Witness SGA's dazzling performance, outplaying Jokic with a career-high assist night and game-winning shots, solidifying his claim on basketball's ultimate title.
OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won numerous accolades and achieved countless milestones over the past few seasons. And last night in Oklahoma City, he may have taken a crown that is not rewarded with any hardware nor recorded in any history books. But it's one of the rarest and most highly sought after titles in basketball.
Best Player In The World.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic have finished as the top two finishers in Most Valuable Player voting the last two seasons. The twosome were once again at the top of every Las Vegas oddsmaker and most every NBA analysts' MVP ranking going into the nationally televised Monday night matchup. And despite the clash of the MVP titans living up to every bit of the hype and then some, it was crystal clear which player emerged on top of the mountain.
The 27 year old point guard dazzled in what was arguably the greatest single performance in the NBA this season considering the circumstances. The Thunder were without Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso. That's two All-Stars, another starter and their most important bench player. That's also their entire starting frontcourt and the only two players above 6'9" on the roster. OKC got down by 13 points early in the 1st quarter. Jokic was unbelievable and hit big bucket after big bucket in the clutch.
And none of that mattered because the best player on the court wore a blue, orange and white jersey with the #2 emblazoned across his chest. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points on 14-21 shooting, dished out a career high 15 assists and unbelievably recorded 0 turnovers. LeBron James is the only other player in NBA history to put up that line. But it gets better. Gilgeous-Alexander tied Wilt Chamberlain for most consecutive 20 point games in league history with 126. And he hit the game-winning 3 pointer. Twice.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning MVP.
He is the runaway favorite to win MVP again this season.
He is the reigning NBA Finals MVP.
He outplayed consensus Best Player In The World Nikola Jokic and beat the Denver Nuggets en route to the NBA Championship last season.
He is 3-0 and has outplayed Jokic in every head to head matchup this season.
He has led OKC to the best record in the NBA for the second straight season despite the Thunder's bottomless list of injuries this year.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic are still the two best players in the world.
But #2 isn't #2.