Shai Gilgeous-Alexander couldn’t help leading his team to another victory. With this loss, the Oklahoma City Thunder is now level with the Denver Nuggets in the regular-season series at two wins apiece.
Gilgeous-Alexander pointed fingers at the OKC defense for pushing them towards a 127-140 loss on Monday at their home court.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Aims at the Lackluster Thunder Defense for the Loss Against the Nuggets
Gilgeous-Alexander has been on a tear all season long and is considered a favorite to win the MVP accolades. However, at Paycom Center on Monday, the point guard only scored 25 points, 3 rebounds, and 7 assists in 36 minutes.
Mark Daigneault commended the Nuggets defense for limiting Gilgeous-Alexander’s output on the court in the post-game press conference. However, the 26-year-old refuted his HC’s claims as he took to the podium.
“I don’t know, I think we saw Minnesota did the same thing when we blew the lead,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. So, I feel like I’ve seen it before. Yeah, it did it felt similar to that I didn’t feel too different. Now both of the instances we didn’t handle it great but yeah, we’ll go to the drawing board try to be better.”
The three-time NBA All-Star highlighted to the reporters that once a team leaks 140 points, the offense’s job of winning the match becomes extremely tough.
“Their whole offense just seemed in a better rhythm. It feels like we were less disruptive. They got to their spots. They just looked comfortable, and when you give good players comfort, they have nights like this.”
Oklahoma’s seven-game winning streak got devasted on Monday, but the Thunder still leads the Western Conference with a 53-12 record. They have the second-best record in the NBA this season, only trailing behind the Eastern Conference’s table toppers the Cleveland Cavaliers.
SEE MORE: Nikola Jokić Gets a Harsh Reality Check on MVP Race Against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Despite the Loss Gilgeous-Alexander Leads the Race to Win MVP
The NBA regular season has only 1 month of action left, and the MVP race has also narrowed down to two candidates. OKC’s Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokic.
While Jokic outperformed Gilgeous-Alexander in their latest meeting, the OKC guard is still ahead of the Nuggets big man in the MVP ladder.
Shai is currently averaging 32.7 points, 6.2 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 52.5% from the field, 37.3% from beyond the arc, and 90.0% from the free-throw line.
It would be quite interesting to see if Jokic manages to win the award for the fourth time in his career, or if SGA manages to beat him to it while leading Oklahoma to the playoffs.