Faced with tired and diminished Nets, it was necessary to strike from entry. That’s what Mark Daigneaut told his players, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed the way.
“A few days ago, the coach said that we were the team that had the worst start to a match in the championship” tells SGA. “And I rather took it personally… As a leader, I want us to have a good start to the match”.
The back of the Thunder did better than that as he finished the first quarter with 16 points to allow the Thunder to take a 12-point lead. We take a look at the rest of his line of stats, and we see that he has already added 5 rebounds and 4 assists, but also that he has caused 4 fouls! Possibly the best quarter of his career.
“For the 4th game in a row, Shai played the style of basketball that gets our team started” found his coach. “For the long term, it’s the best for him, and tonight was a good example of that. “
To curb it, the Nets will even release a “box”, a fate usually reserved for a Stephen Curry or a Ja Morant. “I took that as a compliment” recognizes the person concerned.
The SGA style, we know it: changes of rhythm, percussion and solid supports. That night, he transformed the Barclays Center floor into a slalom track, weaving between Brooklyn defenders. And when it was blocked, the balloons came out for Lu Dort hit the mark. Between them, they scored 26 of the Thunder’s first 32 points.
Upon arrival, Brooklyn never recovered from this gun start, and SGA is very close to the “triple-double” with 33 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. All at 11 of 18 on shots, with even two counters as a bonus.
“I’m proud of this group and I’m proud that we have bounced back” he explained after the game. “When we play like that, we give ourselves the maximum chance of winning. We were good tonight. We were aggressive, we attacked the racquet, and we made the right decisions for most of the game, and the result was a good victory. “
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2018-19 | LAKE | 82 | 27 | 47.6 | 36.7 | 80.0 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 10.8 |
| 2019-20 | OKAY | 70 | 35 | 47.1 | 34.7 | 80.7 | 0.7 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 19.0 |
| 2020-21 | OKAY | 35 | 34 | 50.8 | 41.8 | 80.8 | 0.5 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 23.7 |
| 2021-22 | OKAY | 35 | 35 | 41.5 | 27.9 | 82.5 | 0.6 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 22.2 |
| Total | 222 | 32 | 46.7 | 34.8 | 81.0 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 17.2 | |
