After the Thunder victory, Chet Holmgren did not want to dwell on his 26 points and 7 rebounds, or his 15 points in the first quarter (a franchise record in the playoffs for a rookie). In fact, Holmgren took advantage of having the microphones in front of him to talk about his leader, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Finalist for the MVP trophy, the Canadian was equal to himself with 33 points on 13 of 19 shots. An almost classic match for him, by his regular season standards. But in this period of trophy presentations, the Thunder pivot praised his discreet teammate.
“I have something more to say” announces Chet Holmgren, taking the journalist's microphone in the field. “He's too humble to say it himself, but he's the MVP. He's the NBA MVP. I'm going to say it for him because he won't say it. »
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lets his game speak for him
At his side, Gilgeous-Alexander smiles, embarrassed by his kingpin's words. But Holmgren brings it up again at a press conference. A journalist questions him about this term “humble” that he used. “When you know who you are and you're confident in yourself, you don't need to flaunt it,” says Holmgren. “He knows he is a very good player and he knows how important he is to the team. He doesn't feel the need to express it in words, and so sometimes we do it for him. »
A humility that we find in the game, since this night, SGA made the others play first, and he served Holmgren a lot at the start of the match. To the point of not registering a single point in the first nine minutes. And then, at his own pace, he took the game into his own hands, and the Pelicans exploded.
