From Paul, SGA’s perspective: The 3 that helped send Thunder game to overtime

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chris Paul take you through the pass and 3-pointer that helped send the Thunder to overtime vs. the Rockets.

James Harden put the Houston Rockets ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder by two points with 24 seconds left in the game Saturday.

With the season more or less on the line — no NBA team has come back after trailing 3-0 in a series — Thunder guard Chris Paul found Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the corner for a 3 to re-take the lead.

The game went to overtime, which the Thunder would dominate. They ran to a 119-107 win.

Here’s how that 3-pointer was set up from the perspective of Paul and Gilgeous-Alexander:

Paul: “We talked about it in the huddle. Said we wanted to try to go to a matchup. Once I got that matchup, I knew that help was going to have to come over from somewhere.”

Paul found that matchup in Harden. With his former teammate guarding him, Paul drove left.

Jeff Green left Lu Dort, near the top of the key, to help, and Danuel House rotated over from Gilgeous-Alexander in the corner.

Paul: “So once I got by, the pass is easy. Shai had the hard part in knocking down the shot, and that was a big shot for us.”

He set the second-year guard up for a shot without a defender anywhere close to him in the corner.

Gilgeous-Alexander: “Hats off to Chris. Hell of a pass. I just wanted to be ready to shoot it, and shoot it with confidence. I’ve shot so many of those shots, and the worked paid off and it went in.”

The Thunder had trailed by five with a minute to go, but a Paul jumper, Steven Adams layup then a James Harden free throw made it a two-point game.

Then, Gilgeous-Alexander hit his shot.

Gilgeous-Alexander: “(We) just (tried) to stay focused. We know what our goal is … try to think next play, either get a stop or get a good look at the basket.”

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