An ode to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 33 in OKC’s win over San Antonio

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the OKC Thunder closed out the first half of the season with a win over the San Antonio Spurs.

A dribble to his left. A dribble to his right. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander backs up, sizing up the San Antonio Spurs defender in front of him.

A drive down low with a change of speed. A spin here. A pivot there.

Help defense collapses around Gilgeous-Alexander for his finishing ability, yet is wary of his ability to kick it out.

Gilgeous-Alexander ducks underneath the defender and uses his length to put the ball up to the hoop.

Right hand? Bang. Left side? Same. Floater? Yup. Using the glass? Of course.

The third-year Oklahoma City Thunder guard is taking ownership of San Antonio. Barely a week after scoring 42 against them, he dropped another 33 points on Thursday night to help the Thunder run to a 107-102 comeback victory and end the first half of the season strong.

His scoring variation above wasn’t exaggerated. I present to you the incredible finishing skills of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with some help from Thunder Film Room and Boomtown Hoops, a pair of must-follow Twitter accounts for OKC fans.

The Spurs were more afraid of him scoring down low than they were of leaving other players open. It was for good reason.

But they often paid for it.

Muscala, who made the 3 in the clip above, finished with 18 points and four 3-pointers. Kenrich Williams, who got the dish down low, had nine points on 4-for-6 shooting.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with eight assists in addition to his 11-for-19 shooting.

“Every really good guard has that in their game — being able to survey and do multiple things at the same time,” he said. “Survey the court, keep their guy on their hip, keep their dribble alive and extend plays.”

That bench scoring was important in keeping up with the Spurs, who have been one of the best bench scoring teams in the league for two decades.

Muscala and Williams helped the Thunder not vomit points when bench units were on the court. Their combined 27 points were enough to keep up with the Spurs’ 40 bench points.

The Thunder starters did the rest.

They forced aΒ tonΒ of turnovers. The Spurs average an NBA-best 11.2 turnovers per game. They had 19 against Oklahoma City.

Point guard Dejounte Murray had five, forward DeMar DeRozan had four and center Jakob Poeltl had three.

This helped the Thunder kickstart a run in the third quarter. After trailing by 14 following the first possession of the second half, Oklahoma City embarked on a 23-6 run to get back in the game.

“We were aggressive. Some ball screen coverage, just trying to put them on their heels a little bit more instead of letting them come off and dictate what they wanted to do,” Muscala said. “That was a reason for some of those turnovers. Just trying to force them into some decisions.”

The Thunder went on a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter to get a lead, but the Spurs immediately took it back.

Gilgeous-Alexander then checked in.

He assisted a Williams dunk. He assisted a Muscala 3. He hit a shot in the paint. It was another 7-0 run in a manner of 1:50, and it was a lead the Thunder did not relinquish.

When the Spurs cut it close, Gilgeous-Alexander pulled this.

It was a bounce-back from the last two games for both Gilgeous-Alexander and the team.

The guard had not scored fewer than 20 points in consecutive games since Dec. 31-Jan. 4. Every single time he had scored less than 20 points since Jan. 13, he had followed it with a 30-point performance — until this past week, when he scored 13 in a loss to the Denver Nuggets and 15 in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

He was back on his horse with a 33-point outing against the Spurs.

The Thunder outscored San Antonio 57-41 in the second half to overcome a 14-point deficit. That’s more of the team we have seen this year — fighting back after falling down.

Over the first half of the season, that’s the image the Thunder have created. Now 15-21, OKC took down a Spurs team that entered the night 18-13 and in sixth place in the Western Conference.

They continue to be too good to tank.