Last Week: Beat Cleveland Cavaliers 119-101, Lost to Miami Heat 108-94, Beat San Antonio Spurs 102-99, Beat Atlanta Hawks 118-109, Lost to Denver Nuggets 126-96
This Week: 3/3 at Dallas Mavericks, 3/4 at San Antonio Spurs
We regularly focus on the myriad of young talent on the Oklahoma City Thunder, and with good reason. It seems from week to week a different young guy is popping off. However, there has been one constant the entire season and this week he seemed to take his not being named to the All-Star game personally.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was unstoppable this week. He posted a line of 27.4 points, 5.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game with insane shooting splits of .597/.536/.857. Doing everything in one’s power to push a team to victory is no easy task for any player. Seeing a 22-year-old do so is exceptional. Gilgeous-Alexander has clearly benefitted so much from his year of apprenticeship under Chris Paul and has become a star in his own right. While he did not make the All-Star Game this season, the accolades will be his before long.
Without Gilgeous-Alexander, the week would have been a lost one for the Thunder. No other player on the team averaged more than 12.7 points per game this week. It was a down week for Lu Dort (33.3 percent from 3-point range) and Justin Jackson seems to be sliding back out of the rotation. Regardless, the team is not an easy out on most nights, making this one of the more fun losing situations.