Following Tuesday's Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's high-end foul line activity seemed to be the talk of the town.
From mere keyboard warriors to respected media personalities, it seemed that many were incensed about the guard's 14 trips to the charity stripe on the night, leading to the label "free throw merchant" to once again rear its ugly head back up into the mediasphere.
Now, though this foul-batting reputation of SGA's has frequently been debunked over the years, such cases have yet to silence this type of chatter, and, sadly, they may never do so.
Because of this, Gilgeous-Alexander seemed to take matters into his own hands during Thursday's Game 2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, as the recently anointed league MVP responded to the uptick in criticisms in perhaps the most appropriate way possible -- by steering directly into it.
OKC Thunder star posts career playoff scoring night in Game 2 win
After taking part in his illustrious MVP ceremony and officially being gifted the Michael Jordan Trophy, Gilgeous-Alexander seemed to be in full-on attack mode right from the jump, cashing home on all three of his first shots and being directly responsible (points and assists) for 13 of Oklahoma City's 29 first-quarter points.
From there, he would seemingly see his production improve with each passing quarter, as he wound up finishing the contest by tying his career-high in points with 38 to go along with 8 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals on 57.1 percent shooting from the floor and 50.0 percent shooting from deep.
However, perhaps the biggest kicker of all is the fact that the Thunder star would go on to not only add to the amount of foul line visits he saw in the previous game, but hilariously set a new career playoff-high in free throw attempts with 15, sinking 13 of them.
Behind his efforts, Oklahoma City would pull out a commanding 118-103 win over the Timberwolves, giving them a 2-0 cushion in this conference finals showdown.
With such a lead, the Thunder find themselves in quite a comfortable position as far as history is concerned, as the ball club has never lost a best-of-seven series when in possession of such a record (13-0 in such situations) while 92.0 percent of teams who have held a 2-0 series edge have ultimately gone on to advance.
All things considered, the inaugural Shai Day proved to be an undeniable success, with the two cherries on top being Gilgeous-Alexander's fifth-straight 30-point game and, of course, his new postseason free throw attempts record.