Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won over his teammates — and then some.
The Thunder guard dominated in a 33-point effort to lift the Thunder to a dominant 124-92 win on home court to take a 2-0 series lead over the Pelicans on Wednesday night.
After the game, while being interviewed by TNT’s Allie LaForce, Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammate Chet Holmgren not only said how much the star means to the team but that he should win the NBA’s MVP this season.
Holmgren literally grabbed the TNT microphone and delivered a soliloquy that lauded Gilgeous-Alexander’s performance.
“I got one more thing to say, he’s too humble to say it. But this is the MVP right here — MVP of the league,” said Holmgren, who had 26 points of his own. “I’m gonna say it for him because he won’t say it.”
For his part, Gilgeous-Alexander shrugged at Holmgren’s high praise.
But it was another MVP-worthy performance for the two-time All-Star, who scored 17 of his 33 points in the second half and added five assists and three rebounds.
And this came after he led the way with a team-high 28 points during a Game 1 win.
Game 2 was a historic night for the Thunder as a whole, as they became the first team in NBA history to have all of their points in a playoff game from players that were 25 and younger, according to OptaStats.
It’s been much like his magical regular season that saw him average 30.1 points per game with 6.2 assists and 5.5 rebounds in which he helped lead Oklahoma City to the top seed in the Western Conference with a 57-25 record.
He is indeed a finalist for the regular-season MVP award along with the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic and the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic.
If Holmgren were the one in charge of voting, Gilgeous-Alexander would win in a landslide.
