Though the start of Thursday night's rematch between the OKC Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers proved to be rather competitive and evenly matched, virtually everything after the six minute mark of quarter one was completely lopsided.
In front of their home crowd out at Paycom Center, Oklahoma City seemingly couldn't be stopped as they were playing like a well-oiled machine on both ends of the floor.
From their sensational defensive prowess that held the league's top-ranked long-range shooting team to a mere 31.0 percent clip on the night to their juggernaut offensive punch that saw them drop a ridiculous 119 points by the end of the third period, the Thunder simply were playing on an entirely different level in this battle of the top seeds.
As a result, they managed to exact revenge for their streak-snapping loss last week by downing the Cavaliers by a final score of 134-114.
Though this contest was a prime example of a full team effort, especially when considering they clearly used a committee approach to make up for the absences of both Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein at the five, unsurprisingly leading the charge was the club's cornerstone superstar guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
In 29 minutes of action on the night, the 26-year-old went on to put on an offensive clinic, as he finished the night with a whopping 40 points and 8 assists on a highly efficient 65.4 percent shooting from the floor.
What's most impressive about his sensational scoring performance is the fact that he registered such a mark while only attempting five free throws along the way, roughly three fewer than his season average.
As has been the case throughout this year's campaign, the drive-heavy Thunder have frequently failed to receive favorable calls that send them to the charity stripe (rank second to last in attempts at 19.3 per game) and, despite seeing 15 of his 26 total shots come within the painted area, Gilgeous-Alexander witnessed this struggle first hand against Cleveland.
However, while this lackluster free throw rate may be upsetting for some, to SGA, it's not something he's losing any sleep over, as he explained to NBA on TNT's Jared Greenberg during his post-game interview: "I don't need free throws."
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander speaks out on free throws
"When [free throws] come it's a plus but I don't need them. I get it however I can take it," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Only further strengthening the Thunder star's comment on the fact that he doesn't need free throws to get points, coming into Thursday night's contest, even when solely counting field goals among all eligible players, SGA still finds himself leading the entire league in point totals with 977.
Following this showing against Cleveland, even when taking away the five he earned at the line, this sensational number now increases to a ridiculous 1,012 and we're not even technically half way through the season.
On the year as a whole, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is currently averaging a new career-best 31.6 points per night. Should he manage to sustain this type of production through game 82, he will become just the 10 player in NBA history to average 30 or more points in three consecutive seasons.
With numbers like these, Mr. "My whole life is consistent" only continues to prove that not only can he talk the talk, but he can rather effortlessly walk the walk. His performance against the Cavaliers was simply just another reminder of this.