Canadian superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made his return to his hometown of Toronto, Thursday night when the Thunder took on the Raptors. Oklahoma City came into this game holding the top spot in the western conference with a record of 16-5, and coming off a win against Utah on Tuesday. OKC is looking like one of the best young teams in the league, and after a conference semi finals appearance last season the Thunder are looking to go on an even deeper playoff run this year and SGA will be leading the way all season long.

Toronto is looking to also continue their winning streak after winning two in a row against Miami and Indiana. Fellow Toronto native RJ Barrett has been on an absolute tear at home, averaging over 30 points per game and has been the main scoring option for the team all season long. With Scottie Barnes returning from injury and continuing to put up big numbers as well, Toronto hopes to stop the Thunder in their tracks and pull off a massive upset.

The Raptors would be undermanned in this game however, with big man Jakob Poeltl sitting out with an illness, Bruno Fernando would slide into the starting center spot for the Raps, having to be tasked with guarding one of the new acquisitions to this young and dynamic Thunder squad in Isiah Hartenstein. OKC’s interior defense is one of their strong suits when it comes to their playstyle, never letting anything easy come around the rim for opponents and their hustle on the glass comes both on the defensive and offensive side.

Only a couple of minutes into the second quarter and OKC had already recorded nine blocks in the game compared to Toronto’s four, and the Thunder had accumulated a lead of 41-19. The dominance continued throughout the entire game as Oklahoma City was able to stroll to a 129-92 victory.

Key players of the game for OKC were SGA who tallied 30 points and Hartenstein who grabbed 16 rebounds. An overall impressive performance for the entire Thunder team, as their bench depth and defense really showed out against Toronto. Raptors GM Masai Ujiri while on broadcast talked about the team during their rebuild and simply said, “this team is going to be something, I truly believe this team will be something.” The journey back to being a contender seems like a long one looking at this team so far this season, but Masai always has the upmost faith in his team and always knows to trust the process.

OKC will continue their road trip on Saturday when they head to New Orleans to play the Pelicans on December 7, and the Raptors will defend their home floor for the next two games as they take on the Mavericks on Saturday and the New York Knicks on Monday, December 9.