Shai Gilgeous-Alexander breaks 40-point mark for 1st time in career in win over Spurs
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may have said his All-Star snub didn’t give him a chip on his shoulder, but he chose a rather auspicious time to have a career game.
The day after All-Star teams were announced — and Gilgeous-Alexander was left off — the Oklahoma City Thunder guard posted 42 points against the San Antonio Spurs in victory, the first time in his career he has reached the 40-point mark.
He scored 21 points in the third quarter alone to help the Thunder take the lead into the final quarter. They — Lu Dort specifically — closed it out for a 102-99 win.
Head coach Mark Daigneault was particularly impressed with Gilgeous-Alexander’s game management on Wednesday. That may sound odd. Normally, when elite offensive players are game managers, it’s more in the mold of Chris Paul: A player who may not score a lot, but can keep the offense flowing effectively and then take over come crunch time.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s box score on Wednesday shows the opposite. He blew up the game log. He had half the Thunder’s points after three quarters and was generally unstoppable, finishing 13-for-20 from the field and making 10 of 11 free throws.
Yet he was doing more than scoring the ball. Gilgeous-Alexander was finding teammates and picking his opportunities wisely.
“The thing that’s been most impressive has been how he’s matured as a game manager and how he’s finding a balance between his own offense and helping the team function,” Daigneault said. “Tonight, even with an explosion of points, he continued to do that and he didn’t get seduced by the points on the board.”
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with four assists, a number center Al Horford said looks lower than how he actually played.
“He was distributing a lot, he was passing a lot, he was making the right plays, and he probably should’ve had more assists, but his passes led to assists a lot of the time,” Horford said. “I can’t say enough about how impressed I was with how he managed the game tonight. He took what the defense gave him.”
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points on only 20 shots. He only attempted three in the fourth quarter as he picked his spots.
“What makes Shai special is … he’s not a guy that’s chasing accolades, he’s not chasing status. He’s not chasing those sorts of things when he’s in the heat of battle,” Daigneault said.
“He probably could’ve tried to force and get 50 tonight, and instead he took what the defense gave him all the way throughout the game.”
Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t even totally aware of his points total while on the court.
“I wouldn’t have known how much I had if my teammates weren’t telling me,” he said. “Big nights are huge, but personally, if we didn’t win tonight, I wouldn’t feel close to what I feel right now.”
So Gilgeous-Alexander is not an All-Star, and he isn’t the injury replacement for Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, but he’s setting himself up for those accolades in the future.
“Does it yield an All-Star appearance this year? No. But is he winning the long game, is he developing and winning moxie as a lead guard by doing that? Absolutely, and I give him a lot of credit for his restraint and his ability to see big picture with those things,” Daigneault said.
