The Thunder turned a competitive game through three and a half quarters into a laugher down the stretch, pulling ahead on the strength of--you guessed it--Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's steady scoring (31 pts, 9 ast, 5 rbs, 3 stl) and stifling team defense. SGA overcame a slow start from the floor (2-13 first half FGA) by getting to the line (7-9 first half free throws, 11-14 overall) and, just as importantly, playing his role in OKC's defense. After enduring a hot start from Julius Randle (20 first half, raining-threes points) and the Wolves, OKC chewed away at Minnesota's 48-44 halftime lead possession-by-possession until it had become a 10+ points Thunder edge. Once in control and charging up a very..._loud_ Loud City, Oklahoma City never seemed in danger of losing this game, even before running away with it late.
Despite starting the two-bigs unit, Mark Daigneault once again employed a smaller rotation, but not a shorter one. Chet and iHart were great, and OKC enjoyed good games off the bench from Cason Wallace (whose playmaking is starting to extend to the offensive side of the court, with 7 assists tonight), Alex Caruso, Isaiah Joe and Kenrich Williams (!).
Shai keeps reminding the world that, in lieu of what is becoming quite the anticlimactic announcement from the NBA, he is the MVP. His individual brilliance on offense can be argued against Nikola Jokic, but Gilgeous-Alexander isn't just an offensive fulcrum for the title favorite. He's a key cog for one of the greatest defenses of all time, the defense that just snuffed out Jokic's Nuggets and that could carry the Thunder all the way to the title.
[**Next up:**](https://www.nba.com/schedule/thunder?cal=all®ion=1&ref=dailythunder.com) Game 2 is in Oklahoma City Thursday night. The Thunder will look to maintain home court advantage and a strong upperhand in the series.