Stephen A. ADAMANT Shai Gilgeous-Alexander IS SPECIAL + PAY ATTENTION to the Mavericks! | First Take

Stephen A. ADAMANT Shai Gilgeous-Alexander IS SPECIAL + PAY ATTENTION to the Mavericks! | First Take

Bigger headline was it Dallas’s win or the Clippers loss for me it’s the Clippers loss it’s it’s the Clippers loss I mean Dallas it’s really really nice to see what Kyrie who was spectacular last night and Luca who seems to always be spectacular it’s really nice to see what they’re

Doing in the midst of the seven game winning streak but people keep remember they got to remember the previous 27 games and so neither one of them were in the lineup together one was missing games or the other was missing games and so what we’re seeing from the Dallas

Mavericks now is what we expect to see from them when they’re on the court together I don’t know if anybody expected to see what we’re seeing from the Oklahoma City Thunder the Clippers didn’t lose last night they got their ass kicked they got their ass kicked in

That second half Shay Gil just Alexander is a leading candidate for League MVP honors I’ve got Jason Tatum at number one I’ve got no problem with having Shay gilis Alexander at number two to 38 and 17 this brother’s averaging 31 a game he leading he’s second in the league in

Scoring and he’s the league leader in assist you’ve got eight players in NBA history that have averaged over 30 with two steals per game in a season he’s one of them he’s on the verge of being the ninth player Michael Jordan did it eight times this is what we’re talking about

You watch Shay gilis Alexander last night you watch him Boogie on the on the Los Angeles Clippers Paul George is on that Squad he’s a Defender kawh lonard is on that Squad he’s a Defender Norman po Russ Westbrook in the world and others they ain’t slouches this brother

Was dancing on dudes dancing on them Shay gilis Alexander is special special now they might be a little thin they might be a little young I’m looking at Jay and Williams I love this brother’s game Chad hram I can’t sniff at it I’m looking at Giddy and the rest of these

Brothers they can play but Shay gildas Alexander is on another level and we looked at the Los Angeles Clippers and we said to ourselves watching them over the last few months James Harden hasn’t missed the game since he arrived in Los Angeles I remember Wendy coming on this

Show and talking about kawh lennet should needing to be a leading candidate for League MVP with how Sensational he’s looking Paul George promised us he was going to play bully ball against everybody this season and has going about the business of stepping on a basketball court and doing exactly that

We look at Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell and what they bring to the table along with Terence man and the exceptional coach in the Ty Lou and we said yo the Clippers may take the west and then they went against Oklahoma City last night and Shay gilis Alexander put

On a show and danced around him and if he’s going to do that and these young thorough breads are going to answer the call we are 55 games in for that team and they are one game out of the lead in the western conference right now they

Are 38 they got 38 wins they’re 38 and 17 okay with 27 games to go they’re in route to a 50 to 52 53 win season we have to pay attention to the Oklahoma City Thunder and recognize the fact that if for no other reason about their realness it’s this brother right here

Shay gilis Alexander he is special and he is the one it’s not just special he’s the one with the ball in his hands he’s the one they give the ball to he’s the one that runs their offense he’s the one they go to the close he’s the one they

Go to to do everything in between and I haven’t seen anybody that has an answer for him look out look out Stephen A Shay gildas Alexander is inevitable and what I mean by that is you can’t stop him you mentioned they played 55 games games I think he’s

Played 51 or 52 of them guess how many times he scored 30 points 40 40 good luck keeping this guy out of his spots good luck keeping this guy off the scoreboard good luck keeping him off the foul line he just goes where he needs to

Go and he never breaks stride he never changes his facial expression he’s got gigantic long arms so he’s a beast to defend out in the point of attack and he’s got great Wing Defenders with him this team is so deep that they just traded a guy to the Charlotte horren and

Trey man who couldn’t crack their lineup he instantaneously is starting for them in Charlotte and they’ve won like four games with him as a starting uh guard uh this team is tremendous now the this game meant a lot Stephen A I know it was a game in February first game out of the

Break and all it’s easy to be a little sleepy this game was for the tie break and they they came in a half a game apart in the standings and I think the Thunder if they’re going to make a run they do because they’re so young they are going to need homecourt advantage

