Shai

Gilgeous-Alexander

In a two-man race for the NBA’s most prestigious regular season award, SGA emerged victorious behind averages of 32.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.7 steals, 1.0 block and 2.1 triples. He shot 51.9 percent from the floor, 89.8 percent from the charity stripe and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. Gilgeous-Alexander powered Oklahoma City to the NBA’s best record with a franchise-high 68 wins and the top seed in the Western Conference. SGA finished as fantasy’s third ranked player on a per-game basis behind only Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama.

Gilgeous-Alexander struggled in the first half, but the Thunder only trailed by four points. In the second half, he erupted with 20 points on 14 shots, four rebounds and five assists. The Thunder won the third quarter by 14 and the fourth quarter by 16. The overwhelming favorite for this year’s MVP award was electric in the second half as the Thunder put Game 1 away at home. Oklahoma City is now three wins away from reaching the NBA Finals with Game 2 on Thursday.

After scoring 32 points in Game 6, Gilgeous-Alexander was three better in Sunday’s decisive Game 7. Scoring efficiently, the Thunder star leads the league with seven games of 30 points or more in these playoffs. Gilgeous-Alexander will look to add to his tally when the Thunder host the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday.

SGA carried the offensive load for OKC once again in this game, but he didn’t get much help from his teammates. Gilgeous-Alexander has been unstoppable for most of this series, outside of Game 3. He has scored at least 30 points in four of the six games in this series, and this was his highest-scoring performance in Denver this season. They’ll return home for Game 7 on Sunday. In a matchup between the two MVP candidates, expect SGA to be aggressive early on and have a monster performance.

Gilgeous-Alexander did it all for the Thunder on Tuesday, taking on the roles of scorer and facilitator while remaining active on the defensive end along the way. Most importantly, he was key in the final handful of blows that Oklahoma City dealt Denver down the stretch in what ended up being a dominant 34-19 fourth quarter for the Thunder. Gilgeous-Alexander, an MVP finalist, delivered his third 30-point game of the series and will have a chance on Thursday to produce his fourth as the Thunder try to eliminate the Nuggets.

It wasn’t a flawless performance from SGA, but it was enough to tie this series up at two games and help OKC regain homecourt advantage. Gilgeous-Alexander scored nine of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, and the Thunder outscored Denver by 11 points in the final frame. With the series tied, it will be a best-of-three mini-series moving forward to advance to the Western Conference Finals, with two of those games in Oklahoma City. Game 5 will be on Tuesday, and SGA will have to continue to lead the way for the Thunder to win this series.

Game 3 was interesting, as both MVP candidates struggled with their shots. After recording 30-point games in the first two games of this series, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 31.8 percent from the field and was 1-of-6 from beyond the arc. The good news for the Thunder is that nights like Friday have been far from the norm for SGA, so it’s fair to expect him to bounce back on Sunday. However, Denver’s Christian Braun deserves credit for the effort he put forth defensively to give the Nuggets a 2-1 series lead.

Aside from Game 4 against Memphis, SGA hasn’t been his typical uber-efficient self during the playoffs so far. Well, that changed in Game 2, which contributed to a dominant win for Oklahoma City. This was his fourth straight 30-point game, and that helped OKC bounce back from a two-point loss in Game 1. He only played 30 minutes and sat the entire fourth quarter, but SGA did plenty of damage when he was on the floor. The series will now shift to Denver, and OKC will need to win a road game to retake homecourt advantage in this series. Game 3 will be on Friday.

Gilgeous-Alexander had a big night at the office, recording a complete stat line and surpassing the 30-point mark for the third straight game. Unfortunately for him and the Thunder, the MVP favorite’s performance was not good enough to get Oklahoma City the victory. While SGA has not been a prolific three-point shooter, he’s struggled during the postseason. After shooting 7-of-28 from beyond the arc in four games against the Grizzlies, he was only 2-of-6 in Monday’s series opener. Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will attempt to even the series at one game all on Wednesday.

After being held in check during Game 1, Gilgeous-Alexander steadily found his groove as the Thunder swept the Grizzlies. Three-point shooting remains an issue, as he was 1-of-4 on Saturday, but the MVP candidate was at his best in the mid-range. Add in 13 free throw attempts, and the Grizzlies were unable to slow down Gilgeous-Alexander. Next up for Oklahoma City is the winner of the Denver/LA Clippers series.