Once OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets going, there isn’t much an opposing defense can do.
However he wants to give it to you, he can and will. He has arguably the most inelastic scoring game in the NBA today. The more you ask of him, the steadier the percentages become.
Naturally, defenses will load up on SGA to take away driving lanes or flat-out double him to prevent a shot entirely. Gilgeous-Alexander knows he’s a bad man, so he could just take, and most likely make, these tough shots.
But after two games of the 2026 playoffs, it is becoming more than apparent that his scoring, whether he has it going or not, is actually the ultimate decoy for Oklahoma City.
Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander' presence allows Thunder stars open looks
Throughout Game 1, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that Gilgeous-Alexander was having an off-night from the field by the way Phoenix was playing him.
Just look at the attention SGA draws on this play. At this point, he is 4-for-13, and the Suns are down 18. Do you think they know what a threat he is?
Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring gravity is like that of a black hole. It’s all-consuming, and his teammates are the primary beneficiaries of it. The reigning scoring champion knows the extent to which teams will go to stop him, which is why he has always been willing to pass to open teammates.
It seems simple, but stars of this magnitude aren’t always willing to make the right play. Gilgeous-Alexander has certainly leveled up as a passer this season, often bending defenses to his will, and that hasn’t changed in the playoffs.
However, in the opening game of this series, it felt like he was forcing the issue, settling for tough shots over good contests. Which is probably why he finished shooting 5-for-18 and didn’t make a single jump shot.
In Game 2, it wasn’t so much an adjustment from Gilgeous-Alexander, but rather a heightened awareness of the situation.
For instance, in the first game, he had one of his seven assists (14.3 percent) come from out of a shot. In Game 2, three of his nine helpers were directly out of a shot (33.3 percent).
Those numbers might not jump off the screen and scream “all-time playmaking,” but they speak to SGA’s willingness to pass up a good shot for himself in order to get one of his teammates a great one. That’s a 52 percent shot exchanged for a 76.8 percent attempt.
Shai led OKC to a 2-0 series lead with 37 points and nine assists on 52 percent shooting on Wednesday night. Not only was he pouring in buckets, but he was also leveraging that ability to influence his team’s shot quality.
This is what is meant when saying Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring is the ultimate decoy. He can get a shot off whenever he wants. But just the sheer threat of that ability can be used to bait and open up better opportunities for OKC as a whole, even if it comes in the middle of a shot.
Add us as a preferred source on Google