Despite depleted teammates, SGA ignited an offensive clinic, delivering one of the most efficient high-volume playoff performances ever seen.
The stage was set for the Phoenix Suns to steal a game and deny the Oklahoma City Thunder from sweeping their 1st Round playoff series.
Game 3 would be on their home court with a fired up Suns fanbase at The Mortgage Matchup Center. OKC's do it all All-NBA/All-Star/All-Defense guard slash forward slash emergency center Jalen Williams was out due to a left hamstring strain. OKC's best sharpshooter Isaiah Joe was out due to personal reasons. Phoenix's best sharpshooter Grayson Allen would be playing his first game of the postseason. And the Thunder has had a bit of history struggling in Game 3's over the past couple seasons.
All of that went out of the window as soon as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stepped off the bus.
The reigning Most Valuable Player only had one of the most efficient high volume playoff games in NBA history. Gilgeous-Alexander's final line looked like a gamer's NBA2K box score when playing the game on easy. He scored 42 points on 15 of 18 shooting and dished out 8 assists.
While the rest of the NBA world were blown away by Gilgeous-Alexander's historic line, he deflected most of the credit as usual.
"I'm very fortunate to be in this position. But regardless of who's out there, I get to go out there and play my game. That's just the role I have on this team. And my coaches and teammates do a really good job of letting me be in my space," Gilgeous-Alexander said in his postgame media availability. "Now with our second ball handler out, naturally our end of shot clock plays and naturally, the start of possessions, the ball is going to be in my hands more just naturally with Dub not out there. So it's a little more opportunity. But regardless with that opportunity I try not to press more or press less and just let the game tell me what to do. And usually that works pretty well."
Gilgeous-Alexander now has two of the top four individual scoring games in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs. Those came in Game 2 when he scored 37 points and this 42 point effort in Game 3. By his own standards, the MVP "struggled" to only 25 points on a rare bad shooting night in Game 1 and has bounced back in a big way.
"He's got great poise and composure. I think his confidence has something to do with that. He feels agency over his performance," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said of Gilgeous-Alexander's ability to reset. "So he's never going to let anything else or anybody else get in the way of him and his best performance. He takes full responsibility for how he performs and I think that's why he improves. When the game's not going your way, he's got enough experience now, you know he's been through a lot of things. He knows it's going to be up and down and he just keeps his head and plays the next possession. It's been a great tone setter for our team. I think it's one of our team's holistic qualities but he definitely has a lot to do with that."