Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the hearts of his teammates and even some of them.
The Thunder guard scored 33 points to lead the Thunder to a commanding 124-92 victory on his home court and a 2-0 series lead over the Pelicans on Wednesday night.
While being interviewed by TNT’s Allie LaForce after the game, Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammate Chet Holmgren talked about not only how much the star means to the team, but who will be the NBA’s MVP this season. He said he should get it.
Holmgren literally grabbed the TNT microphone and delivered a monologue praising Gilgeous-Alexander’s performance.
“One more thing I’d like to say, he’s too humble to say it, but this is the MVP here, the MVP of the league,” said Holmgren, who had 26 points himself. “He won’t say it, so I’ll say it for him.”
Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander shrugged off Holmgren’s high praise.
But it was another MVP-worthy performance for the two-time All-Star, scoring 17 of his 33 points in the second half and adding five assists and three rebounds.
And this was after he led the way with a team-high 28 points during the Game 1 win.
Game 2 was a historic night for the entire Thunder. The Thunder became the first team in NBA history to have all of their playoff games won by players under the age of 25. According to OptaStats.
It was a magical regular season watching him. average He averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per game, helping lead Oklahoma City to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a 57-25 record.
He is a finalist for the regular season MVP award, along with the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic and the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic.
If Holmgren were in charge of voting, Gilgeous-Alexander would win by a landslide.
