Though it may have taken them a game longer than some had hoped, the OKC Thunder have officially punched their ticket to the 2025 NBA Playoffs with their latest win over the Boston Celtics.
A tightly contested contest from start to finish, Wednesday night's bout against the reigning champions saw five 18-plus-point performances and ten lead changes.
Fortunately, in their first game since star forward Jalen Williams was ruled out with his recently sustained hip injury, Oklahoma City had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remind the masses why he's seen as the front-runner for the 2025 NBA MVP.
Behind his league-leading 41st game of dropping 30 or more points (34) while tacking on 7 assists and 5 boards in his 38 minutes of action, the superstar managed to pave the way toward the ball club's second-straight postseason berth.
Now, while his counting stats, advanced metrics, and the sheer eye-test clearly show that SGA's efforts were the driving force in Wednesday's win over Boston, in classic fashion, he made sure to divert attention and give credit to his teammates during his on-court interview postgame.
In fact, his praise-filled comments were so strong that the rest of the league may want start taking notice.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hypes up Jalen Williams-less OKC Thunder
When asked what it says about the Thunder to "continue the momentum" even when playing without one of their core players in the rotation like Jalen Williams, Gilgeous-Alexander made it clear that they have enough talent to overcome adversities such as this and, frankly, any others than come their way.
"We have a bunch of guys that are All-Stars in their role. That's our motto, that's our mentality -- Next man up. Be ready to make a play, be aggressive, play within your game and do what the team needs. I think, because of that, our record shows," Gilgeous-Alexander says.
Without the clearly vital offensive creation skills of J-Dub, the Thunder saw seven different players score in double-figures and, in turn, step up their game on this side of the ball to make up for his absence.
Most notably, cornerstone center Chet Holmgren had arguably his best game since coming back from a three-month, injury-induced absence back in February, as he dropped a whopping 23 points on 57.1 percent shooting from the floor and 50.0 percent shooting from distance, along with 15 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.
Coming into the night, the 22-year-old was pegged as the player who the Thunder most needed to see rise to the occasion following Williams' crushing injury news, and, fortunately, he did exactly that against the Celtics.
Frankly, the entire team did, and Oklahoma City is officially heading back to the playoffs as a result.
Considering the recent disrespect the ball club has received, with ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst revealing on Wednesday's episode of First Take that players around the league "don't respect" the Thunder as legitimate title contenders, this beatdown of the defending champs (without their second-best player, no less) should send a strong message to the rest of the league.
So, too, should Shai's comments.