BBNBA: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Sinks Blazers with Buzzer Beater
On a night when Damian Lillard became Portland’s All-Time Leading Scorer, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ended up stealing the show.
“He’s impressive,” Lillard said of the rising star. “He’s obviously a really good player, not just a good young player. He’s coming into his own.”
Gilgeous-Alexander put on another masterclass performance against the Blazers, finishing with 35 points, six assists and a game-winning buzzer-beater over former Duke star Justise Winslow. Monday night marked SGA’s 20th 30-point game of the season, just one behind Luka Doncic for the most in the NBA.
Gilgeous-Alexander was perfect from the free throw line, hitting all 14 of his attempted shots from the charity stripe (take notes, current ‘Cats). SGA has made 266 free throws this season, 49 more than Trae Young, who comes in at second place.
According to vegasinsider.com, Gilgeous-Alexander is currently the betting favorite to win the 2022-23 Most Improved Player Award (-145). Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, Utah’s Lauri Markkanen, Portland’s Anfernee Simons and Orlando’s Bol Bol (a personal favorite of ours at KSR) round out the Top Five.
SGA entered this season with immense hype but has vastly over delivered to this point. In 28 games played this season, he is smashing career averages in points (31.3), assists (5.8), and rebounds (4.6) per game. Leading a team devoid of its 2022 #2 overall pick Chet Holmgren and any other star power, Gilgeous-Alexander currently has OKC two games out of the Play-In Tournament in late December. It would have been interesting to see how the addition of Holmgren would have benefited SGA and this young Thunder team, but we’ll have to wait until next season for that to pan out.
De’Aaron Fox’s 37 Points No Match for Nick Richards-led Hornets
Although De’Aaron Fox tied his season high in points Monday night, the Charlotte Hornets held off the Kings and ensured a beam-less skyline in Sacramento.
Nick Richards continued his impressive breakout season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, good enough for his 7th double-double of the season. Only 834 more and Richards can pass Tim Duncan for the most all time. We believe in him.
In Fox’s sixth NBA season, he is averaging 22.6 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 5.8 APG. “Swipa” leads the league in clutch eFG% this season at 66.7%. Fox and Malik Monk‘s reunion in Sac-Town has given the town its most exciting team in years. After Monday night’s loss, the Kings fall to 16-12 but still remain as the fifth seed in the Western Conference.
Other BBNBA Notes:
- In just four minutes of action, TyTy Washington scored a career-high nine points on 4-5 shooting, 1-2 from the three-point line. TyTy was +7 in his time on the court, good for second highest on the team. Here’s hoping this guarantees the rookie guard some more playing time in the near future.
- The injury bug has hit the NBA ‘Cats hard this season. Anthony Davis is out for about a month due to a foot injury he sustained last week, Tyrese Maxey is out a couple more weeks due to a foot injury as well, and Karl-Anthony Towns is still out after suffering a calf injury a few weeks ago. Keldon Johnson and Devin Booker missed games Monday night as well, but they should be good to go rather soon.
12/19/2022 Statistics:
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | MIN | +/- |
| De’Aaron Fox (SAC) | 119-125 L vs. CHA | 37 | 14-25 (2-5) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 34 | -20 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) | 123-121 W vs. POR | 35 | 10-24 (1-1) | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 36 | -1 |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 125-119 W vs. SAC | 14 | 6-9 (0-0) | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 23 | +10 |
| Malik Monk (SAC) | 119-125 L vs. CHA | 12 | 4-13 (1-6) | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 25 | -6 |
| TyTy Washington (HOU) | 105-124 L vs. SAS | 9 | 4-5 (1-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +7 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (UTA) | 99-122 L vs. CLE | 7 | 3-7 (0-1) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24 | -12 |
| Shaedon Sharpe (POR) | 121-123 L vs. OKC | 6 | 2-4 (0-1) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | -7 |
| Wenyen Gabriel (LAL) | 104-130 L vs. PHX | 4 | 2-5 (0-0) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27 | -12 |
| PJ Washington (CHA) | 125-119 W vs. SAC | 3 | 1-6 (1-4) | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29 | -5 |
| Trey Lyles (SAC) | 119-125 L vs. CHA | 0 | 0-0 (0-0) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -6 |
| Devin Booker (PHX) | 130-104 W vs. LAL | DNP-Groin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Anthony Davis (LAL) | 104-130 L vs. PHX | DNP-Foot | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Keldon Johnson (SAS) | 124-105 W vs. HOU | DNP-Back | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | 104-101 W vs. TOR | DNP-Foot | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) | 116-106 W vs. DAL | DNP-Calf | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Tonight in the NBA:
7:00: Jazz (Vanderbilt) @ Pistons (Diallo, Knox, Noel)
7:30: Bulls @ Heat (Adebayo, Herro)
7:30 (TNT): Warriors @ Knicks (Quickley, Randle)
9:00: Wizards @ Suns (Booker)
10:00 (TNT): Grizzlies @ Nuggets (Murray)
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