Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was all smiles on Friday night, and he had good reason to be.
Having quickly emerged as the Thunder’s cornerstone, Gilgeous-Alexander led a spirited rally which saw his team erase what was once a 22-point deficit to the Bulls to eventually force overtime.
There, the Thunder took control of the contest and escaped with a 127-125 victory. That they did so after trailing the Bulls by 16 points with just under five minutes remaining was especially impressive.
Afrer the contest, Gilgeous-Alexander reflected on the effort with Fox Sports Oklahoma’s Nick Gallo.
“It felt good,” he said of the victory. “We know if we fight and play with energy and play the right way, then good things will happen for us. Tonight, we did it long enough to get a win. Going forward, we probably shouldn’t wait until the second half to play that way, but we’ll take the ‘W.'”
At halftime of the contest, according to the third-year guard, the Thunder knew that their collective effort wasn’t going to get it done. Trailing 68-50, rather than pack it in, the club was determined to fight.
“We were just disappointed with ourselves,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
“Coach came in at halftime and didn’t even have to say anything, we all already knew what it was. We knew we had to bring the energy on both ends of the floor in that second half.”
That they did, especially Gilgeous-Alexander, who ended the night having scored a career-high 33 points on 13-for-19 shooting from the field.
It was no accident.
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” he said of his effort. “[I] still had a few mishaps and mistakes there down the stretch and that can’t happen if we want to be the best basketball team that we can be, so I’m gonna go back and watch film and learn from them.”
.@nickgallo22 meets with @shaiglalex following a career high 3️⃣3️⃣ points in the OT win over Chicago.#ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/AJC0m8l14l
— FOX Sports Oklahoma (@FOXSportsOK) January 16, 2021
Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander’s former teammate Chris Paul couldn’t help but to bestow some praise on the youngster.
The Thunder will enter play on Jan. 16 at 6-6 and will next be in action when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
SGA will probably be hoping for a similar effort.
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