NBA TODAY | SGA tells Malika Andrews that Thunder capable of anything, include win championship

NBA TODAY | SGA tells Malika Andrews that Thunder capable of anything, include win championship

A little MVP Shay gilis Alexander scored 37 points in OKC’s win against Portland last night this season SGA is second in the league in scoring at 31 points per game while leading the Thunder to a current tie for first in the Western Conference standings SGA is now 13-point

Game away from tying KD for the most in a season in franchise history now side note that was KD’s MVP season by the way Shay gilis Alexander sat down with Malika Andrews this week take a listen It down you guys are the youngest team in the NBA the chemistry that you all have it do you have a appreciation for how special that is absolutely no knock on my first year in NBA was amazing um but I was that was the first time in my

Life I was on a team with like older guys guys with kids and family um this team feels like a college team like a high school team like a a team young thorough led by a brother that is busting everybody’s you know what Anthony Edwards he was asked recently in

An interview with my colleague Stephen A Smith about the Next Generation you Luca and he said I’m better than both those guys I expected him to say that I wouldn’t expec him to say one of us is better than him the thing about NBA players and especially guys that are that talented

U we all believe we’re the best we all believe what we bring to the table is special and unique and he has every right to think so and so you do too absolutely when the team is succeeding led by you who leads the league in total points in total steals the MVP

Conversation comes with it what would it mean to you to win MVP yeah it would be special something You Ahahahahahahah years from now back at your career what would be a successful 5-year run if we win an NBA championship do you think that that’s something that you’re capable of this year I think we are capable of anything would it be amazing would it be it’s all stuff you dream

About but at the core of it at my roote is just doing up in the morning love look you’ve got to believe to achieve here’s a look at the current MVP odds according to to ESPN bet yic is the favorite with SGA coming in at second at

Plus 220 so joic has a pretty large a pretty sizable lead in the MVP uh race over SGA right now so Brian is there any path for SGA to catch joic and win MVP this season I think it would really take the Thunder to win the number one seed and

Him to be a big factor in doing so jic has been so terrific he’s got a bunch of Big Time games left on his schedule including tonight obviously against the Celtics um but I do think for him to have a real chance and I think he’s

Going to get one eventually I do think he would sort of need that bullet point as the core part of his case well I think also to add to that you know jokic is still shining his championship trophy and I think a lot of this is just

Exposure right like we we talk about yic all the time where we’re I don’t ever want to become numb to his greatness because I think he’s one of the most phenomenal players to to ever walk the planet if I’m being honest but Shay we just don’t see them a lot in Oklahoma

City but what they’re building what s presty is building specifically and putting these pieces around gives a great shot shot to win a championship and as um you know once you win a championship um that’s really where so many people are just gauged and and they’re building down there so it’s

Exciting to watch you make a terrific point I think that Shay is setting the table for next season coming into the year he’ll be an odd Zone favorite to maybe win the award assuming that the Thunder continue to stay at the top of the uh Western conference the remainder

Of this year he just needs to continue like playing like he’s been playing uh keep them up near the top of the Western Conference joic look you can’t take anything away from the guy I think he has impacted the game in more areas you

Know not only is he a top 15 scorer he’s top five in both uh rebounding and assists so it’s going to be difficult to catch him in this year’s race see normally I love our producers and our researchers Schwarz is like literally one of the best in the businesses right

But there was one category that Shay actually owns that was not on that graphic it steals he leads the league in steals and so if we’re going to talk about yoit and his assist steals are hard to come by so I got to put respect

On that but no shade to you Schwarz no shade to you but Becky what do you think about this path for OKC because if they’re going to if he wants to win MVP right they need to be at the top and they need to make some noise in the

Playoffs can you see them getting there well obviously they’ve proven that they that they can win now winning in the playoffs and winning in the regular season playoffs is a different animal it just is um so I think yes they’re they’re placing themselves in a good

