Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an off-night in Game 1 against the Lakers, where technically his season-long streak of 20-point games came to an end (different from his 140-game regular season streak, which still remains active). He finished the game with 18 points, six assists, and two rebounds while shooting 8-15 from the field (53.3 FG%) but also recording seven turnovers.
But despite that, the Thunder came away with an 18-point win over the Lakers (108-90) to take a 1-0 lead in their Western semifinals series. Even after the MVP frontrunner struggled to retain possession, the Lakers’ offense mainly could not capitalize.
According to Stephen A. Smith, the Lakers’ offense is so horrible that the Thunder don’t even need Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to play for them to win this series. He spoke about the Thunder’s championship chances without Jalen Williams when he also took a shot at the Lakers.
“JDub is not available in the conference finals. They need him to repeat this championship run. They need Jalen Williams,” said Smith while talking about his pick for the Finals from the West.
“They don’t need him to beat the Lakers. Hell, the way the Lakers looked against them in Game 1, you could damn near sit SGA out with J Dub, and they would still find a way to beat the Lakers. That’s how I feel about them.”
“But I just think they are heads and shoulders above the Lakers. With SGA being there, there is no contest. I think it comes down to JDub being in that lineup. I think San Antonio and Minnesota would have a strong chance of taking out Oklahoma City without JDub.”
The Lakers are not expecting Luka Doncic to be back in this series. But it is interesting to note that his initial timeline was eight weeks, which, as per expert sports injury expert Dr. Jesse Morse, could be cut down to six weeks with the PRP treatment he went to Spain for. So there is a chance that he could be ready by the end of next week. But by that time, Game 4 of this series would have elapsed.
Essentially, the Lakers need to steal two games (preferably Game 3 and 4 at home) to extend this series for them to have a realistic chance of getting Doncic back to action. He is their only hope of potentially winning this series.
But even with him back in action, he hasn’t played basketball in a month and could still be rusty like Austin Reaves has been so far in his return from injury. So there is no guarantee that his return will get a win. But it will surely improve their chances, as at this point, even LeBron James has admitted, his absence is becoming too big a hole for the team to fill.
However, if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were not available for the Thunder, I would not jump to the conclusion that the Thunder would manage to beat the Lakers in this series.
Gilgeous-Alexander is currently averaging 30.6 points, 7.6 assists, and 3.4 rebounds in these playoffs while shooting 54.8% from the field. Just like the Lakers find it hard to fill the gap of Doncic’s absence, similarly, the Thunder will struggle to have a consistent first option who can score whenever he wants.
Moreover, everyone said the same thing about the Rockets, and we can see how they performed without Kevin Durant against the Lakers. So that is once again, a bit inflammatory from Smith and potentially meant to just hurt the Lakers’ morale.
