OKLAHOMA CITY — For the fourth time this season, Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reached the 50+ point plateau in a 137-128 win against the Houston Rockets. The Thunder secured their 50th win of the 2024-25 campaign, and similar to his teammate Chet Holmgren’s reaction to Gilgeous-Alexander’s eruption, it didn’t come as a surprise.
Gilgeous-Alexander is getting used to having big scoring nights, as long as the Thunder grab a victory; that’s his only concern.
“A little bit. You can say it’s not as exciting as the first one, but it’s more like getting lost in the process, just competing and playing the game you love,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Wherever that takes you, it takes you. It’s going to be different for everybody. Not everyone can be Michael Jordan, you know what I mean? No matter how much work you put in… just getting lost in the process and having fun with it, whether it’s 50, whether it’s 27, whether it’s 17. As long as we win.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was on pace for a 50+ point night when he scored 20 points in the opening frame. By halftime, he had 28 points. Then, he tacked on 17 third-quarter points before keeping the shorthanded Rockets at bay in the final frame to finish with 51 points on 18-0f-30 shooting, including 5-of-9 from deep, and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, where he earned a thunderous M-V-P chant at the Paycom Center.
He also added seven assists, five rebounds, one block, and one steal to his impressive stat line.
Mark Daigneault on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 51 points
Similar to his reaction to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s career-high 54 points, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault addressed Gilgeous-Alexander’s growth as an NBA scorer.
After Monday’s win, Daigneault pointed to the rapid improvements he’s made to his offensive approach since last season.
“If you look at his growth year over year, three-point shooting is definitely there,” Daigneault said. “The blend of shooting and attacking, and passing early, is definitely there. I just think he’s got an unbelievable pace to him right now, where he’s finding his stuff, he’s attacking, and really hitting the gas on some plays. Then, there [are] other plays, where he’s just letting the defense tell him what to do and moving it to his teammates.
“It’s allowing for the rest of the team to play really well at the same time as him. So, he deserves a lot of credit. You know there [are] ups and downs in a regular season, but if you look at where he was a year ago, it’s amazing how much improvement he’s made.”
The Thunder are on a four-game winning streak.
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