It's no secret that the OKC Thunder have the best scoring weapon in the NBA in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
After leading the league in scoring throughout the regular season, the game's newest MVP has managed to transition this level of expertise right on into the playoffs, where he not only ranks second in points per game averages but, after Sunday's 34-point explosion, [has set the record](https://thunderousintentions.com/okc-thunder-shai-gilgeous-alexander-reset-long-standing-nba-finals-record) for most points ever scored by a player in their first two career NBA Finals games with 72.
Of course, even with this elite production, Oklahoma City should still be trying to share the load on the offensive end, for any sign of predictability could be of great benefit to the Indiana Pacers as it has been throughout the postseason.
Thunder must shy away from hero-ball offensive approach with SGA
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As witnessed during Games 1 & 2 of the championship round, Indiana is more than content with allowing Gilgeous-Alexander to do his thing in the scoring department -- after all, it's a well-established concept that the 26-year-old is [one of the hardest assignments](https://youtu.be/bch4HZ7fqdI) for a defense to try and stop.
With this approach, however, it's imperative for an opposing club to focus on making all secondary and tertiary scoring options uncomfortable.
This is exactly what the Pacers did in the series opener, as they held the likes of Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and the entire bench to a putrid 17-49 shooting (34.6 percent).
As a result of this in-your-face defense thrown at SGA's supporting cast, Indy managed to keep things within striking distance throughout, before ultimately storming back in the fourth and claiming the lead for good at the .3 mark in regulation.
Frankly, this has been a prominent approach for the team throughout their underdog playoff run to this point, as they regularly forced all three of the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks to play hero-ball with guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Donovan Mitchell, and Jalen Brunson.
It should come as no surprise that Indiana's game plan held all three of their opponents to fewer than 24.0 assists per game in each round they squared off. When it comes to how they handled the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, they even found themselves letting up as low as 19.5 assists a night.
For the Thunder to avoid a similar fate, they'll need to prioritize sharing the wealth and ensuring that their non-SGA players get going early and often.
Already, they've proven capable of doing exactly that in this year's title round, as they saw five players drop 15 or more points during their commanding Game 2 win (first team to do so since the 2019 Toronto Raptors).
Looking to execute in a similar manner the rest of the way should undoubtedly be the desired course of action for Mark Daigneault's scheme.
It's already understood that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is destined to stuff the scoreboard with his own personal contributions. However, to avoid falling into the trap that all the other opposing star players Indiana faced did, perhaps focusing on getting his teammates involved is equally as important, and perhaps even more so.