After the win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about his scoring outburst. The point guard scored 40 points in three quarters and only 29 minutes. With the win against the Cavaliers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has added another wrinkle to his MVP campaign.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – “I Don’t Need Free Throws”
Speaking to reporters after the game, Gilgeous-Alexander talked about his ability to score in any situation. Asked about his scoring outburst, Shai replied,
“I don’t need free throws. When they come it’s a plus, but I don’t need them. I’ll get it however I take it.”
The Thunder’s star player also tried to downplay the situation. The game was hyped as the matchup featured the league’s two best records. Their matchup in Cleveland last week was spectacular, a close game to the wire. This time, however, things were different as the Thunder won 134-114. SGA said,
“Tonight was a good performance, we did the things we were supposed to do. For us, it was just another night of basketball, another night of competing together. It happened to be on TV, it happened to be a hyped game, but for us, we’re at home in front of the best fans in the NBA and we gave it our all.”
SGA’s Campaign for MVP
The game will certainly help Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s campaign to win the MVP award. He is already in the top three candidates, alongside Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. But it seems like SGA has something the two other guys do not: quality wins against the top opponents. The Thunder, led by SGA, are 6-2 against the top three teams in the Conference. They are 1-1 vs. Cleveland, 2-0 vs. the Knicks, 1-0 vs. Boston, 1-0 vs. Memphis, and 2-1 vs. Houston.
The team is also on pace to win 70 games, which would be the third-best record in league history. Only the Bulls(1995-96) and the Warriors(2015-16) have managed to win 70+ games before. This season, both the Cavs and the Thunder are on that pace, but who will prevail at the end? Two other teams have won 69 games, the Bulls in 1996-97 and the Los Angeles Lakers in 1971-72. All four teams have managed to get to the NBA Finals, with the Warriors being the only team to lose it.
Do Scoring Titles Lead to MVPs?
Out of the last 11 players who have led the league in scoring, five have won MVP. Recently, Luka Doncic, who led the league in scoring last year, didn’t win an MVP award. However, Joel Embid won his first MVP for the second time he led the league in scoring, averaging 33.1 points per game. Steph Curry led the league in scoring in 2015-16 and in 2020-21. He won the MVP in 2016. Kevin Durant won his fourth scoring title in 2013-14, and it helped him get his first MVP award. Russell Westbrook and James Harden have both led the league in scoring multiple times, and they both won an MVP award. Nikola Jokic has three MVPs and has never led the league in scoring. So far this season, SGA is leading the league at 31.6 points per game, followed by Giannis with 31.3 and Jokic with 30.6.
What do all these have in common? They shot plenty of free throws. Harden and Embiid, for example, averaged double-digit free-throw attempts. Luka is the closest to SGA in terms of free-throw attempts. Their game is quite similar as well, both operating from the mid-range. Luka does take three to four more three-point attempts. If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues dropping huge numbers against elite competition, it will be hard to keep him out of the MVP conversation.
