Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores a career-high 45 in Thunder’s win

OKLAHOMA CITY — After Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the highest-scoring game of his professional career, he didn’t feel like it was a special night.

In the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first game since losing Chet Holmgren for at least two months to a hip fracture, Gilgeous-Alexander posted a career-best performance of 45 points, nine assists and five steals, helping his club to a 134-126 victory over Oklahoma City Thunder LA Clippers in front of 17,430 at Paycom Center.

“It didn’t feel special,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of his 14th career 40-point game. “It didn’t feel like I was doing anything I’d never done before. It just felt like another basketball game. I felt like I should have had more, missed a few easy shots, but.” [that’s] the game.”

Perhaps the career excursion didn’t feel extraordinary because Gilgeous-Alexander is fixated on a more important goal. After reaching the second round but losing to the Western Conference’s top seed, the Dallas Mavericks, Gilgeous-Alexander focused on better preparing the Thunder (9-2) and his young teammates for a deeper playoff run.

“I don’t say this to insult my teammates,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But I feel like our season ended in the playoffs last year. Obviously for a lot of them it was their first time being in the playoffs and playing such meaningful games. And I don’t want to say they weren’t ready, but I feel like I could have equipped them better throughout the year [certain] Hitting, scoring points, and feeling more comfortable in certain positions on the field, especially on offense.

“I feel like we were good defensively in the playoffs and that’s why we lost offensively. And part of my job is to make sure my teammates have confidence and are ready for big moments.”

After watching Holmgren take a tough loss in a loss to Golden State on Sunday, suffering a fractured right iliac bone that will be reevaluated in eight to 10 weeks, Gilgeous-Alexander and his teammates had to move on and be ready To win, he played small ball against the Clippers one evening later. The Thunder are small, with big players Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein (non-displaced left hand fracture) and Jaylin Williams (hamstring injury) all out.

While Holmgren played in all 82 regular-season games last season, he missed his first NBA season after being drafted second overall in the 2022 draft due to a Lisfranc injury.

“We’ve been through this before,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of playing small. “We won games in small groups and we can do it again.”

The Thunder led by as many as 20 seconds before watching the Clippers go on a furious run to get within two points with 42.3 seconds left. Norm Powell continued his great start to the season by scoring 29 of his 31 points in the second half and making 10 of 12 shots, including 5 of 6 3-pointers, before exiting late.

But Gilgeous-Alexander scored 10 of his points with 5:25 left in the final, including two free throws with 22.7 seconds left to stop the Clippers’ run.

Clippers coach Ty Lue said before the game that Gilgeous-Alexander was at a level reached by only a select group of all-time great superstars, where they could let the game come to them and take the lead late.

“As a younger player, you can tend to lose control or try to get my points,” Lue said before the game. “He knows the style they play will suit him, he knows the ball will come back. He allows other guys to get started, allows other guys he trusts with the basketball.” [to score early].

“But he knows that he can take over the game at any time. He reminds you a lot of the great ones like that.” [Michael] Jordan.”

Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player in Thunder/SuperSonics franchise history to score at least 45 points and five steals in a game.

But Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, has far bigger exploits on his mind, and that’s why he’s constantly thought about how he can better prepare his team to win playoff games every night – something some stars don’t realize or don’t do Do this only after several playoff runs or when you are older.

“When we lost [to Dallas]“I was thinking about why we lost and obviously there are so many things I can’t say anything about,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But I can only control what I can control, and I try to look at it through that lens.”

“A lot of people don’t realize it until it’s too late. And I don’t want it to be too late, so I tried to turn it on its head early.”