Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Remains Unstoppable After Securing The First 50 Burger Of The New NBA Season While Carrying OKC To Yet Another Double OT Win

Adam Hagy. Getty Images.

I say it all the time, but the beauty of the NBA is the fact that you can sit down on any given night to watch some hoops and there's a strong chance before the night is over, you're going to see something historic. Given how talented the league is right now, NBA history is made pretty much every night in some capacity. Just think of what we've seen so far. Wemby's debut? First time anyone's ever had that stat line. VJ Edgecomb? Greatest rookie debut basically ever. Not to mention we also had Anthony Edwards make Wolves history with his 41 in his debut. That's not NBA history, but it's in the same ballpark, and I think it helps prove my point.

Tonight? How about the first time a team has ever started the season with back to back double OT games? OKC is learning pretty quickly what life is like as defending champs, and while I'm not sure it usually consists of starting your season with back to back 2OTs, they handled both like champions do. Just like last year, I think it's fair to say that the Thunder are insanely hard to kill. If you leave even a sliver of a window open, they are going to find a way to make you pay for it. When you have them on the ropes or have your kill shit, you CANNOT miss it. Once you do, things do not end well for you. That was true last year, and it's true through the first two games of their title defense.

A big reason for that, of course, is SGA. I say 50 ball in the title of this blog, but really it was a career high 55

Let's get the obvious out of the way so we can just be done with it. Yes, SGA took 26 FTA. That's a fuck ton, I think we can all agree. Some may have been more iffy than others, but don't be a weirdo and try and use that to discredit not only what SGA did tonight, but also what he's now done through two games. Of course it's frustrating to deal with as an opposing fan while you watch your team's stars not get the same type of whistle, but that's nothing new. At the end of the day, SGA still showed up time and time again in the huge moments, and tonight was no different. I think every single person on the planet knew SGA was going to take and make that pull-up late in OT, and we all saw the late-game makes he had against the Rockets the other night. It's OK to say he's been an absolute problem to start the year, it won't hurt, I promise.

With JDub out, it's required SGA to take his game up a level, and I'd say he's lived up to that responsibility. 90 points through two games? Late game heroics? Playing a billion minutes?

47 minutes in the opener, 45 minutes tonight, that shit adds up over the course of an 82 game season, so I do think it's something to monitor. Especially considering how intense every OKC game is going to be as the defending champ. That's partly what makes repeating so hard. As tough as you thought it was to go up the mountain the first time, there's nothing like the journey of a title defense. That shit is 100000x harder, and it's why we haven't had a B2B champ in nearly a decade. 

So while I don't think OKC will play 82 double OT games, I do think fatigue will be an interesting storyline for them this year. Luckily, they are built with fantastic depth to help carry the load

But the story here is SGA. First 50 ball of the season, on the road, in the arena where you just ripped out the hearts of that fanbase during the NBA Finals 4 months ago? Hate on that if you want, but I think that's pretty cold. Tough for Pacers fans for sure, but that's big time stuff to me. OKC could have easily just mailed it in and blamed the tired legs, but instead digging in, finding ways to get stops/create turnovers and then executing on the other end is what it's all about. That's the foundation of OKC's dominance, and what makes them so tough to beat.

The MVP race is most likely going to be a war between SGA and Jokic all year long, and as of now, SGA has made his first statement. Now let's see how Jokic responds. My guess is he'll do something historic in his own right, and we'll be off and running.