OKLAHOMA CITY – With the 2022 All-Star voting opening on Thursday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might benefit from recency bias.
In a back-and-forth contest between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers, Gilgeous-Alexander hit the game-winning shot for the last of 13 lead changes to go along with 13 ties.
Neither team had a lead larger than 10 points and the final minute had four lead changes.
With three seconds left, Gilgeous-Alexander worked his way to the left baseline with a single dribble and attempted a 14-foot pull-up jumper he swished as the final buzzer sounded.
Despite the Thunder only having 10 players available, Gilgeous-Alexander carried the team to its second consecutive win against a Western Conference playoff opponent.
That is a pretty awesome night for Gilgeous-Alexander considering he was dealing with a lower back contusion that caused him to miss one game and be listed on the injury report for this one.
On a night in which Damian Lillard became the leading scorer in Trail Blazers history, Gilgeous-Alexander had all the attention on him as he once again hit another game-winner.
For the Trail Blazers, Lillard led the way with 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 6-of-12 from 3. ‘Dame Time’ was fully activated as he scored six points in the fourth quarter. After receiving a warm welcome, Jerami Grant also contributed with 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting and eight rebounds.
Anfernee Simons finished with 19 points and Josh Hart had 13 points.
Let’s take a look at Thunder player grades.