Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has more 50-point games in the last 40 days than Shaquille O’Neal had in his 19-year career. To put it another way, SGA has recorded as many 50 burgers since the debut of “Severance” Season 2 as Klay Thompson did through three presidential terms.
Monday night’s 51-point performance in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win over the Houston Rockets crested a 19-game heater that has vaulted Gilgeous-Alexander to the front of the MVP conversation. Zooming out even further, this stretch cements his status as one of the best 1 on 1 scorers in the game and will most certainly live on as a memorable snapshot of his career.
Did I say one of the best? I meant the best.
Gilgeous-Alexander is an elite offense unto himself. Mark Daigneault is a gifted coach, but he doesn’t have to be with SGA at the wheel. “Pass the ball to Tucker” could be all the direction they need. Put the rock in Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands, clear out and let him go to work. The rest will come.
The Thunder are scoring at least one point on 51.4% of Gilgeous-Alexander’s 6.9 isolation possessions per game, per Synergy.
Only 2017-18 James Harden – one of the greatest offensive seasons in league history – and 2022-23 Luka Doncic have come close to that figure on that volume over the last 10 years.
Player | Season | Isolation Poss | Score Freq % |
|---|---|---|---|
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 2024-25 | 7.0 | 51.3% |
Luka Doncic | 2023-24 | 7.3 | 47.9% |
Luka Doncic | 2022-23 | 7.1 | 50.5% |
James Harden | 2021-22 | 7.6 | 43.8% |
James Harden | 2020-21 | 8.0 | 46% |
James Harden | 2019-20 | 14.1 | 44.8% |
James Harden | 2018-19 | 16.4 | 44.3% |
James Harden | 2017-18 | 10.0 | 51% |
James Harden | 2016-17 | 6.8 | 41.1% |
James Harden | 2015-16 | 6.9 | 41.5% |
But Harden and Gilgeous-Alexander are doing it differently. Harden found loopholes on his way to his historic numbers, using a parade of step-back 3s as a means to game the math.
Gilgeous-Alexander is throwback. Nearly three-fourths of SGA’s field goal attempts come from within the arc. He does a lot of his work in the mid-range. Every once in a while, he’ll uncork an expert Kobe Bryant impression, but his go-to move is to lower his shoulders and accelerate, then hit the breaks and step back into a middy jumper while the defender is still spinning. Defending Gilgeous-Alexander is like trying to catch a salmon with cooked spaghetti for chopsticks.
But SGA has been doing that for a long time and never notched a 50-point game until this recent stretch. Now, he’s added the pull-up 3-pointer to his toolbox. That sound you hear is NBA defenses screaming in panic.
Gilgeous-Alexander has extended his plane to the 3-point arc, making it even more difficult to contain him.
This has been his most dramatic area of improvement. Gilgeous-Alexander shot 35.6% on 2.6 pull-up 3-point attempts per game last season. He doubled the volume this season, but the efficiency didn’t improve (35.1% on 4.6 attempts).
That is, until this recent stretch. Since his first 50-point game, Gilgeous-Alexander has made 42.5% of his 3.8 pull-up 3-point attempts per game.
“If you look at his growth year over year, 3-point shooting is definitely there,” Daigneault said. “If you look where he was a year ago, it’s amazing how much improvement he’s made despite being an elite player, an MVP candidate, a year ago.”
This isn’t a blip. All of the statistical markers indicate that Gilgeous-Alexander is an improved 3-point shooter. His overall percentage is up along with his volume, and his free throw percentage is higher than his career average. He’s made 100 3s in a season for the first time in his career.
At 26, Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as one of the NBA’s best players. He’s the rightful favorite for MVP, and his on/off metrics rival the territory Nikola Jokic has dominated by himself for the past half-decade.
The Thunder are an awesome team, but Gilgeous-Alexander is the reason why they are the favorites to come out of the West. A singular offensive talent plus an elite team defense is a championship formula as old as the league itself.
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NBA news roundup
- With a 3-pointer in the first quarter of the Lakers win over the Pelicans, LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to record 50,000 combined points for his career in the regular season and postseason.
- Kevin Durant scored 19 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Suns from 19 points down to start the fourth quarter to a dramatic win 119-117 over the Clippers.
- Ja’Kobe Walter, the 19th pick in June’s draft, made a tough 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds to go to push the Raptors over the Magic. Paolo Banchero scored 22 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Magic back before ultimately falling short.
Is the Lakers defensive dominance sustainable?
Since the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic early last month, much of the discourse has centered around how Doncic and LeBron James have clicked on the offensive end. But going relatively unnoticed is the dominance of the Lakers defense.
The Lakers have had the NBA’s top-rated defense since Feb. 1 – a stretch of 14 games in which they went 14-2 and soared up to second in the Western Conference standings.
Despite the failure to add a rotation center before the trade deadline and shaky defenders throughout the rotation, coach JJ Redick has his team playing a committed style of defense. A look under the hood will reveal some numbers that might not be sustainable, but the characteristics of a top-10 defense should.
Here are a few stats that should be sustainable and some that won’t be.
Unsustainable: Since Feb. 1, opponents are making 32.1% of their 3s against the Lakers, the second-lowest mark in the NBA during that span and well below the league average. That includes 28.8% on corner 3s. Opponents will start making more shots.
Sustainable: Opponents are scoring just 45.9 points in the paint against the Lakers in this stretch. That’s the fifth-best mark in the league. Despite the lack of a bona fide rim protector, the Lakers make up for it with length across all positions. They pack the paint on drives and try to force a kickout. Jaxson Hayes has been better than expected.
Sustainable: The Lakers rank first in transition defense in that time. Players like Jarred Vanderbilt, who is back from a lengthy injury recovery, fly down the court in transition. Dorian Finney-Smith is also one of the best. James and Doncic have a renewed pep in their step. Doncic even did a good Draymond Green impression in Tuesday night’s game against the Pelicans to break up a 2 on 1.
Lucky 3-point shooting accounts for a large part of the Lakers defensive dominance, but the controllables (protecting the paint, transition defense and decent opponent shot quality) suggest they should still be a top-10 performing unit even when opponents start making their outside shots.