Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander saw his team return to its stifling defensive identity in Wednesday night’s 120-103 win against the Memphis Grizzlies. For Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s top-ranked defense hasn’t been the same lately before the Thunder held Ja Morant and the Grizzlies’ offense to 103 points on 40.7% shooting.
After the win, Gilgeous-Alexander admitted that the Thunder hadn’t been the same defensive juggernaut since the All-Star break.
“It feels like for the first time in a long time, we’re stringing together some good stretches,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We haven’t been the greatest since All-Star break defensively, and I think we put it together tonight on both ends of the floor, and we beat a pretty good team because of it.”
Gilgeous-Alexander followed up his 51-point performance in Monday’s win against the Houston Rockets by scoring 41 in Wednesday’s win against the Grizzlies. He also finished with eight assists, two rebounds, and two steals as Oklahoma City coerced Memphis to commit 15 turnovers, while Morant surrendered five. Ja led the Grizzlies with 24 points, but it took him 22 attempts (8-of-22) to get there.
Alex Caruso on playing alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Thunder veteran Alex Caruso discussed playing alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in his first season with the Thunder and what separates Gilgeous-Alexander from the rest.
Caruso described Gilgeous-Alexander’s humble approach to the game on an episode of The Young Man & The Three podcast.
“So coming into this year, I knew that he was going to kind of be ready to go, but like, getting to know him now and knowing how competitive he is,” Caruso said. “Like, I could see the type of season he’s having is like, he has, you know, he might not ever come out and say it publicly, but like the dude competes and he wants to compete every night, and he, like, thinks it’s a blessing to be able to go out there and play basketball every night.”
How Gilgeous-Alexander can score in such a hurry surprises Caruso.
“Seeing him in person, and how effortless he makes it look; he’s one of those guys in the league where it’s like you look up at the end of the third quarter, it’s like, ‘oh s***, he’s got 32, 7, 6, and three steals, and a block,” Caruso added. “I thought he was just having an average game.”
“He might not ever come out and say it publicly, but the dude competes… He thinks it’s a blessing to go out there and play basketball every night.”
Alex Caruso on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
(via @OldManAndThree)pic.twitter.com/vKCiRJDPBR
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 6, 2025
Gilgeous-Alexander has scored a combined 92 points in his last two games. He leads the league in scoring (32.8) and in most 40+ point games (10) this season.
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