Thunder's Gilgeous-Alexander hungry to cap MVP season with NBA crown
OKLAHOMA CITY: Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has piled up the individual accolades in leading the Thunder to the NBA Finals, but the Canadian guard says a title triumph against the Indiana Pacers is the prize that matters.
"I don't play for the individual stuff, I don't play for anything else besides winning – I never have in my whole life," Gilgeous-Alexander said on Wednesday, a day before the Thunder host the Pacers in game one of the best-of-seven championship series.
From youth basketball in Canada through university basketball in the United States, Gilgeous-Alexander said, his focus has been on winning titles.
"Now I'm 26, I want to win the NBA championship," he said. "It's always about winning for me."
With that goal in his sights, Gilgeous-Alexander delivered a spectacular season that saw him supplant Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic as the NBA Most Valuable Player.
"SGA" averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds. 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocked shots per game in leading the Thunder to an NBA-best 68 regular-season wins.
He became the first player to lead the league in games with at least 20 points (75), 30 points (49), 40 points (13) and 50 points (four) in a season since James Harden in 2018-19.
Named MVP of the Western Conference finals after the Thunder dispatched the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games, Gilgeous-Alexander could become the first league scoring champion since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000 to win the NBA title in the same season.
Gilgeous-Alexander said it had been "a long week to wait" since polishing off Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves – which followed a seven-game victory over Jokic and the Nuggets in the conference semi-finals.
He acknowledged after the conference semis that he'd been nervous in the run-up to game seven – but that experience has only helped him in the build-up to the Finals.
"As these playoffs go on, you get better in controlling the situations, controlling your emotions. You understand what's coming," he said.
"I just figured out how to navigate through all the emotions and the nerves and the waiting process, which is just plugging into my loved ones, try not to think about it so much, stress about it so much – just enjoy life and stay in the moment."
In addition to not looking too far forward, Gilgeous-Alexander said he is also not yet looking back on what has been an historic season for the Thunder.
"I've been so focused on just game one," he said. "Trying to be the best version of myself for this group and trying to make sure that we're clicking on all cylinders on the biggest stage of our careers has been on the forefront of my mind and all I do worry about when I worry about basketball." - AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Swimming-Canadian teen McIntosh shatters 400 metres freestyle record
FILE PHOTO: Aug 23, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Multiple gold medal winning Canadian Olympian Summer McIntosh poses with her Olympic medals at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports/File photo (Reuters) -Canadian three-times Olympic champion Summer McIntosh set a world record in the women's 400 metres freestyle at the Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria, British Columbia, on Saturday. The 18-year-old clocked 3:54.18 to better Australian Ariarne Titmus' mark of 3:55.38 set at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. "Going into tonight, I knew that my training has been really good these past few months, and I knew that I could do something special," McIntosh told public broadcaster CBC. "So being able to input my training in doing that - I didn't think my training would be 54.1 but I'm really happy with that." At the Paris Olympics, McIntosh became the first athlete from Canada to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games. In Paris, the four-times World Aquatics champion won gold in the 400 metres individual medley, 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley, as well as taking silver in the 400 freestyle. But things felt different at the Canada trials. "I just felt so strong throughout, and that's never been the case in the 400 freestyle for me. That last 100, I'm always really, really hurting. "But I flipped at the 200 and I was just cruising, so I knew that I was having a strong swim. I could tell by the crowd and knew the way they were cheering that I was probably close to the world record. "So I really tried to push that last part for them." (Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)
The Star
21 hours ago
- The Star
Tennis-Gauff moves fast to ease Spike Lee's NBA pain
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 7, 2025 Film director Spike Lee with his wife Tonya Lewis Lee are seen in the stands during the women's singles final between Coco Gauff of the U.S. and Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes PARIS (Reuters) -When Coco Gauff saw that Spike Lee was attending her French Open final against Aryna Sabalenka, she felt she could cheer up the American film director after the recent NBA heartbreak suffered by his beloved New York Knicks. Gauff upset world number one Sabalenka 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 on Saturday to win her second Grand Slam singles title. "It was honestly the first time I really met him up close," Gauff told a press conference. Having spotted Lee watching her in previous matches, including at the U.S. Open, Gauff was thrilled to see him courtside again during the warm-up against Sabalenka. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, Spike Lee is there'," she said. "I thought, if I win this match, the first person I'm going to see is Spike Lee." And she did, making a beeline for Lee to share a joyful celebration despite the Knicks' painful loss in the NBA's Eastern Conference finals last week. "I wanted to tell him that even though the Knicks didn't win, I gave him something to cheer for," Gauff said. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Haliburton's last-second shot lifts Pacers over Thunder
Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton had 14 points and 10 rebounds. (AP pic) OKLAHOMA CITY : Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton sank the game-winning basket in the final second to give the Pacers a stunning 111-110 fightback victory over Oklahoma City in today's opening game of the NBA Finals. Haliburton, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds, gave the Pacers their only lead of the game on a dramatic 21-foot jump shot with 0.3 of a second remaining to deliver a shocker after Indiana had trailed by 15 points with 9:42 remaining. 'We got the stop and coach trusts us in those moments to not call a timeout, trusts me in those moments, guys trust me and just trying to make a play,' Haliburton said of the last shot. 'Basketball is fun, man, winning is fun,' he added in an on-court interview. 'That's a great win for us.' With a game-closing 14-2 run, the Pacers seized a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 2 on Sunday at Oklahoma City. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 19 points while reserve Obi Toppin added 17, Myles Turner had 15 and Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard each added 14. 'It was a total team effort, we had so many guys chip in. Obi was huge off the bench, Myles in the fourth, Andrew Nembhard in the fourth – so many guys stepped up and just really proud of this group,' Haliburton said. The finish evoked memories of the first game in the Eastern Conference finals, when a Haliburton shot at the buzzer bounced high and went in to force over-time as the Pacers stunned New York on the way to a series victory. The Pacers seek the first NBA crown in their 58-year history while the Thunder, who took a title in 1979 as Seattle, have not won a crown since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008. Indiana overcame 24 turnovers and a 38-point performance by Oklahoma City's NBA Most Valuable Player and top season scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. A 12-2 run pulled Indiana within 98-94 with 6:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, with Turner and Toppin each making two three-pointers in the spurt. The Thunder, with the NBA's best regular-season record, clung to the lead as Gilgeous-Alexander made a driving layup and added two free throws for a 106-98 edge with 3:24 remaining. Aaron Nesmith and Nembhard sank back-to-back three-pointers to lift Indiana within 108-105 with 1:59 remaining and after a layup by Gilgeous-Alexander, Nembhard made two free throws and Siakam scored off a rebound to lift the Pacers within 110-109. Resilient Pacers Nesmith rebounded a Gilgeous-Alexander miss to set up Haliburton's game-winning shot. 'We just had to figure out how to win in so many different ways all year,' Haliburton said. 'There's so many weird different ways… we're a resilient group… We keep believing and we stay together.' Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points in the first quarter and the Thunder forced nine turnovers on the way to a 29-20 lead. Oklahoma City surged to a 57-45 half-time lead with 19 points from 'SGA' while the Thunder, playoff leaders at forcing turnovers, got 18 from Indiana in the first half. The Pacers pulled within 85-76 entering the fourth quarter but a Jalen Williams slam dunk produced the Thunder's biggest lead at 94-79 with 9:42 remaining, setting up the intense finish. Oklahoma City lost its only prior NBA Finals appearance in 2012 to Miami while the Pacers dropped their only prior NBA Finals trip in 2000 to the Los Angeles Lakers.
