“When one of your best offensive players is one of your best defensive players, it’s huge,” Thunder rookie centre Chet Holmgren mentioned post-game Saturday. “He actually ignites us on each ends together with his power, and particularly in that time beyond regulation interval, he had an enormous cease that ended up main to 2 factors and actually breaking the sport out.
“It’s huge having Shai out there, doing what he’s doing, and we really feed off that.”
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 factors within the second half, together with 10 in time beyond regulation the place the Thunder outscored the Warriors 13-6. Oklahoma City had come again from down 18 factors within the third quarter with a 22-6 run, paced by Gilgeous-Alexander’s 15 factors within the body.
“That’s Shai. He’s one-on-one at the top of the key, he’s really tough and they’ve got shooters everywhere,” Golden State head coach Steve Kerr mentioned Saturday. “You try to throw a few different things at him but he made tough shots.”
Oklahoma City gained back-to-back video games over Warriors at San Francisco’s Chase Center on Thursday and Saturday and took the season sequence 2-1. Oklahoma City had gained simply one in all its previous 11 contests towards the Warriors courting again to 2020-21 earlier than Thursday’s win.
Gilgeous-Alexander additionally displayed his team-first angle late in Saturday’s sport.
He was the screener on the game-tying play in regulation that was drawn for Holmgren, who nailed a three-pointer to ship it time beyond regulation. It was the kind of second that led Oklahoma City head coach Mark Daigneault to calling Gilgeous-Alexander a “luxury.”
“Shai’s first-team all-NBA last year, he’s an all-star but he’s got the humility and the perspective to go in there and execute the play and try to get his teammate a shot and he did,” Daigneault mentioned.
“I can’t overstate how much of a luxury that is to have a guy that’s got the, like I said, the humility and perspective that you can draw a play for a rookie in that situation and he just goes out there and executes it.”
For Gilgeous-Alexander, it’s merely about building a winner.
“It’s how you become a winning basketball team,” he mentioned. “I know that, all the guys on the team know that. It’s something that we focus on every day. Every day we come into film and that’s one of the boxes we try to check — did we play to our identity and within the team offensively and defensively?
“And the days that we do so are a plus for us, the days that we don’t, we learn from them and we try to get better for the next game.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 29.6 factors — good for sixth within the NBA a 12 months after ending fourth — 6.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists per sport this season.
WIGGINS BREAKS THROUGH
Andrew Wiggins has had a troublesome begin to the 2023-24 season.
The 10-year veteran from Thornhill, Ont., has solely averaged 12.0 factors and three.9 rebounds per sport on 42.9 per cent taking pictures from the sphere, and a career-worst 22.2 per cent from three-point vary. His area aim share is the second worst of his profession and lowest since 2018-19.
While he stays a key cog in Golden State’s rotation, offering strong defensive presence on the wing, his offensive manufacturing has matched the hunch the Warriors have been on. Golden State was on a six-game dropping streak earlier than incomes a 121-116 win over Houston Monday evening.
However, he managed to have a season-best efficiency towards the Thunder on Saturday, scoring 31 factors on 12-of-19 taking pictures and going 5-of-8 from distance.
Wiggins hit 4 fourth-quarter three-pointers, with the final giving the Warriors a 117-114 lead with 1.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Wiggins had solely hit 5 three-pointers this season earlier than Saturday’s sport.
“The ball went in the hoop,” Kerr mentioned. “You know, he played great, he knocked down shots, but he was also really good defensively.
“I thought Wiggs was fantastic and great to see him breakout after a slow start to the season.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Nov. 21, 2023.
Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
