Shai Gilgeous-Alexander followed up his first-ever league MVP award by leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA Finals -- and made a bit of history while doing it.
The Thunder dispatched the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94 in Game 5, earning the series win and advancing to the NBA Finals. Gilgeous-Alexander followed up his 40-point performance in Game 4 by scoring 34 points in Wednesday's win.
After the series win, the NBA took to social media to make an announcement about a historic achievement form Gilgeous-Alexander. The league noted that he achieved a statistical milestone matched only by two other players in NBA history.
"SGA is one of three players to reach 30+ points and 5+ assists at least 10 times in a single postseason!" the league's NBA History account posted on X. "The others? LeBron James (2015, 2017, 2018) Michael Jordan (1989, 1990, 1992)"
Gilgeous-Alexander earned the Western Conference Finals MVP award after the game, though Thunder coach Mark Daigneault stressed after the game that it was a total team effort in the win.
"I thought we had it all going," Daigneault said, via CBS Sports. "Defensive pressure, defensive help, game-plan execution. And then, offensively, the potency of the attacks. Minnesota threw different lineups, they threw different schemes today -- nothing we hadn't seen, but it was quick -- and our ability to pivot in response to that was impressive."
With the series win, Gilgeous-Alexander advance to the NBA Finals and await the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Indiana Pacers hold a 3-1 lead over the New York Knicks.