Shai Gilgeous-Alexander registered his 35 40-point performance during Monday's 117-112 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, he did so on a whopping 35 shots. Ever since the OKC Thunder sustained myriad injuries to key core rotation players, SGA's attempts per game have seemingly skyrocketed, though his generally enviable efficiency has hit a bit of a skid.
Fortunately, as was the case against Cleveland, he's had his two behemoth 7-foot centers, Isaiah Hartenstein and Aday Mara, help clean things up.
Over the past four games, the Thunder have ranked within the top 10 in the league in rebounds per game at 46.8, while bringing down 12.3 boards on the offensive side of the ball. Hartenstein and Mara have played a major role in this particular area of play, specifically on the offensive glass, where they've collectively registered a total of 28 rebounds over this stretch.
Against the Cavs, the duo accounted for 23 of OKC's 54 total rebounds and 10 of their 15 second-chance opportunities, many of which came as a direct result of SGA's career-high shot attempts.
Ultimately, this level of production led to the Thunder being praised for registering an impressive 22 second-chance points on the night and snapping Oklahoma City's two-game losing streak, rather than chastising the club for their lackluster 42.9 percent shooting and Gilgeous-Alexander's continued slide in shooting efficiency.
Fallen Thunder stars hyping SGA for 40-point showing
Though they may not be out on the hardwood with him, Gilgeous-Alexander's fallen All-Star teammates are still keeping a close eye on him and rooting for him from afar.
Following the two-time MVP's 40-point performance, both Chet Holmgren (knee) and Jalen Williams (ankle) headed to social media to heap praise on the Thunder cornerstone.
Chet took to his personal Instagram account to say "dump that clip 2," directed at SGA, while J-Dub went as far as to subliminally predict that this year for the superstar guard could end up being viewed in the same vein as Kobe Bryant's 2005-06 campaign.
For Gilgeous-Alexander, this was seen as a get-right performance, as he admitted postgame that, considering "the way the past week has gone," what with team-wide injury woes and their consecutive losses, he and the rest of the Thunder needed to find a way to get past all of the emotions and, as he put it, "stay in the moment."
In the end, he managed to drop his seventh-straight 30-plus point game against the Cavaliers, which ties Tracy McGrady for the longest streak of this kind against Cleveland.
More importantly, the Thunder came across their fifth win of the season.
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