SUMMARY
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ready to move onto Games 3 and 4 despite a tragic loss against the Mavericks at home.
- SGA was fairly surprised by Luka Doncic's dominance despite putting up a below average stat line.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has finally met his match in the post-season after going 5-0 at the start. The Oklahoma City Thunder had a fairly disappointing run against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2. Unfortunately, OKC simply couldn’t shoot the ball well going 10-30 from deep. Dallas did a fairly good job at restricting the Thunder from heaving three-pointers, which happens to be one of their biggest strengths.
After struggling to produce over the last five games, Luka Doncic finally had some good moments shooting 5-8 from deep after putting up only 16.3% in his last few appearances. Even then, 29 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals is a very average game for the 5x NBA All-Star. SGA, who finished second in the MVP voting ahead of Doncic seemed surprised by the Slovenian’s performance.
“He had a big night and it was below his average believe it or not. He’s a really talented basketball player. I think it’s more like just making him work for everything, making things tough. He’s seen every coverage, every defense. Just by making him work, and hopefully, that wears on him,” he said. Doncic barely had any backup from Kyrie Irving, who finished with 8 points. However, PJ Washington and the Mavericks’ bench tallied for 59 points in total.
Luka Doncic left Shai Gilgeous-Alexander quite surprised with his “below average” performance
Despite the upsetting loss, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his head held high. During the post-game press conference he said, “No matter what’s thrown at us, we compete; we give it our all. We do it together and we see where it gets us. That’s what we’ve done all year and that’s what we’re gonna continue to do.” This is the first time OKC has faced true adversity in the playoffs coming off an impressive sweep against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round.
SGA finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal. OKC’s bench unit could have done far better and it was what they needed to stay alive in the game. They scored a total of 30 points and Chet Holmgren also struggled to produce on the scoring end finishing 11 points on 4-12 shooting.
The Mavericks destroy OKC’s incredible five-game defensive streak
The post-season is far more competitive than the regular season and OKC certainly dominated in all 82 games. However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had some struggles averaging only 28.5 points per game. SGA had the most 30-point games during the regular season with 51. However, he’s only scored 30 or more points twice in the post-season. OKC has been relying on their defense a lot more these days.
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The Thunder have only allowed opponents an average of 90.6 points per game leading the league in points allowed this post-season. But the Mavericks came out with blazing guns to break the Thunder’s impressive defensive streak. Dallas scored 119 points making it the first time OKC has allowed a team to tally over 100 points in the playoffs.