Curling off Isaiah Hartenstein's screen, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander crab-dribbled his way ahead of Amen Thompson. A couple of shoulder moves created enough space. He went with the underhanded layup. Likely hearing the outside noise, he left it all on the floor as a one-man scoring machine. Sadly, it didn't matter.
The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to navigate their new grim reality with a 119-98 loss to the Houston Rockets. Things are going to get worse before they get better, but there's plenty of runway to figure something out.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, four rebounds and three assists. He shot 3-of-6 from 3 and went 3-of-4 on free throws. He also had one steal.
For Gilgeous-Alexander, I'm sure this new reality
is taking a minute to fully process. A week ago, he had two All-NBA teammates and an All-Defensive member in the starting lineup. A week later, all three have vanished — ala Thanos' snap in 'Infinity War.' But this was a step in the right direction as this will be OKC's reality for the next two-plus months.
The jumper was used often and frequently. Gilgeous-Alexander tried his best to win this as a one-man offense. Really, he's the reason this was a somewhat-interesting game for three quarters. Didn't matter who the Rockets threw at him or how many. He snaked his way around several defenders to get to his favorite spots in the mid-range.
One early-year trend has been Gilgeous-Alexander's shot diet. The drives to the rim have been pretty minimal. Which is a complete changeup from previous years as the league leader in that statistical category. It also probably explains why his free throw numbers have dramatically dipped. He's still getting his points, but he's doing so in a different stylistic way.
It's all really a moot point. Gilgeous-Alexander will likely drag the Thunder to a decent number of wins. But this was the latest example that the depleted version can't hang with some of the top contenders. The plan is to keep their head above water over the next two months. By then, maybe some reinforcements can make this a much fairer fight. Until then, though, OKC just has to take its medicine. The NBA is unforgiving.
"I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We have some figuring out to do for sure. A lot of it."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still figuring out OKC's new NBA reality: 'I don't know'
