Gilgeous-Alexander eclipses Wilt Chamberlain's scoring record, revealing his true pride lies not in the streak, but in team victories.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made NBA history on Thursday night.
In a nationally televised game featuring the #1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder versus the #2 seed Boston Celtics, the reigning MVP scored 20 or more points for the 127th consecutive time. To the delight of a raucous OKC crowd, that moved Gilgeous-Alexander past Wilt Chamberlain as the longest such streak in the history of the league.
Naturally, the Thunder superstar was asked about breaking the 63 year old record in the postgame press conference. I've collected all of Gilgeous-Alexander's thoughts on his historic night.
On the streak being additive to the rest of the group:
"Yeah. None of none of the things I accomplished would matter if we weren't winning. And I probably wouldn't have most of them if we weren't winning. And I know that. Understand that. It's why you play the game. I was crying when I was nine years old because I lost an OBA championship. Like you don't want to lose as a kid. You don't want to lose as a grown man. When you play and you're competitive, that's all that matters. And that's what the game is to me. The game I love just trying to go out there and win and do everything I can to win. And the streak is the streak, the awards, the awards. But the most thing I'm proud of is winning for sure."
On OKC's 103-24 record during the streak:
"Yeah, I have great teammates. It's no secret. Basketball's a five man sport. You can't win by yourself. As we've seen in the past. You need a great team. You need great role players. You need a great costar, you need a great coach. And I like to think we have all of those. So it's not just me out there being great, it's the rest of the group and we've accomplished things because of that. Everybody knowing their role and executing their role at a high level. I reap the benefits of it, obviously. But yeah, all the awards, all the everything that comes with winning, it's a team thing."
On what he's proudest of throughout the streak:
"We've won throughout the streak. Most importantly. And then I just had so much fun playing basketball in the last year and a half, probably because I've done a lot of winning. But just the group of guys, they always make losing lighthearted and winning super fun. And when you stay in the right mind frame, when you stay together, when you're connected as a unit and just have fun throughout the whole process, you get the best out of things. And that's what this group is."
On how much his calm demeanor helps with his consistency:
"Yeah. It's pretty important. I am. When I was younger, I was like, a lot of ups and downs. Just like when I was competing and I've worked on that obviously as I've grown as a human being. But I think that allows you to just stay in the moment above all. And when you do that, you give yourself the best chance to succeed and not dwell on the past or worry about the future. But staying in the moment is the secret of it all."
On if he knew how many points he had when he hit the record breaking shot:
"No. I mean, I knew I was around there, but I didn't know exactly how many. Like I could tell I was going to get there eventually tonight. But yeah, I didn't know exactly how many. But once I heard the crowd, I was like, okay, that must have been it."
On giving his family his game-worn jersey and where it's going:
"I don't know. I don't know, I'm bad with like, memorabilia. So I wanted to give it to them so they knew what to do with it before I lose it or forget."