OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did not have his best game in Game 6's loss to the San Antonio Spurs. In fact, he registered his lowest point total of the postseason as the Thunder endured a 27-point blowout.
Overall, it hasn't been Shai's best series, but his comments after the game may have given Thunder fans more of a reason to panic than his box score.
In his postgame presser, the two-time MVP was asked how he can regain his form heading into Game 7. His response was quite cryptic.
"I'm not too sure, to be honest," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
The sentiment is just about the last thing fans want to hear from their superstar heading into the most important game of the season, and it comes on the heels of a game where he shot 33.3 percent from the field while missing all five of his three-point attempts.
The scary part is it's not even his most inefficient game of the series.
Thunder star may not have all the answers to the test as he once thought
The reality is that SGA has been completely bottled up by the likes of Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, and the rest of the San Antonio defenders. Perimeter players have beaten him with bully ball, and Victor Wembanyama has been waiting to meet him at the rim on every drive.
His lack of an answer to the Spurs' unrelenting attack is in stark contrast to his one-liner just over two months ago, when he famously said, "I have all the answers to the test, but I gotta see the questions first."
To this point in the series, SGA has definitely seen the questions. Yet they appear to be part of a test he isn't prepared for.
Through the six games, he's averaged just 24.3 points on just 37.9 percent from the floor, a distant cry from his 55.3 percent shooting during the regular season.
His 26.1 percent three-point shooting in the series also ranks eighth on the team.
Now heading into Game 7, it seems SGA has accepted that the best adjustment is no adjustment.
Whether that is for better or worse remains to be seen, but it might be a decision born of desperation rather than calculation.
If he produces yet another clunker to round out the series, he may just have to come to terms with the fact that Castle and company simply had his number.
Such an admission would surely fuel yet another summer of Shai relentlessly committing to perfecting his craft.
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