NBA
October 26, 2022

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Puts Up Historic Performance Against Former Team

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made some history after leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 108-94 win over his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers.

SGA put out a historic statline on Tuesday, posting 33 points, five rebounds, and eight assists on 50 percent shooting from the field. He also knocked down two triples and all nine of his free-throw attempts. Gilgeous-Alexander was also a menace on the defensive end, contributing three steals and three blocks to complete his all-around performance.

The two-way dominance SGA produced made him the first player in League history to put up 30+ points, eight-plus assists, three-plus blocks and steals, and go perfect from beyond the arc and the free-throw line.

SGA is averaging 31.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game on 49.3 percent shooting from the field and 38.5 percent from the three-point line. The former Kentucky Wildcat has scored at least 30 points in 12 of his past 16 games dating back to the 2021-22 season.

“I have to play both sides of the court to be the player I want to be. Getting stronger. My conditioning, I’ve worked on a lot,” SGA said, per ClutchPoints, after the Thunder’s first win.

Postgame, Coach Mark Daigneault remarked that he doesn’t have to coach SGA much on anything “other than process-oriented stuff.” Daigneault especially enjoys the fact that he doesn’t have to tell Gilgeous-Alexander when to go into attack mode. He also said SGA and the Thunder are trying to “create — an extremely ruthless consistency” with how they play and trust that their work will lead to guys taking the next step in their development.

“I don’t tell him anything, to be honest with you, other than process-oriented stuff — With guys that have great instincts, you can overcoach them and really mess them up,” Coach Mark Daigneault said, per ESPN. “So I let him make those decisions.”

OKC is set to host the Clippers again on Thursday. It remains to be seen if the Clippers will trot out Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who sat out Tuesday’s loss to the Thunder.

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