OKLAHOMA CITY -- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander surely knew he was close. More than 18,000 spectators definitely did. Those who arrived at Paycom Center on Thursday expecting history reminded him with every jab step and pump fake that followed his 19th point.
One more would push him past a basketball legend.
From his island just below the arc, Gilgeous-Alexander gave the fans time to revel. He sized up until they were wrapped around his finger. They roared while he held the ball as if Game 7 hung in the balance. Fans hoping to capture the moment grabbed their phones. An early third-quarter crowd rose to its feet.
The bucket that set the arena ablaze, that etched Gilgeous-Alexander’s name in history, was a midrange jumper, the shot he has built this historical run upon. It gave him his 127th consecutive game of at least 20 points, the longest such streak in NBA history, surpassing the streak of Wilt Chamberlain.
“Even if he doesn’t know, the way the crowd was standing and waiting, you could tell he knew,” Aaron Wiggins said after the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 104-102 win over the Boston Celtics. “Pump fake, pump fake, jab, jab, pump fake, pump fake -- then it goes up.”
Gilgeous-Alexander chuckled from across the locker room at Wiggins’ retelling. He could do so at that point, after the Thunder finished out a close win.
“I would’ve given up the record for the W any day of the week,” he told Amazon Prime’s Cassidy Hubbarth postgame. “So I’m glad we won, and I got the record.”
Gilgeous-Alexander could tell he would reach the mark eventually. Branded by his singular focus of chasing titles, he claimed that he had not checked his point total and that he had not done so in the middle of a game in a while.
But that sense of inevitability is baked into his run after 497 days -- 16 months -- of 20-point nights.
On Thursday, Boston aggressively denied Gilgeous-Alexander the ball, ignoring his personal space while face guarding him. His second field goal attempt did not come until midway through the first quarter. He still finished the first with 10 points, the half with 17 points, and the night with 35 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists on 13-of-18 shooting.
With a building on its heels, Gilgeous-Alexander played it slowly. When the Celtics threw two defenders his way, he bulleted passes to open teammates. He cycled through masterful reads. The Celtics drove him to make decisions, and yet it felt like he was manipulating them.
And when he reached that 20-point threshold, he wore his mask of indifference all the way to the bench. His expression remained flat, even as the video board displayed his silhouette beside the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain. But the crowd was elated. Teammates and coaches added to the roar of applause during the timeout.
They seemed to process his emotions for him.
Oklahoma City was fortunate to find a star after its initial attempt at a dynasty unraveled. But it found so much more in Gilgeous-Alexander. This crowd watched him grow from promising commodity to perennial All-NBA player. He was the consolation prize in a massive trade haul who turned into an NBA Finals most valuable player. They watched all 127 of these 20-point pieces and so many similar performances before then, clinging to them before they knew the lofty heights he would reach.
All he ever wanted was to win for them.
“The streak is a streak,” he said. “The awards are the awards. But the thing I’m most proud of is winning.”
His Thunder went 103-24 during his 127-game streak. He has left games before the fourth quarter with his chores already complete. He has entered crunchtime and seized those moments, cognizant that he has an affinity for pressure.
“What an impressive record,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “I’ve reflected on it, ‘cause you get lost in the season, you take for granted what you’re watching every night. No. 1, surgical with his craft. No one is more precise with their craft than he is. No. 2, the whole life of the streak has not prevented us from having a ton of team success.”
If this string of go-ahead buckets is any indication, Gilgeous-Alexander has nearly mastered his blend of decision-making. Where to swing when a double team encroaches. When to take matters into his own hands and subdue a defense with his midrange jumper.
Faced with a tied score and what appeared like the last shot, he watched Alex Caruso’s defender drift from the corner. Caruso was 1 for 7 from deep at the time. Gilgeous-Alexander reserved the right to seal the game with his own hands. He chose trust in Caruso.
“I just trust him wholeheartedly,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “The guy makes big-time plays, and he’s helped us, helped me, win a championship and achieve my dreams. I saw them point to the guy across the court to come off of him. So I kind of knew where the ball was going to go, and I just wanted to give him another opportunity to make a play.”
Gilgeous-Alexander unseated Chamberlain, a mythical center who once averaged 50 points for a season, for a record that celebrates consistency. He has stacked 20-point games to the point of regularity.
But fans at Paycom Center on Thursday were not taking him for granted. Among the replicas of Gilgeous-Alexander’s jersey with NBA Finals patches stitched below the neck were signs that linked him to a legend. They read: “Wilt’s history, Shai’s routine,” and “Wilt-nessing history #127!”
This was a crowd that has long embraced Gilgeous-Alexander’s reign as more than monotony. Their appreciation is palpable.
“I think the way that he works and the way that his improvement year by year has just kind of gone, I think that we’re all a part of and witnessing something very special,” Wiggins said.
Before the on-court clutter postgame could dissipate, Gilgeous-Alexander headed toward his family on the sideline. He removed his jersey, which was soaked after his teammates showered him with water, and bundled it inside a towel before handing it to them. He’s unsure of its destination.
“I’m bad with memorabilia,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I wanted to give it to them, so they know what to do with it before I lose it or forget. They’ll probably frame it or something.”
They will know what to do with it, how to appreciate what Gilgeous-Alexander cannot yet properly process.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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