Featured Image Credit: Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images
Topics: Basketball, Lebron James, Michael Jordan, NBA, Steph Curry
Godwin Mathew
Topics: Basketball, Lebron James, Michael Jordan, NBA, Steph Curry
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led his OKC Thunder side to a historic championship win over the Indiana Pacers. And in doing so, put himself in the NBA history books in a way that not even Steph Curry can claim.
The Canadian guard scored 29 points and dished out 12 assists in Game 7 to help the OKC Thunder get to a 103-91 win against the Indiana Pacers.
He was brilliant throughout Game 7 and stepped up whenever it looked the Pacers were gathering momentum for a comeback.
SGA finished the seven game series averaging 30.3 points per game, completing his brilliant overall season being crowned an NBA champion.
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The league president, Adam Silver, announced Gilgeous-Alexander as the Finals MVP for his contributions in the series and this helped him earn a place in an exclusive league.
The Thunder player came into the Finals as the MVP of the league.
He put up brilliant numbers in the regular season and while there were expectations he could carry the same form into the playoffs, things would get a little tougher for him there.
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But SGA let his game do the talking and led his side from the front to take away the Finals MVP trophy.
The 26-year-old is only the 11th player to win the MVP, Finals MVP AND NBA championship in the same year.
LeBron James and Michael Jordan are the other players on the list alongside other Hall of Famers like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Stephen Curry was close to joining the list in 2016 as he was named the unanimous MVP and made it to the NBA Finals as well.
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But he was beaten there by James, who rallied his troops from a 3-1 deficit to win his third championship in an historic Cleveland Cavaliers comeback.
SGA came into the season as one of the most dynamic point guards in the league after he showcased glimpses of what he could do last year.
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Shai picked up from where he left off with the Thunder as from the first game itself SGA and Thunder showed that they were determined to win a championship.
The Canadian won the scoring title for his consistent and efficient scoring, which in turn helped the Thunder dominate their opponents.
They won 68 games in the regular season and this led to him being awarded the MVP trophy despite competition from Nikola Jokic.
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But regular season success would not mean much if he would not lead the team to a championship, which is why a big SGA performance was needed in the playoffs.
That is exactly what he delivered as the Thunder player put the team on his back several times to take them over the finish line, averaging 29.9 PPG.
He also joined an exclusive list of only four players to have won the regular season scoring title, regular season MVP, Finals MVP and the championship.
Shaquille O'Neal, Jordan and Abdul-Jabbar are the other names on the list.
All three of them are Hall of Famers and legends of the game, which shows how special an achievement it is for him to be in the list as a 26-year-old.