NBA Finals: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gives his all — and gives Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY — Luguentz Dort flexed and preened, and Alex Caruso popped his jersey to the crowd. Meanwhile Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could barely muster a smile, the Most Valuable Player so exhausted, so drained he couldn’t lift his head, his eyes fixated across the way to his family.
But he had time for the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy a few minutes later, fortified by triumph, along with raising the Bill Russell Trophy that signified his personal place in history as one of the few to win regular-season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
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No meme-able moments, no super celebration planned — just exhaustion.
“Yeah, it’s been a long journey. Long season,” Gilgeous-Alexander told Yahoo Sports, nearly two hours after the game, still on the postgame media circuit. “A lot of games. I just wanted to go out and give it my all tonight. And I think I did so.”
What an emotional night, what a long three weeks, a long 13 years for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the defining roar — a cathartic release from a fan base that believed it would be in June every year with a franchise that had done everything right despite market and financial disadvantages that proved difficult to overcome.
It took seven games, a heartbreaking injury and a game challenge from an Indiana Pacers team that refused to exit the stage promptly, but the first championship in Oklahoma City history was clinched Sunday night with a 103-91 win at Paycom Center.
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Gilgeous-Alexander had one of his least efficient games in the series and was clearly fatigued down the stretch after 40 breakneck minutes, but grinded out 29 points and 12 assists — including the decisive stretch in the third quarter that turned a halftime deficit into a double-digit lead.
The shooting line (8 for 27) is reminiscent of Kobe Bryant’s 6-for-24 performance in Game 7 of the 2010 Finals, but efficiency be damned in these spots — a championship is to be won, by any means necessary.
“So much…
