Thunder 122, Bucks 102: The Day After Report
Final: Thunder (37-8) def. Bucks (18-25), 122-102
Guys. I think the Thunder might be pretty good.
Also pretty good: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Just change the initials to SGAMVP, because SGA is the MVP and the MVP is SGA until further notice. Shai has been having a Michael Jordan-like run leading the champs, but last night’s performance was Wilt Chamberlain-like. 40 points, 11 assists, and 7 boards on 16-19 shooting.
That’s not a typo. Shai made sixteen of his nineteen shots from the field. He scored 40 points and missed three shots. It wasn’t the highest-scoring game of Shai’s career, but it was easily his most efficient 40+ burger.
And OKC crushed the Bucks, winning their seventh out of the last eight games. Pretty good.
Final: Thunder (37-8) def. Bucks (18-25), 122-102
Nuggets and Notes
- League history check-in: Shai was a slow bloomer, but not as slow as you might think. He’s averaging 25.1 points per game for his career, which is ahead of Kobe Bryant and Steph Curry. If he continues to average 30+ points for a couple more seasons, SGA will be top-10 in all-time scoring average.
- Shai is better than Giannis. Shai is better than Nikola Jokic. He’s the best player in the world, regardless of the teammates around him and the amount of games he’s played. You don’t need to split hairs over free throws or make caveats about his supporting cast to recognize his greatness. As more fans watch his undeniable scoring against helpless opponents, they will stop denying said greatness.
- For Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's entire Thunder career, OKC has won 55.6% of its games. That’s 3.4% worse than Milwaukee’s winning percentage throughout Giannis’ career. Remember when the talking heads thought Shai would grow tired of losing so much in Oklahoma City?
- Back to the game. When you look at the injury report, it's almost unfathomable that OKC could walk all over Giannis and the Bucks. With exactly one center on a standard contract available, and down both of their mini-bigs to scrap in the paint (Alex Caruso, Jalen Williams), this felt like it would be a real challenge for OKC. But our oddsmaker overlords were looking at the starting lineups, too. Once you move past Shai & Giannis, OKC still had the next 5 or 6 best players suiting up. The line was set in the Thunder’s favor by 12 points, which was still too low for the final margin.
- OKC was clearly unbothered by another round of
nextnextnext man up, and did not just lean on Shai to carry them to victory. Ajay Mitchell and Kenrich “I’m frontcourt player, too!” Williams both contributed 18 points on a combined 16-25 shooting output. - And there were Brooks Barnhizer and Branden Carlson, two-way scrappers getting run in a first quarter that OKC won 38-18. As we have written in several recaps this season, they never looked back.
- Milwaukee’s flimsy defense was easy pickings for OKC’s rejuvenated offense. They’ve been on a tear over their last eight games, and have the league’s third-best ORTG (119.3) over that stretch.
- Mitchell is next man up in a bigger sense. The second-year point guard looks like a core piece. He missed the fourth quarter with a hip contusion, which had better be minor.
- Attention all trade machine degenerates: we do not want Bobby Portis on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Enjoy him from a distance. I’ll still pick up the fantasy phone to hear your Giannis pitches.
Cray Allred
One Key Takeaway: Ode to Dort.
When they’ve been down two or more of Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Jaylin Williams, the micro Thunder have typically relied on Jalen Williams or Alex Caruso to body opposing behemoths. With Hartenstein, J-Will, JDub, and Caruso all out, Lu Dort got the Giannis assignment.
