If someone were to have said the OKC Thunder would be undefeated and hold the record for the second-largest point differential in league history through the first two games of a playoff series while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander plays his most inefficient brand of basketball on the year, fans and pundits would have demanded a drug test for said individual.
Alas, after Tuesday's Game 2, this is exactly the situation Oklahoma City finds itself in, as they are the only team in the Western Conference with a 2-0 record following their recent 118-99 blowout win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Along the way, Gilgeous-Alexander has been far from his MVP-level self, especially on the offensive end as he's averaging just 21.0 points (a far cry from his league-leading 32.7 averages throughout the regular season) on a putrid 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and 23.5 percent shooting from deep.
Throughout the 2024-25 campaign, one of the biggest concerns for this Thunder squad was their inability to provide an effective offensive punch without being heavily reliant on their superstar's contributions.
Without him on the floor, OKC saw their points per 100 possessions drop from 123.9 to 114.8, while their offensive rating would plummet to a harrowing 111.1.
However, during these early stages of the postseason, it seems that this ball club has made a complete 180 in this area of the game, and when addressing his recent shortcomings after Tuesday's win, SGA made a realization about his supporting cast that fans have been hoping for all year long.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander praises efforts of his Thunder teammates
"I feel like I'm getting looks that I usually make and just missing them. It's part of basketball... Because my team's really good, we've won two games by a decent margin. They've had my back these last two nights," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Frankly, their all-out dominance amid Gilgeous-Alexander's ongoing offensive slump is exactly why the rest of the league should fear this Thunder team as we move forward through the NBA Playoffs.
This adversity has forced the likes of co-stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren to step up their respective games to make up for their cornerstone's struggles, as they have gone on to average 22.0 points and 19.5 points, respectively, while the former is cashing in on 57.1 percent of his attempts from the floor while the latter is hitting 50.0 percent of his three-pointers.
Now, granted, this is not to say Shai has been rendered useless during this first-round series against Memphis.
This would be far from the truth, in fact, as he's been making a considerable impact in the facilitation (5.0 assists per game) and defensive (2.0 stocks per game) departments, and is holding his opponents to a lowly 39.7 percent shooting from the field.
Because of this, though he did note during his presser that he hopes to "pick it up here soon," even if it takes him a bit longer than round one to get into a groove, based on how things have played out in Games 1 and 2, he should feel more than confident in his Thunder teammates holding down the fort while he tries to find his rhythm.