On Monday night, in a tough win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was on fire. He was absolutely dominant. The best player on the court. He finished the game with 43 points, three rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and one block while shooting 14-of-35 from the field, 4-of-8 from deep, and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.
It was an unbelievably impressive performance. And without it, the Thunder wouldn’t have been able to take down the Cavs. But they did. OKC earned a 117-112 victory. SGA led the team to a win. But he won’t be able to do that on a night-to-night basis. Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, and Chet Holmgren are all sidelined. SGA needs help.
Can SGA average 40 points a night? Maybe. But that’s not something the Thunder should try to find out. Other players need to step up in the scoring column.
Thunder can't expect SGA to score 43 every night
Now, SGA wasn’t the only guy who was scoring the ball for the Thunder on Monday night. Obviously, he was the best scorer by far, but some other guys helped him out in that regard.
Ajay Mitchell started alongside SGA and finished the night with 20 points. He was the second-best scorer on the roster behind SGA, but after that, things got rough.
Kenrich Williams was right after those two guys with 12 points. Then, Aday Mara put up 10 points off the bench. Nobody else cracked double digits against the Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, Cleveland got a nice, well-rounded performance from the entire roster. Nobody scored 20 or more points, but seven different players scored at least 10 points, and three guys hit the 15-and-above mark.
Whenever the Thunder go up against some of the league’s best teams, it’s going to be tough for SGA to lift up the entire offense by himself. He’s going to need support. Not every game is going to be like Monday against the Cavs.
Obviously, SGA is one of the best players in the league. He’s one of the best scorers in NBA history. He’s a two-time reigning MVP for a reason. He can put the ball in the basket.
And in a pinch – like on Monday against the Cavs – he can win the Thunder a game. He can win the Thunder a lot of games. That’s exactly what OKC needs him to do.
But in the grand scheme of things, the Thunder are going to need to piece together some additional support for SGA in the scoring column.
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