Spot to make a nice Deep Run the injury to cat influences whether you know they bump up or not but Denver I could still see sneaking in and grabbing that number one spot I still think the championship goes through Denver you know Becky you annoy me because you said you know what

You looked at me and you say you know when you win a championship the last time I won a championship was state championship okay so I can’t relate to that all the way but you know who else can the Nuggets because do nuggets defense um particularly in the second

Quarter but looking to this match up with sabonis hold up let’s stop right here first of all you see sabonis up guarding the pick and roll so when we’re talking about these matchups I think sabonis is tryhard Factor the attention to detail he’s up he’s engaged in this

Ball hand uh this pick and roll and if you let it roll here he keeps the ball in front they stop the ball stop right here and he’s picking the ball he’s in front and the name of the game with sabonis is angles right he has figured out these angles going against Anthony

Davis so here he does a great job knowing the Scout moves his feet takes the bump and contact instill verticality at The Rim that’s a tough shot okay he wins that battle we go down to the other end now in the offensive end stop ad D where you at man I know you’re

In a drop you’re pushing on the sidelines I get it you can still be up and involved a little bit of presence on the ball because what happened throughout the course of the game not just with this matchup is the ball penetration got way too deep into the

Laker defense and if you run it right here we have no physicality on the balls stop right here impact the ball you’re doing nothing back there he’s chilling he’s chilling come on ad come right here you can still get this angle back and keep him up and instead of meeting sabonis

Down here at The Rim as we run it you’d be meeting him up here again just too deep into the gut of the Laker defense yeah I I think you were joking you know before the show you could have been out there you know playing a little bit of

Defense as a guard fighting over the screens but this is what’s crazy right here it wasn’t just last night in his career sabonis is nine and0 head-to-head versus Anthony Davis and they will meet again as I mentioned earlier in a week so we will see what happens so Scott

What concerns you the most from what you saw from the Lakers last night well Becky touched on it beautifully at the end is that penetration into the lane and is any basketball player or basketball coach knows that is how you beat a defense it’s penetrating constantly and that’s the worst thing a

Defense can uh can happen to a team defensively de Aaron Fox got into that lane all night for easy layups easy floaters 32 of his 44 points it forces uh defensive teams to start to rotate help too much and that’s where we know a lot of mistakes are made during those

Times so uh the Lakers are going to have to show that up because they get into the playoffs they’re going to see Shake ildis Alexander who can get downhill they’re going to see Anthony Edwards who can get downhill Jamal Murray who can get downhill so the list goes on and on

They got to show up that perimeter defense and Becky you just did an excellent job breaking down the issues with ad sort of not being aggressive being aggressive on defense but Brian more than likely LeBron will need some nights off down this stretch Can ad carry the team on those nights especially

Offensively well ad is actually having a really great season he had his 50th uh double double of the year but that stat that we showed a second ago that sabonis is N9 and0 against ad in his career that is very relevant not just because they’re playing again here in a few days

In Sacramento but because this is lined up to potentially be a playin matchup potentially a a winner take all matchup to advance and you know the thing about sabonis is the he’s really tough to deal with in near the basket he’s number one in the league in rebounding and he’s the

Best defensive rebounder in the league when when he plays ad he takes away the offensive rebound that’s a big part of ad’s game because over the last two or three seasons he’s just stopped taking those outside shots if you go back and look he’s nowhere near the same outside

Shooter that he was when the Lakers won the title back in 2020 and when you don’t have sabonis in space that plays to his advantage and it’s played to his advantage in these last nine matchups and it’s it’s a schematic thing and it’s something for the Lakers to be concerned

About not just for the standings but for the actual head-to-heads with the Kings which there could be some giant ones in the very near future look we have had some for Fore fore spee fore foree spee spee fore speee for foree for Foree for Fore speech foreign foreign speech fore spee for foreign they see fore fore fore fore for Foree For Foreign spee foree spee foree foree fore

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NBA TODAY | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tells Malika Andrews that Thunder capable of anything, include win championship

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