Shai shines as the Thunder dominate

26-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was presented with the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award before Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday in Oklahoma City.

Clearly fired up with his latest accolade, the Canadian duly posted 38 points to help his side overcome the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-103 on Thursday night to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“I thought about coming out and just forcing the first couple shots,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

It was, however far from a one-man show, as teammates, Jalen Williams finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds and Chet Holmgren added 22 points.

Minnesota did manages to eat into the scoreline having trailed by 24-points at one point and managed to get it down to a deficit of 10 with just three minutes left on the clock but there were no cracks in the Thunder’s armour as they held firm.

Shai impresses

“It’s impressive how fast he’s able to turn the page,” Jalen Williams said of Gilgeous-Alexander’s performance after the pregame MVP ceremony. “The flow of emotions that probably go through your head ... he’s able to push those aside. And to have the night he had tonight is really impressive.”

Gilgeous-Alexander has scored now 30 or more points in five consecutive games, tying the longest such streak in franchise playoff history. He already shared the marks with legendary 1970’s star Gus Williams.

Minnesota’s star player Anthony Edwards acknowledged that he needed to shoot more in Game 2 after attempting just 13 shots during Tuesday’s opening game (114-88) loss. He was aggressive on offense from the start Thursday, attempting 10 shots in the first quarter (and making four) while adding three assists.

Edwards finished with 32 points, shooting 12 of 26 from the floor but just 1 of 9 on 3-point attempts. He also contributed nine rebounds and six assists.

“Just thought Naz (Reid) had a good game going,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Just wanted to try to see if I could spread the floor, get some quick decision-making out there and just try to change the complexion of the game.”

The Timberwolves also secured 17 points via Alexander-Walker plus 10 points and eight rebounds from Reid.

Series moves to Minnesota

As the series moves to Minneapolis ahead of Saturday’s Game 3, the Thunder are two wins away from the NBA Finals and six away from the franchise’s first title since 1979 when it was based in Seattle.

“We’re aware of where we are in the season, but we’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we veer from what got us here,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

Minnesota, meanwhile, will look to turn the series around at home.

“We know what’s at stake in this series and we’ve got to do better,” Randle said.

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Oklahoma City Thunder

Stats

9 Alex Caruso
13 Ousmane Dieng
5 Luguentz Dort
2 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
55 Isaiah Hartenstein
7 Chet Holmgren
11 Isaiah Joe
3 Dillon Jones
25 Ajay Mitchell
22 Cason Wallace
21 Aaron Wiggins
8 Jalen Williams
6 Jaylin Williams
34 Kenrich Williams

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
9 Alex Caruso	24	9	2	0	2	2	1	2	0	0/0	3/4	1/3	0	6	0
13 Ousmane Dieng	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Luguentz Dort	34	9	8	2	6	4	0	2	0	1/2	1/2	2/7	0	2	0
2 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	41	38	3	0	3	8	1	3	0	13/15	11/19	1/2	0	5	0
55 Isaiah Hartenstein	26	6	8	2	6	2	1	0	1	0/0	3/5	0/0	0	4	0
7 Chet Holmgren	31	22	4	1	3	2	3	0	0	5/6	7/11	1/6	0	2	0
11 Isaiah Joe	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	0	0
3 Dillon Jones	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
25 Ajay Mitchell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
22 Cason Wallace	27	8	3	2	1	4	0	1	1	0/0	1/1	2/6	0	1	0
21 Aaron Wiggins	9	0	2	1	1	2	0	0	0	0/0	0/1	0/1	0	1	0
8 Jalen Williams	38	26	10	1	9	5	0	1	0	0/1	10/14	2/6	0	1	0
6 Jaylin Williams	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
34 Kenrich Williams	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	0	0

Minnesota Timberwolves

Stats

9 Nickeil Alexander-Walker
22 Jaylen Clark
10 Mike Conley
4 Rob Dillingham
0 Donte DiVincenzo
5 Anthony Edwards
55 Luka Garza
27 Rudy Gobert
7 Joe Ingles
3 Jaden McDaniels
33 Leonard Miller
8 Josh Minott
30 Julius Randle
11 Naz Reid
0 Terrence Shannon Jr.

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
9 Nickeil Alexander-Walker	25	17	2	1	1	2	2	0	0	4/4	2/4	3/4	0	3	0
22 Jaylen Clark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
10 Mike Conley	28	3	3	0	3	3	1	0	0	0/0	0/2	1/4	0	2	0
4 Rob Dillingham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Donte DiVincenzo	22	8	3	1	2	3	4	0	0	0/0	1/2	2/6	0	2	0
5 Anthony Edwards	40	32	9	2	7	6	0	0	1	7/10	11/17	1/9	0	1	0
55 Luka Garza	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
27 Rudy Gobert	29	5	9	4	5	1	0	0	1	1/2	2/5	0/0	0	2	0
7 Joe Ingles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Jaden McDaniels	34	22	2	1	1	0	1	0	3	2/2	4/7	4/8	0	5	0
33 Leonard Miller	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
8 Josh Minott	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
30 Julius Randle	31	6	5	3	2	5	4	1	0	2/2	2/8	0/3	0	2	0
11 Naz Reid	28	10	8	1	7	0	2	1	2	4/6	3/3	0/5	0	3	0
0 Terrence Shannon Jr.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0