Shai Gilgeous-Alexander mean-mugged as he sat on the San Antonio hardwood, his gaze steely, his fists clenched, his arms flexed.
His OKC Thunder teammates offered hands to help him up late in the third quarter, but instead, he slapped their palms in celebration of the shot he’d made and the foul he’d drawn. It was emphatic. It was confident.
So was SGA on Tuesday night.
He was the best player on the court — and it wasn’t particularly close.
Neither was the game.
On the NBA’s opening night, all eyes were on this matchup. Oh, sure, there was a ring ceremony in New York. Yes, there was a first look at LeBron and the Sixers. But Thunder-Spurs was the marquee matchup. These ridiculously young but supremely talented teams are the preseason favorites to win the championship — and as that second-quarter dust-up showed, they aren't favorites of each other — but of course, both being in the Western Conference, they have to go through each other in the playoffs.
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The Spurs got the better of that matchup in last season, but if Tuesday is any indication, a fully healthy Thunder is more than capable of handling Wemby and Co.
The biggest reason for that?
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains the best player in the game.
Now, there is going to come a time when Victor Wembanyama takes that title. He's too good, too unique, too game-changing. Seems way more a case of when, not if he wins MVPs. But Tuesday’s game is Exhibit A that Wemby isn’t there yet.
Wemby’s stat line: 12 points on 1-of-13 shooting (yes, 1 of 13!), 13 rebounds, three assists and six blocks.
SGA’s stat line: 32 points on 13-of-27 shooting, five rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
Gilgeous-Alexander played all night like a man on a mission. Focused. Forceful.
“Obviously, this is the team that eliminated us from achieving our goal,” he said in an on-court post-game interview with NBC after the game. “But for us, I think it was more, we’re just happy to be back.
“It’s a long summer when you don’t win, and we felt that this summer.”
SGA likely felt it on several levels. The two-time reigning MVP ended up carrying a heavy load after Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell went down with injuries, and for much of the Western Conference Finals, Gilgeous-Alexander struggled. His shot was off. His rhythm was, too.
With the exception of Game 7 when he was spectacular, he wasn’t himself.
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On Tuesday, though, he put on the full Shai show, getting to his spots, sliding into the toughest areas, being super efficient while making shots behind the arc and in the midrange and at the rim.
Midway through the second quarter with the Thunder in the midst of what would balloon into a 13-0 run that put the Spurs on their heels for the rest of the night, SGA splashed a jumper from the right elbow that forced the Spurs to take a timeout. He was backpedaling after making the shot, and instead of turning to walk to the bench, he backpedaled all the way to his seat, sat down and leisurely slung his arms over the tops of the chairs.
It was the ultimate I’m-that-dude move.
His swagger infuses the Thunder.
“It’s his poise and his ability to answer the call that allows you to come on the road and perform like that,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Sets a great tone for us as he always has.”
That mentality may have stayed the same, but SGA continues to change his game. Daigneault said that as the team has evolved and matured, the coaches have worked to get Gilgeous-Alexander to different spots. It was an emphasis throughout the preseason.
“And that looked good,” Daigneault said.
You could say that about pretty much everything Gilgeous-Alexander did, and remember, this was the first game of the season. To be thrust into a high-level game right away is no easy task.
But SGA made it look that way.
“This is the game I love,” he said on NBC. “I work hard in the summertime. I come out here and trust my work. It’s that simple. It’s not more complicated than that. I come out here with the utmost confidence because of how hard I work, and I trust it every night.
“And it’s been working for me lately.”
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You could say that after winning a pair of MVP awards and making a resounding statement on opening night that he intends to win a third one. No one wins any awards on the first day of the season, of course, but the head-to-head with Wemby shouldn’t be ignored.
Neither should the way SGA changed the tenor of the game when he was on the court. Four minutes into the fourth quarter, San Antonio had cut the Oklahoma City lead to seven points with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench. He checked in, and immediately the Thunder was on the attack.
Jared McCain hit a three.
Cason Wallace got a steal and a bucket.
Then, SGA punctuated the surge with a jumper from the left elbow.
Even when SGA wasn’t hitting shots, he impacted the game. In the final two minutes, he missed a three, but on the ensuing Spurs possession, he blocked a Stephon Castle drive. Gilgeous-Alexander was originally called for a foul, but Daigneault challenged the call.
When it was announced that SGA had blocked the ball cleanly instead, he nodded his head as he sat on the bench. Then, he punctuated the night, the Thunder’s win and his performance.
He did it with a wink.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shows why he, not Wemby, is NBA's best player | Carlson