A few months back, LeBron James made the rather bold claim stating that the only way to stop OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is to "keep him off the free throw line."
In Tuesday's Western Conference Semifinals opener, his Lakers actually accomplished this particular objective, as they held the reigning MVP to just three foul shots, his fewest in a playoff game since his first year with the ball club back in 2020.
This total is also considerably less than his 9.0 per game throughout the regular season and the 12.3 he averages in round one against Phoenix.
Unfortunately for them, Los Angeles learned the hard way that this still isn't enough to actually shut down Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder.
Despite his lack of whistles drawn, Shai still wound up wrapping up the night by stuffing the stat sheet with 18 points, six assists, two boards, two blocks, and a steal while guiding the Thunder to a 108-90 win to take a 1-0 series lead.
When it comes to situations like these, where he's being thrown in-game curveballs, the point guard has famously gone on record saying, "I have answers to the test, but I gotta see the questions first."
Clearly, with his Game 1 performance, SGA proved to have all the answers when dealing with Los Angeles' defensive game plan.
Thunder star described series opener as 'simple'
Even with his lack of foul-line visits and highly visible turnover struggles (coughed the ball up seven times), at the end of the day, Gilgeous-Alexander believes Game 1 was "very simple," as he said post-game that the amount of defensive attention being sent his way "means that multiple people are open" and that he trusted his teammates to make plays around him.
The result was not only a six-assist performance for him but also nine of his teammates registering five or more points on the night, with his All-Star running mate Chet Holmgren leading the charge with a team-high 24 points on 52.9 percent shooting from the floor and 100 percent shooting from deep.
The Thunder bench also proved invaluable to their efforts, as guys like Isaiah Joe and Jared McCain combined for 21 points on a highly efficient 8-of-13 shooting from the floor.
To Shai, the most important thing for him to do in these situations is to let his teammates know that he, as the "head of the snake," as he put it, believes in them, which he noted is "a confidence boost" for everyone around him.
Needless to say, this Thunder team as a whole played with a ridiculous amount of self-assurance, and now has them three wins away from their second-straight conference finals berth.
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