Surrounded by three defenders, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander contorted his slender frame to get by. He took one dribble as he crouched down near the floor. Taking an off-balance floater, he hurled the ball at the rim. It banked in. The circus shot sadly represented his sole fourth-quarter bucket.
The Oklahoma City Thunder failed in crunch time in a 118-108 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. They leave Moda Center humbled at what their glued-together squad's ceiling is.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 31 points on 9-of-20 shooting, four rebounds and two assists. He shot 0-of-7 from 3 and went 13-of-14 on free throws. He also had one steal.
I will say this — before I criticize his night — Gilgeous-Alexander's frustrating games are an efficient 30 points.
There's a level of hilarious absurdity there. Goes to show what the standard is for one of the era-defining NBA superstars of the 2020s. Now that that's been stated. Man, the Thunder just need more out of the 28-year-old. Preferably, the playstyle that helped him become a two-time MVP winner. Right now, OKC is getting a bare-bones version of that.
It was a tale of two halves for Gilgeous-Alexander. Or, to be more accurate, three frustrating quarters and one strong frame. The shot process has been off-kilter all year. The drives to the rim are way down. So are the free-throw numbers. The 28-year-old has absolutely fallen in love with contested mid-range and outside jumpers. Right now, that's not what the Thunder need. They don't have the luxury of experimentation or have feel-out stints. He needs to be on the pedal to the metal at all times.
The first half was the antithesis of that. Gilgeous-Alexander had eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. Yuck. The shot chart painted an uglier picture. It's almost like he's purposely avoiding getting inside the paint. If you feel like I'm being too harsh, then he likely had the same thought process at the break. The second half was a return to form.
Gilgeous-Alexander went back to his vintage form. A bunch of drives to the rim and pulling up in the mid-range. The Trail Blazers had zero answers. He had 16 points in the third frame. He attacked on every touch he had. That helped him put up a bloated night from the free-throw line. It was a nice throwback to his last few years of how he'd usually racked up super-efficient 30-point outings.
Sadly, that only lasted there. Gilgeous-Alexander was quiet in the fourth quarter. He only had seven points. Mostly on free throws, too. Regardless of how you want to slice up the blame pie, that can't happen. Especially in these circumstances, where OKC is without four of its best five players. There's no justifying a quiet closeout like that. The Thunder need him to cut out his bad habits of settling for contested jumpers and fading into the background at times. That just can't happen right now.
"The game is gonna have ups and downs. I don't think it was anything necessarily that Camara specifically did. I think I was just missing things that I usually make. Obviously, he's a good defender," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "They're well coached. They'll have schemes and they'll show me multiple bodies. But I don't think it was anything that I didn't like out there. I just didn't make shots that I usually make. And in the third quarter, I made shots that I usually make. The game comes with ups and downs and flows. I'll have a great game this season, and I'll have an awful game this season. You just gotta stick with it."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has quiet 4th quarter in OKC's loss to Trail Blazers
