Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to outdo himself.
Seven weeks after setting a new career high of 54 points, six weeks after challenging that marker with 52 and five weeks after dropping 50, Gilgeous-Alexander nearly set a personal best once again.
The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar went for 51 points Monday during a 137-128 win over the Houston Rockets. OKC is now 50-11 on the season, the first team in the Western Conference to reach 50 victories — and it got there before any other West squad won 40.
Fifty was the magic number Monday. Gilgeous-Alexander has made three All-Star appearances, two All-NBA teams and finished second in MVP voting a season ago, but he had never dropped 50 in a game until that 54-point outburst Jan. 22 against the Utah Jazz. He’s now done it four times.
“If you look at his growth year over year, 3-point shooting is definitely there. I think the blend of shooting, attacking and passing early is definitely there,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He’s got an unbelievable pace to him right now — he’s attacking and really hitting the gas on some plays. On other plays, he’s letting the defense tell him what to do and moving it to his teammates. It’s allowing for the rest of the team to play really well at the same time as him, so he deserves a lot of credit. There’s ups and downs in the regular season but if you look where he was a year ago, it’s amazing how much improvement he’s made despite being an elite player, an MVP candidate, a year ago.”
SHAI’S GOT 45 PTS THROUGH 3 👀
12 minutes to go on NBA TV… pic.twitter.com/vN8GwkGtpr
— NBA (@NBA) March 4, 2025
He finished the victory over the Rockets with five rebounds and seven assists, shooting 18 of 30 from the field, 5 of 9 from deep and 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.
The stat-packing performance provides one more glittering moment in what could turn into an MVP campaign for the 26-year-old in his seventh professional season. He leads the NBA in scoring at 32.3 points per game, which he pairs with 5.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists.
His efficiency remains through the roof, as it was against Houston.
He took only 35 shots to get to 54, 29 to get to 52 and 29 to get to 50. On a team that is starved for any free-throw advantage it can find (no one shoots as few free throws yet allows as many as the Thunder do), Gilgeous-Alexander is OKC’s savior. He’s gotten to the line 61 times during these four 50-plus point eruptions — and has made 92 percent of his attempts from the stripe.
Only fellow MVP candidate Nikola Jokić has taken on as large of a burden as Gilgeous-Alexander has this season while maintaining consistent efficiency at this level.
He finishes 33 percent of the Thunder’s plays with a shot, turnover or a drawn foul while he’s on the court, the third-highest percentage in the NBA, trailing only two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the head of the Charlotte Hornets, LaMelo Ball. As usage goes up, efficiency is supposed to decrease. But not in Oklahoma City. Or in Denver with Jokić. Or, frankly, in Milwaukee with Antetokounmpo.
Among players who finish an above-average amount of their team’s possessions, Gilgeous-Alexander is fourth in true-shooting percentage, an all-encompassing metric that takes into account the value of 2-pointers, 3s and free throws. Jokić is first.
This season will become Gilgeous-Alexander’s third consecutive one averaging 30-plus points. Only six other players (Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob McAdoo and James Harden) have done that.
He is averaging 35.1 points since that career-high outburst against Utah on Jan. 22, a 19-game heater. He is shooting 51 percent from the field, 43 percent from deep and 89 percent on almost 11 free-throws a game over that time.
Gilgeous-Alexander exploited Houston’s top priority
The Rockets, already missing multiple starters and more importantly, versatile defenders, utilized a zone defense for the majority of the evening. At its core, Houston wanted to keep Gilgeous-Alexander out of the middle of the floor and prevent penetration for as long as possible, willing to cede open 3s if push came to shove. The only issue — and perhaps the biggest one — is that the Thunder are second in the NBA in assists since the All-Star break and are also second in made 3s per game.
It didn’t take long for Gilgeous-Alexander to adjust to Houston’s base approach and routinely used their lack of cohesion to his advantage, finding gaps either for himself or his teammates. — Kelly Iko, Rockets beat writer
Required reading
(Photo: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images)
