Jan. 25, 2026, 10:31 p.m. CT
OKLAHOMA CITY — Dribbling to his spot, Chet Holmgren went with the stepback mid-range jumper. Before he could even go through his entire shooting motion, Scottie Barnes recovered quickly enough to block the attempt. Down two points with 33 seconds left, OKC’s best chance to tie it up didn’t even get in the vicinity of the rim.
The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped another close one in a 103-101 loss to the Toronto Raptors. Injuries continue to pile up for the reigning NBA champions as they’ve had two straight defeats against opponents they were favored to win.
With mostly the same cast, the short-handed Thunder had much better energy to start. An impressive feat, considering how sparse the OKC crowd was due to the weather and icy roads. They had a 30-25 lead after the first quarter. Lu Dort was in a groove from the jump.
Finally, a good scoring quarter from the depleted Thunder. Feels like those have rarely occurred since the recent string of injuries has bitten them over the last week. The clock struck midnight in the second frame, though. Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC’s offense struggled.
The Thunder only had 20 points in the second frame. They were in a 54-50 deficit at halftime. Despite being mostly healthy, the Raptors were equally incompetent in putting the ball through the hoop. Immanuel Quickley had 12 points to put Toronto up at the break.
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The offense continued to struggle in the second half. Like driving to drive through a foot of snow. Dort couldn’t knock down an outside look on one end. RJ Barrett immediately scored in transition. The Raptors had a 59-52 lead not even three minutes into the third frame.
Enough was enough. Gilgeous-Alexander decided to take over. He led the Thunder to a 13-4 run. That flipped the scoreboard. The reigning MVP took over as he beat Toronto’s defense with quick transition buckets before they could swarm him. His selfish play resulted in 31 points for OKC in the third frame.
After Jamal Shead swished in a last-second 3-pointer, the Thunder had an 81-79 lead over the Raptors through three quarters. That meant we were about to go through another nail-biter. As Gilgeous-Alexander rested, OKC survived the first five minutes.
By the time Gilgeous-Alexander checked in, the Thunder had an 88-86 lead with a little over seven minutes left. Go time for him to take over and drag OKC to the finish line. He eventually gave them a 94-89 lead. A five-point cushion felt like 15, considering how tight the game script played out.
All that momentum slowly evaporated. The Raptors forced the ball out of Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands with constant doubles. They went with the safe bet that nobody else on OKC could step up. It worked out. With under two minutes to go, Quickly made back-to-back 3-pointers to flip the script from the Thunder having a 97-95 lead to suddenly trailing 101-97.
After Holmgren played the hero with a second-chance bucket to make it 101-99, he turned into the scapegoat on OKC’s immediate next possession. He hoped his isolation skills would pay off. Instead, his shot was loudly rejected in what turned out to be their last meaningful possession.
To twist the knife, the Thunder were gifted another shot by the basketball gods. Shead missed a pair of free-throw attempts after being intentionally fouled. Instead of collecting the second miss in a 101-99 game with 13 seconds left, Scottie Barnes collected the game-sealing offensive rebound.
A couple of swished free throws later by Quickley, Isaiah Joe knocked the deep 2-pointer on the final possession to poetically end this stinker. Even when half of their roster was out, it felt like the Thunder let a win slip through their fingers with mental mistakes and breaking down in the clutch once again. They only had 20 points in the final frame.
The Thunder shot 44% from the field and went 11-of-43 (25.6%) from 3. They shot 24-of-31 on free throws. They had 21 assists on 33 baskets. Six Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Gilgeous-Alexander had a quiet 24 points and six assists. Holmgren finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Dort scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Kenrich Williams had 15 points and five rebounds. Joe tallied 10 points. Aaron Wiggins struggled with 11 points.
Meanwhile, the Raptors shot 43% from the field and went 12-of-34 (35.3%) from 3. They shot 17-of-26 on free throws. They had 28 assists on 37 baskets. Six Raptors players scored double-digit points.
Quickley led the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Barnes tallied 10 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Barrett had 14 points and six rebounds. Brandon Ingram struggled with 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting and five rebounds. Sandro Mamukelashvili had 10 points and five rebounds. Gradey Dick scored 10 points.
Well, this feels like a carbon copy of the last game. Opposing teams are being bolder with the blitzes they send toward Gilgeous-Alexander. Especially with the depleted state of OKC’s roster. With two straight games up for grabs, neither saw the ball in the reigning MVP’s hands in the most important possessions. That’s a problem.
