The Thunder star is certainly showing maturity well beyond his years.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been through an exhausting month of January. They played 17 games, 11 of which came away from home, and to top it all off, they went through five back-to-backs. And yet here the Thunder stand tall. After their 105-100 win over the Nikola Jokic-less Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night thanks to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s 34 points, OKC has come out of January with an 11-6 record, helping maintain their status as one of the best teams in the association.
It’s Year 1 of contention for the Thunder in the Gilgeous-Alexander era, and now, expectations are mounting for a rapidly improving squad. With rising expectations come stronger disappointment when they fail to play up to par (like in their 120-104 loss to the Detroit Pistons), but nonetheless, Gilgeous-Alexander knows that all he can do is hold up his end of the bargain as he focuses on the things that he does have a hand in.
“No matter what’s going on in the past and the future, all you can do is control the present. We did that tonight. We took it possession by possession. We gave it everything we had on those possessions and it was enough, and made it rewarding because of it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said following the Thunder’s win over the Nuggets, per Nick Gallo of Bally Sports Oklahoma.
Indeed, all the noise surrounding the Thunder’s rapid ascent can be distracting, especially for such a young roster like the one OKC has. But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company seem to be very mature for their age. Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, in particular, show the poise and mindset of a 10-year NBA veteran, and it’s showing in the way they conduct themselves on the hardwood.
It’s only going to get difficult from here on out for the Thunder as they become the hunted instead of the hunters. It takes a different mindset to meet expectations than to play with house money, which they did entering the season. But with Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way, the Thunder are remaining even-keeled as they head into the stretch run that would determine their positioning in a loaded Western Conference top four.
Source link