SAN ANTONIO — Subtlety and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander don’t spend much time together. He’s a neon personality with an extravagant game and an unapologetic disposition.
But his deconstruction of the San Antonio Spurs in Oklahoma City’s 123-108 win on Friday in Game 3, seizing control of the Western Conference finals, was shrewd enough to overlook. A (presumably unintentional) master class in trolling.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s 26 points and 12 assists won’t register among his greatest performances. Still, it fits as a microcosm of his manifold excellence and single-minded approach. After lighting up San Antonio in Game 2 with 30 points and 9 assists, SGA used the Spurs’ reaction to his breakout to his advantage in Game 3. And it played right into his role as antagonist in this playoff production.
The Spurs fans in pastel shirts at Frost Bank Center chanted “FLOP-PER! FLOP-PER!” — derision aimed at SGA and featuring enough volume and condescension to feel like a hook on a dis record. They jeered as they spent pregame hate-watching videos of Gilgeous-Alexander’s blatant attempts to draw fouls.
“I expect that from the opposing team,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They’re not going to like me. They shouldn’t. I get it. It is part of the game. They’re doing their part in making the game exciting. Watching sports, playing sports, my whole life — that’s always what it’s been in. Just because it’s me, it’s no different. I expect that from them. I honestly like it. It makes the game more interesting and more fun, more exciting. Whether they’re for or against me.”
The notorious foul baiter, who gets up seven times and falls down eight, and who sometimes gets a whistle that makes the refs seem more like his Secret Service detail, did something even more irritating to his critics. SGA burned the Spurs by drawing actual fouls.
After San Antonio jumped out to a 15-0 lead, Oklahoma City walked them down slowly, like the killer in an 80s horror film. The Thunder’s depth paid massive dividends. Jared McCain, Alex Caruso, Jaylin Williams, they led a backup group that captured control of the game.
In the third quarter, when San Antonio tried to take a stand, the franchise player took the baton. He put all the pressure, all the attention, all the weight on him. His comfort in adversity, the first on the road in these playoffs, worked like a beacon for his teammates.
“They obviously jumped on us early,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “First game in their building. The crowd was going to be behind them. They were going to be excited to play. We just wanted to make sure that we competed from that point on. We obviously didn’t give our best effort to start the game, but you can’t do nothing about it. It’s behind us. So all I could do was focus on the next position, and we did that.”
On Friday, there were plenty of actual fouls mixed in with some apparent flops as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made life tough for the Spurs’ defense. (Daniel Dunn / Imagn Images)
The drama of the playoffs tends to create villains. Even players like Gilgeous-Alexander, who was once an underrated player who was almost universally loved, become targets of fury. SGA is no longer an underdog. His chest of accolades brims with trophies and records. He’s a basketball one-percenter and, thus, ripe for derision. He and his Thunder.
But Shai’s cold, on a level where genius and mischief start to blend. So much so, he’ll wear the black hat like a fashion statement, with a durag underneath.
The winner of Game 3 in a series tied 1-1, historically, wins the series better than 70 percent of the time. So Friday’s showdown carried, at minimum, a psychological advantage. And SGA led his Thunder into the mental warfare stage of a series — when familiarity arrives, along with tension, and urgency heightens as elimination enters the picture.
Gilgeous-Alexander is so built for this. Behind that Cheshire cat grin of his lies a player who loves this part. He knew the significance of going into San Antonio and putting the Spurs on their back foot. So he did.
His 12 second-half free throws did more than salvage an uninspiring night by the MVP. They became the thorn in the side of the Spurs. Gilgeous-Alexander’s aggression, body control and mastery of leverage had San Antonio’s aggressive perimeter defenders off balance. He also kept the home team out of rhythm, unable to string together slots. And his passing, as much as his pumpfakes, kept the Spurs out of position. By the time they adjusted, SGA was already a step ahead.
Stephon Castle led a train of San Antonio defenders assigned with smothering the Thunder superstar. All of them were backed up by Victor Wembanyama, whose rim protection makes even SGA hesitant in the paint. So, once again, the Spurs held the two-time MVP down to something reasonable. He entered the second half with 9 points on 9 shots.
But Gilgeous-Alexander — who once said he already has the answers, he just needs the questions — didn’t panic or press to find his groove. He treated the first half like reconnaissance. He catalogued tendencies and schemes, timing and emotions. Friday, his third attempt at this particular puzzle of Spurs coach Mitch Johnson’s defense, Gilgeous-Alexander leaned away from the smoothness of midrange jumpers and the beauty of step-backs. Instead, he pulled out the proverbial chessboard.
Castle’s aggression. Carter Bryant’s youth. Wembanyama’s thirst for blocks. Gilgeous-Alexander used it all, baiting the Spurs defense into leaning, chasing, committing. And if he wasn’t throwing a pumpfake to get a defender in the air, he was zipping a pass in a direction opposite to where he made the defense lean.
SGA didn’t need to embellish the contact, though on occasion he did, as Spurs players left their feet and crashed into him. In Game 3, the sophistication of Gilgeous-Alexander radiated. The kind earned from his obsession and refined by his championship experience. He used the threat of what the Spurs knew could happen if they didn’t corral him to nestle further into the headspace of his detractors.
“I think probably half of them were from (us being) undisciplined,” Johnson said of the Spurs’ fouls. “First off the floor. He got us out of position and took advantage of it. … I can’t remember how he got all 12 free throws. But I know a few of them were pretty good defense, it felt like, up until that point. And it’s tough because he gets to spots and he makes tough shots. But you’ve got to keep fighting that urge to try to do more and stay with it.”
The evening’s antagonist gave the people what they didn’t want to see but couldn’t deny. Savvy is genius applied practically. And what makes SGA’s so effective is its precision.
Gilgeous-Alexander left Game 3 knowing every reaction was predicted and every San Antonio misstep invited. The Spurs didn’t get beat as much as they were solved. It wasn’t dominance in the way he’s been known to impart it. But it was just as deliberate.
And for those who see him as the villain, just as frustrating.
