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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dazzles in Game 7 win for Oklahoma City Thunder

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Former Kentucky star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could soon be in line to receive his first career MVP award. On Sunday, he was at his best in an elimination game, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a resounding win over the Denver Nuggets.

The series between Western Conference foes was a true back-and-forth battle all the way. It led up to Sunday’s Game 7 in a do-or-die meeting for both sides, pitting the 2 MVP frontrunners head-to-head one final time in Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver big man Nikola Jokic.

While Jokic had another well-rounded performance, the star of the game was Gilgeous-Alexander, and he led all scorers with 35 points. He was efficient all game long, shooting 12-for-19 from the floor and 3-for-4 from 3-point range.

Gilgeous-Alexander rounded out his performance with 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals and went an incredible +32 in +/-. He was 1 of 5 Thunder players with a +/- greater than 30.

While it was a hard-fought series, Sunday’s blowout victory allowed Gilgeous-Alexander to exit the game with more than 7 minutes remaining to a thunderous round of applause:

Sunday’s performance was the 5th game of 30+ points for Gilgeous-Alexander in the 7-game series. He also shot better than 50% from the floor 4 times.

While fans wait to see if Gilgeous-Alexander wins the league’s MVP award, he is currently the favorite to win the Finals MVP award this season, coming in at -145 via DraftKings. New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson (+600) and Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards (+650) are the next closest in those odds, and fans can grab the DraftKings Kentucky promo code to get into the action with the conference finals on deck.

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.