It felt scripted. It felt like the protagonist was going to somehow, some way, prevail.
That was the sentiment shared by everyone inside Paycom Center, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did a lap around the court with three fingers held high. A team security staffer trailed closely just in case any fans became too bold, but his services weren't needed. The two-time reigning MVP had plot armor, after all.
On a Thursday night when his shots hadn't fallen, Gilgeous-Alexander improbably reached 17 points with his latest triple. He was now only a bucket away from extending his record-setting streak of 20-point performances to 142 games. And there was still 1:24 left in OKC's home opener against Denver, which had just burned a timeout.
But then came the plot twist. Gilgeous-Alexander briefly walked onto the court near the end of the timeout, only to turn around and take a seat on the bench.
His teammates were surprised. So were the commentators. The same even went for head coach Mark Daigneault, who intended to leave Gilgeous-Alexander in the game. But he'd already prevailed. He'd already helped OKC secure what was ultimately a 96-84 win, and Denver had already waved the white flag by emptying its bench. So he let the curtains close on his historic streak.
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“I was going to go out there," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "But then I saw that (Denver) had subbed, so I was like, ‘I should probably sub too.’ I feel like you should always treat the game with respect."
Gilgeous-Alexander showed respect for the game, even on a night when the basketball gods were against him.
They were cruel, denying him of his usual buckets on his home floor. Shunning him in a highly-anticipated showdown that was nationally televised. Placing him in the record books for all of the wrong reasons.
Gilgeous-Alexander went scoreless in the first quarter for only the seventh time in his Thunder tenure. He then entered halftime with just two points, tied for his lowest scoring first half ever with the team. It was far from the best representation of his skills, but how he responded was the perfect representation of who he is.
Gilgeous-Alexander persevered, delivering when it mattered most. He scored 10 points during the fourth quarter on 4-for-6 shooting from the field (2 for 3 from deep) to help OKC finally pull away. And once he checked that off, he checked out.
It wasn't just a sign of respect for the game. It was respect for Denver, which executed its game plan of putting him in a crowd all night. It was respect for Christian Braun, who led those efforts with stellar on-ball defense. It was respect for those at the end of OKC's rotation, who view garbage-time minutes as anything but. And that earned some respect in return.
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“He's got a historic streak, which is a remarkable streak, obviously," Daigneault said. "And I just think for the class that it shows and the perspective that it shows for him to say, 'Hey, I'm out now. The game is calling for me to be subbed out.' That was his substitution. And, of all of the things I admire about him, that’s towards the top of the list in terms of moments that I appreciate about him. It shows tremendous class as a competitor.”
Daigneault wasn't the only one who assumed Gilgeous-Alexander would want to stay in the game.
Chet Holmgren did too. He asked his co-star during that timeout if he wanted to shoot some threes in the final 84 seconds, only for Gilgeous-Alexander to say "Nah" and tell Daigneault he was subbing out.
"I told him he's a better man than me," Holmgren said with a smile. "I would've been shooting some pull-up 3s."
Maybe Holmgren was just joking. But if he wasn’t, you couldn’t blame him.
You couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to let go of a record that took 723 days to build. One that hadn’t even been touched since Wilt Chamberlain set it in 1963 with 126 straight games.
Night in and night out, Gilgeous-Alexander battled the best defenders in basketball. And when he beat them, he battled their help. He also battled fatigue, shooting slumps and whatever injuries he picked up in the process. Not to mention all of the undocumented distractions from his day-to-day life.
That consistency is no joke.
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"It's extremely difficult," said Thunder forward Jalen Williams, who finished with 21 points on Thursday. "If you don't play basketball, you probably don't even realize how crazy (Gilgeous-Alexander's streak) is. Like, people in video games don't do that. As somebody who had 20 points tonight, to know what it took to do that and then to do that for 141 games, it's very impressive. I can confidently say that one will be untouched for a while."
Gilgeous-Alexander's historic streak was cinematic, filled with masterful moments.
There was the time he scored a career-high 55 points in a double-overtime win over Indiana on Oct. 23, 2025. The time he tied Chamberlain's record on March 9 during a win over Denver, which he sealed by sinking a 3-pointer in the closing seconds. The time he broke it on March 12 during a win over Boston, also sealed by a clutch bucket of his down the stretch. And it helped him take home some awards in the process.
The ending wasn't what people expected, but it wasn't anticlimactic. It was fitting for a person who has never been blinded by his own stardom. Someone who hasn't lost his perspective on what's really important: winning.
And there's always the sequel, which Gilgeous-Alexander teased when he walked into OKC's locker room after the game.
"I'll just restart," he told his teammates.
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Justin Martinez covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Justin? He can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Justintohoops. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Justin's 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 ends historic scoring streak on his terms with 'tremendous class'