a stellar performance of 31 points and seven assists against the Jazz.

Having achieved the feat of scoring 30 points or more in a single season for the 50th time, Gilgeous-Alexander cemented his name as the 13th player in NBA history to do so. He joins an elite group of players such as Michael Jordan (twice), James Harden, Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady by accomplishing this within the last 35 seasons.

Holmgren’s remarkable contribution of 18 points in the fourth quarter played a significant role as the Thunder surged ahead amidst a close game.

“It’s hard to run on makes,” said Jalen Williams, who scored 18 points for the Thunder. “I think we just collectively got a couple big stops. … From there, (the Jazz) are kind of on their heels. Offensively, we’re in a flow. It just goes down from there.”

Said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault: “Credit Utah, they really competed tonight. I thought they were the more physical team after the first six minutes of the game, and that really tested us.”

Trailing 61-57 early in the third quarter, Oklahoma City engineered an 11-0 run to establish a 68-61 lead, with Gilgeous-Alexander contributing 15 points during the period.

“I thought in the second half we showed good persistence,” Daigneault said. “We tried to amp it up on the defensive end. The game didn’t open up for us right away, but we kept at it, and then that group to start the fourth quarter really ignited the rest of the game.”

In addition to his 14 rebounds, Holmgren’s defensive prowess was highlighted with three timely blocks inside the paint.

“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 up the game and pull away at the end.”

Despite the recent struggles, Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic commended his team’s positive mindset.

“It’s just a desire to do better,” Rajakovic said. “Everybody’s eager to perform better, to compete better. A lot of players are playing outside of their roles and something they’re not accustomed to.”

“And nobody’s expected from this group to be something that they’re not, but they really got to be stars in their roles. They got to do small things for each other and that’s going to really help them to perform better and to be competitive in all of those games.”

Gary Trent Jr. made a notable contribution with 18 points in Wednesday’s game, amidst the Raptors’ challenging phase, where they have lost 10 of their last 11 matches.

Furthermore, the Raptors faced additional setbacks with Quickley’s absence, alongside key players like Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett, Chris Boucher, and D.J. Carton on the injury list.

“When you’re going through situations like this, it takes time and it’s not happening overnight,” Rajakovic said. “And we had a couple of games that we were very competitive against good teams. Tonight, that was not the case.”

“We missed Immanuel Quickley as well, adding to the list and then during the game we lost Jontay Porter (illness) as well. We’re just like going down the stretch and just, you know, we’re pretty thin right now.”