When was the last time Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored less than 20 points?

If there’s anything the Oklahoma City Thunder must have expected to see from the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of their semifinal series, it’s that they will come up with bonkers defensive coverages to try and slow Shai Gilgeous-Alexander down. And to the Lakers’ credit, they did slow the reigning MVP down. Gilgeous-Alexander scored just 18 points, although that scarcely mattered in the end in a 108-90 win for OKC to take a 1-0 series lead.

Every time Gilgeous-Alexander was crossing halfcourt, the Lakers were showing him multiple bodies. But of course, the Thunder star made the right plays over and over again, and the rest of the Thunder squad was able to pick up the slack.

It is jarring, however, to see Gilgeous-Alexander fail to record 20 points or more in a single game. In fact, this is the first time this season that the Thunder star has scored fewer than 20 points, and the last time he finished with a point total under 20 was all the way back in the 2025 NBA playoffs, when he scored just 18 in their Game 3 loss in OT to the Denver Nuggets.

That game was when the cameras caught Gilgeous-Alexander smiling even after a loss, giving off an air of confidence (or arrogance, depending on how one looks at it) even after OKC went down 2-1 in the series. Simply put, this kind of game is not going to bring SGA’s confidence down one bit; in fact, this might just serve to rile him up even further to try and pop off in Game 2 against the Lakers.

Even with SGA not having the best of scoring nights, the Thunder just blew the Lakers out for the fifth time this season. Chet Holmgren led the team in scoring with 24 points, while Ajay Mitchell continued to step up amid Jalen Williams’ absence, recording 18 points himself as well.

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