And so that matters that game was an important game they they they get right up on the the Timberwolves who you’re going to see tonight and they then they win that tie break it was almost like a double win for the Thunder and one thing I think we’re going to be talking about

A lot Stephen A in the upcoming months when we look at this Western Conference because it could go a bunch of different directions I have no idea who two through eight is going to be and look at this play in tournament right now right now if the playing tournament started

Right now you’d have the Lakers the Warriors and the sun you don’t think seating and and stuff might matter holy Moses you might if you’re if you’re a LeBron you might have to get through Steph and Durant just to get into the one8 matchup okay so that’s right the

Big thing that we’re going to see as we watch these matchups on play is size because some of these teams in the West can play with it some of them don’t play with size they play small some of them have trouble with it and the reason I’m

Bringing that up is I do want to talk real quick about the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline Dallas paid a heavy price they gave away a first round pick and a pick Swap and they really really pressed to to get a team here but the

Thing that they did Stephen A is they got bigger not only did they bring in PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford but they got Maxi kba back and now now all of a sudden they can play a lot bigger and I got to tell you you better pay attention

To the Dallas Mavericks they have 17 games in a row all seven since Kyrie came back in they’ve only Kyrie and Luca have only played 29 games together this season and they’re 10 games over 500 now obviously Kyrie’s got to stay healthy Luca is averaging 34 points a game we

Were going crazy over embid averaging 35 right this guy’s averaging 34 one of the league leaders in assist but let me get back to Shay gilas Alexander Wendy because you brought it up you talked about him he’s averaging over 30 that’s second in the league he’s averaging two over two steals that’s

First in the league he’s 66 he’s a 66 point guard with a handle with a shot and oh by the way you brought up free throws just so happens to shoot 88% from the free throw line and then the brothers that he’s playing with what we’re seeing they’re lacking is girth

Because obviously you look at Chad holgren and he’s about size in terms of girth but in but he’s seven feet tall here’s the bottom line with Williams with Dort with giddy with him and the other supplementary parts that they have we’ve got to take that in consideration

And say this they may lack girth they may lack size in terms of mass but they’re young thoroughbreds and I’m G to say this on National Television right now at some point in time I want to be very clear Sam presty is an exceptional executive I don’t I’m not casting any

Aspersions on him but I want to remind everybody you had Kevin Durant you have Russell Westbrook James Harden Reggie Jackson back in the day Serge Baka back in the day you’ve had Carmelo Anthony on that Squad you’ve had Paul George on that Squad you you I mean you’ve had

Pieces you’ve done everything but win a championship s prey has never in danger of losing his job he’s never in danger of not being seen as an elite executive and I get that but at some point in time you got to close the deal and when you

Think about the assets that he has coming down the pike because of the multitude of Trades that he’s been able to manufacture involving Russell Westbrook involving James Harden involving Paul George Etc the bottom line is this in the next three years or so there is no excuse for the Oklahoma

City Thunder to not win an NBA championship this kid Shay gildas Alex Ander is a superstar blossoming before our very eyes he is something special he is something special and when you have somebody that gifted who’s at the point spot who by the way can rival a Luca or

I say even Eclipse him because he can play as slow as Luca plays windy or he can speed it up in ways that Luca cannot Luca spectacular we know that but one nobody would accuse him of being a Road Runner a Speedster Shake Giles could do

Whatever you need him to do he could play Up Tempo he could slow it down it doesn’t matter America pay attention to me sheay gilis Alexander is spectacular he’s put he’s put us on notice we got to stop ignoring this kid he’s that special and if you’re Anthony

Edwards while I’m here in Minnesota because when I see Anthony Edwards today I’m gonna ask him about Shay gild just Alexander now because this brother’s coming and if Anthony Edwards wants to be that dude you going to have to deal with him because he is something to behold and

That’s what I want to Say

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith and Brian Windhorst go through the biggest storylines around the NBA right now, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s impact in the Thunder’s statement win over the Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks making waves recently.

0:00 Dallas’ win or the Clippers loss?
4:00 Windy’s take
6:00 Keep an eye on the Dallas Mavericks

#espn #firsttake #nba

✔️Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV