The OKC Thunder may have endured a grueling late-game collapse during Monday's Game 1, allowing the visiting Denver Nuggets to storm back from a 14-point second-half deficit and take a 1-0 series lead, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is refusing to get overwhelmed.
At least, not yet.
Following the contest, reporters asked the superstar how he expected Oklahoma City to respond to this newfound adversity.
With a calm, cool, and confident demeanor, SGA responded with a well-thought-out assessment of their situation, saying, "We're going to find out what we're made of" and provided a philosophical mindset that he believes he and his teammates need to have for the rest of the series.
Thunder star says no one should expect 'smooth sailing' vs Nuggets
"It should be fun," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We couldn't expect it to be smooth sailing this whole journey. No journey in life is, and we know that. Today was a bump in the road [and] unexpected. No one expects to lose, especially that way, but it's the game of life. It's about how you respond to getting knocked down, and that's what we got to do next game."
Throughout their 2024-25 campaign, the Thunder found themselves running into very few hardships, as they wrapped the regular season with the highest point differential and fifth-most wins in league history at 12.9 and 68, respectively.
This elite momentum seemed to have rolled right along into their first-round matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies, where they handily downed the 48-win eight seeds via a 4-0 series sweep.
However, here in the Western Conference Semifinals, it's evident that they now face their biggest challenge yet, for they are not only facing the battle-tested Nuggets, but, following Monday night's chain of events, have lost homecourt advantage.
Now, granted, not everything should be viewed with a doom and gloom angle for Oklahoma City after Game 1.
Gilgeous-Alexander had easily his best and most efficient game of the 2025 postseason with his 33 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block log line while Alex Caruso arguably had his best performance as a member of the Thunder.
That said, when considering how the contest played out, it's more than apparent that OKC will have their work cut out for them moving forward.
From Nikola Jokic's continued dominance (finished Monday's opener with 42 points, 22 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks on 51.7 percent shooting) to Denver's consistent presence at the charity stripe (33 attempts), there are a bevy of things the Thunder need to take into account and try to gameplan for ahead of Game 2.
An 0-1 series deficit is more than a manageable situation to come back from. However, going down 0-2 would only complicate things.
Fortunately, based on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's post-game remarks, Oklahoma City seems to have the right mentality heading into Wednesday's follow-up.