BBNBA: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's near triple-double leads OKC to Game 1 win

ZGeogheganKSR

I’ll be honest: I didn’t see this coming. In fact, I don’t think anyone outside of Oklahoma did. But maybe we should have.

While I certainly expected the Oklahoma City Thunder to come out and play with some aggression (they are the Western Conference’s top seed, after all), I figured that — at some point — being the youngest team in the NBA would catch up to them. A Game 1 situation at home against the Dallas Mavericks (after easily taking down the New Orleans Pelicans in the opening series) and their two superstars seemed like the time that youth would play a factor.

Only it never did — OKC smacked the Mavericks from the second quarter on, winning the Western Conference Semifinals series opener by a final score of 117-95. MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was close to his best, posting 29 points (8-19 FG), nine rebounds, and nine assists in 37 minutes of action. He hit 11 of his 13 free throw attempts with 19 of his points coming in the first half.

On the other end, the Thunder locked in on fellow MVP candidate Luka Doncic, who struggled with his shot-making. Doncic finished with 19 points on 6-19 shooting in addition to five turnovers. He likely had nightmares last night of Lu Dort and Cason Wallace confining him into a torture chamber.

And speaking of Wallace, along with his strong defense on Doncic, the rookie also chipped in seven points, three rebounds, three assists, and one steal in 22 minutes without a single turnover. He’s playing important minutes in year one on a team with NBA Finals aspirations — that’s not easy.

Meanwhile, PJ Washington had a solid showing for Dallas, but not nearly enough to impact the result. The former Kentucky forward registered 10 points and six rebounds on 4-7 shooting, including a 2-3 clip from deep, in 25 minutes played. But with just 20 additional points from Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks simply couldn’t keep up with the Thunder’s scoring punch.

Game 2 will stay in OKC. Tipoff is set for Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

5/7/24 statistics

Player	Score	PTS	FG (3PT)	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	+/-	MIN
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC)	117-95 W vs. DAL	29	8-19 (2-4)	9	9	1	2	2	21	37
PJ Washington (DAL)	117-95 L @ OKC	10	4-7 (2-3)	6	0	1	0	1	-11	25
Cason Wallace (OKC)	117-95 W vs. DAL	7	2-5 (2-4)	3	3	1	0	0	13	22