To be fair to them, they’ve been dealt some bad cards. Half of your rotation is out with injuries. Reinforcements should help out with some of their offensive woes. Even when that happens, though, you can’t help but feel a little worried or stressed about this recent stretch. Teams used to be frightened to go to OKC. Now, you’re seeing middling and bottom-tier teams come into your gym and get wins.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: B-minus
Grabbing the ball at the left-wing spot, Gilgeous-Alexander slithered his way back to the baseline. Ja’Kobe Walter tried to recover in time. His efforts went to vain. The reigning MVP splashed in the pull-up jumper as OKC was ahead with over five minutes to go. That turned out to be his last shot attempt.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting, six assists and three rebounds. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 8-of-10 on free throws. He also had two blocks and a steal.
At the top of their scouting report, the Raptors went all out at stopping Gilgeous-Alexander. They’d rather put his four teammates in the spotlight. The gamble worked out. While he had an efficient night from the field, he had to put in extra work to get a quality look as Toronto sent multiple defenders at him.
Gilgeous-Alexander sliced through Toronto’s defense. When he got into the paint, he had several layups. Now, the rest of the court was a different story. He seldom went with his mid-range jumper. The Raptors refused to let him get into a flow in those areas of the floor. The rest of the Thunder couldn’t force them to switch up their gameplan with a cold outside shooting game.
And then there’s the fourth quarter. Up by two points when he checked back in, it should’ve been Gilgeous-Alexander’s time to close things out. After all, he’s viewed as one of the clutchest players in the league for his ability to close games out by burying jumpers in front of defenders’ faces.
Instead, Gilgeous-Alexander had one bucket. In eight minutes, he had one shot attempt. That just can’t happen. That falls on the rest of the Thunder. It shouldn’t be rocket science to figure out how to get the ball to his hands. Even with mostly bench players out there. Give credit to Toronto for shutting him out, but this can’t keep happening.
Chet Holmgren: D
Receiving the inbound pass, Holmgren went to work. He went for the mid-range jumper to tie things up in the final seconds. The decision blew up in his face. Slammed in the face with a pie, Barnes nastily rejected his attempt. That shut the door of OKC’s chances.
Holmgren finished with 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 10 rebounds. He shot 0-of-3 from 3 and went 1-of-2 on free throws.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room — that was a bad decision. You don’t have a problem with Holmgren taking a shot in that situation, but it can’t be that. The Thunder would’ve been better off with a five-second violation than that. He’s shown some flair as an isolation scorer this season, but that’s not the time or place to show it off.
Just another puzzling possession in the final seconds. The Thunder have had too many of those in recent weeks. For whatever reason, it feels like calculus to get the ball to Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands when the game is on the line. Maybe you can assign that to personnel, but it’s a bad habit to pick up.
Aside from that humiliating possession, the Thunder needed more from Holmgren. He was quiet all night. You can get away with that most nights. But when your roster is as short-handed as it is right now, you’re not afforded that luxury.
Such is life with Holmgren as an NBA scorer. Some nights, everything clicks together. He can drop an efficient 25 points. Other nights, though, it looks like this. Most of the time, you at least have others pick up the scoring slack. But with how things are right now, you’re not afforded that margin for error.
Lu Dort: A
As three Raptors players swarmed toward Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort was left completely open. Receiving his kick-out pass, he had the entire possession to swish in the textbook corner 3-pointer. The made bucket was enough to get him into a rhythm.
Dort finished with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, eight rebounds and two assists. He shot 4-of-8 from 3 and went 3-of-5 on free throws. He also had two steals.
The high-variance scorer enjoyed some peaks tonight. The outside shot was money. Syphoned plenty of catch-and-shoot looks towards his way, he calmly knocked them down. The scoring was badly needed as he received plenty of the scoring looks up for grabs due to the number of bodies out.
On the other end, Dort played shutdown defense on Ingram. He’s had his number over the years — going all the way back to their 2024 playoff series. Toronto’s prized scorer was mostly irrelevant in this one as he was blanketed by OKC’s best perimeter defender.
Dort had one of his best games on both ends of the floor. He did his part to ensure the Thunder got a win. Such a shame that this was wasted in a loss. There’s an extra level of regret when one of your role players goes off like this and it doesn’t matter because of the final result.
Kenrich Williams: B
Catching the ball at the perimeter, Williams dribbled his way into the paint. He surprised Ingram when he pulled up for the mid-range jumper that rattled in. During this recent stretch of several Thunder players out, the 31-year-old has taken advantage of the uptick in usage.
Williams finished with 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting, five rebounds and one assist. He shot 1-of-7 from 3 and went 6-of-6 on free throws.
Dealing with a short bench, Williams helped the Thunder mostly survive the minutes Gilgeous-Alexander was off the floor. He was part of the fourth-quarter lineup that held its own. Usually just a spot-up guy, you saw him flex his self-creation skills with some drives to the basket. The free-throw trips also reflect that.
The outside jumper hasn’t fallen for him, but Williams was awesome again. He’s shown an ability to play an old-school style of basketball where he can muscle his way to decent looks. The defense remains stellar as OKC did enough on that end to get the win. He’s been a bright spot during this current funk.
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