Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder drew first blood in their Western Conference finals matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home. With Gilgeous-Alexander leading the attack, Oklahoma City came away with a 114-88 victory on Tuesday night to go up 1-0 in the series.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot just 10-for-27 from the field and missed all four of his attempts from behind the arc, but he still generated a game-high 31 points, thanks in large part to his 11-for-14 shooting from the free throw line. A master of drawing fouls, Gilgeous-Alexander earned several trips to the charity stripe, though, many believed that he made a concerted effort to bait refs into blowing their whistles by flopping.
“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander practicing his foul baiting techniques before the game,” a social media user on X (formerly Twitter) posted along with a video of a guy pretending as though he was getting shot repeatedly.
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“This was what people were warning about once SGA got to the playoffs, as there is no whistle on this play,” X account @bballbreakdown shared, as a caption for a video showing Gilgeous-Alexander seemingly trying to induce contact while driving to the basket.
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A different post uses a clip of the former Kentucky Wildcats star losing his balance after a slight contact with Timberwolves power forward Jaden McDaniels: “Another insane SGA flop. There is no way this is a foul in the NBA let alone a foul in the playoffs where “it’s supposed to be more physical.” Shai goes into McDaniels and flops. It’s obvious. Doris saying ‘idk how he finishes this play' lol there was no contact.”
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While Gilgeous-Alexander had a total of 14 attempts from the foul line, the Timberwolves shot just 15-for-21 on their freebies.
The free throw line has been a gift that keeps on giving this season for Gilgeous-Alexander, and despite the criticism about his style of play, expect the Thunder star to continue his ways, given his success.
Gilgeous-Alexander was third overall in the league during the 2024-25 NBA regular season with 8.8 free throw attempts per contest. Among players whose teams have made it to the second round at least, Gilgeous-Alexander is second with 9.2 attempts from the foul line per game, so far in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
a]:text-link [&_>a]:underline">Rexwell Villas is an experienced sports writer covering a variety of sports, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college football. He's a Communications Arts graduate from the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines.