Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the young Thunder to the top of the West

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, base de los Thunder de Oklahoma City (EFE/Will Oliver)

Who would have said it? Oklahoma City, one of the youngest teams in the NBA, remained No. 1 in the West after giving a historic beating to Dallas. Not even everyone’s champion and favorite, Denver Nuggets. Not even the Minnesota Wolves, Pablo Prigioni’s team that was left in the dust.

To think that two years ago the Thunder went 24-58. Those were times when he played to complete the schedule and added players, like Gaby Deck, to reach the salary minimums… But everything began to change last season, he won 40 of 82 games and ended up in the Playoffs. In this season he was much more than a revelation.

With one of the NBA’s new superstars, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, as their basketball leader. And with a group of very talented young people who understood the message and the game identity proposed by Mark Daigneault, a young coach (38 years old) who surprised everyone because it was only thought that he would be in the transition…

The dance against the Mavs by 135-86 gave them the mark of 57-25 and the slight advantage to overcome the Nuggets and the Wolves.

Kenrich Williams, another of the pieces that makes his contribution by making the most of the minutes he has

Shai had a season to argue for the MVP with Jokic and Doncic, in another demonstration of foreign power in the NBA. The Canadian, with a maturity that exceeds his 25 years, closed with averages of 30.3 points, 6.2 assists and 5.6 rebounds. At his side he has two top forwards who generate and score, like Josh Giddey, the 21-year-old Australian who does everything (12.4, 6.4 and 4.8), and Jalen Williams, a 23-year-old forward who scores fluently (19.2) but not only that (6.4 passes and 6 recoveries). Not to mention Chet Holmgren, the unicorn who two years ago got a bad injury before the start of the season, but in the current season he showed all his talent, playing 81 of the 82 games, and doing a lot (16.6, 8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks). The balance is provided by Lu Dort, the other Canadian who is a war tank and a defensive specialist (11 and 3.6 rebounds).

A complete team that placed third in offensive rating and fifth in defense. Thus it was, in relation to expectation-result, the best of the 30, with almost 13 more victories than expected. In Oklahoma City the “come on, let’s go kids” is already thundering and one of the smallest markets in the NBA is once again excited like in the era of Durant, Westbrook and Harden.

2024-04-15 18:47:28
#Oklahoma #City #surprising #West #NBA