
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finally plays like NBA’s MVP at perfect time for Thunder
NY Post
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hadn’t had an MVP moment in these NBA Finals, hadn’t grabbed hold of a game and seized it in winning time.
That changed Friday night, when the Pacers had Game 4 in their hands and he ripped it away — along with home-court advantage in these NBA Finals — thanks to one of the best endgame performances in the last half-century.
With Oklahoma City trailing by four with 2:59 left, Gilgeous-Alexander had 11 of his 35 points down the stretch. It’s the most in the last three minutes of a Finals tilt in 50 years and carried the Thunder to a 111-104, come-from-behind victory in a game they absolutely had to have.
“We knew it when we woke up this morning; 3-1 is a lot different than 2-2 going back home. We played with desperation to end the game, and that’s why we won,” Gilgeous-Alexander said in a postgame TV interview. “We got to try to maintain the same desperation going into Game 5, Game 6, whatever it may be.”

Suddenly, someone had hit a rewind button and everyone had been transported back seven months. It was early spring instead of late fall, it was broiling hot outside the arena walls and not freezing cold. Everyone was back at TD Garden. There were 19,156 frenzied fans on their feet begging for blood, poised for the kill.












