OKLAHOMA CITY -- One day after his playoff run was cut shorter than anticipated, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called his season a failure due to the lack of a second consecutive championship.
“I failed at my goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve. But I learn the most about myself and make the greatest amount of increases in my career when I fail and don’t get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn’t get where I wanted to go this season. There’s a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s normally excellent efficiency dipped in the seven-game series loss to the San Antonio Spurs, as he averaged 25.9 points on 40.9% shooting and 28.6% on 3s, compared with 31.1 points on 55.3% shooting and 38.6% on 3s during the regular season.
He did score 35 points on 21 shots in a magnificent Game 7 performance, nearly willing the injured Thunder past the finish line. But that output came almost entirely against a swarming, overloaded Spurs defense designed to make life difficult on the two-time MVP.
San Antonio had surging two-way wing Stephon Castle hound Gilgeous-Alexander at the point of attack, shaded its help defense his direction and had perhaps the greatest rim protector in league history, Victor Wembanyama, looming behind the play and guarding the paint.
That led to an array of heavily contested midrange jumpers from Gilgeous-Alexander and a lower volume of shots at the rim.
“There’s a guy on their back line that is a little bit different,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Wembanyama. “They funnel everything to him. ... It’s a really good defense. But it’s not impossible to score. I just think it’s very different.”
Gilgeous-Alexander also didn’t have his usual help. Jalen Williams, the team’s No. 2 scorer, was limited to 54 minutes in the series after aggravating a tricky left hamstring injury early in Game 2. He returned for a brief Game 6 cameo before he was again ruled out for Game 7.
“Obviously I think I could have made an impact,” Williams said. “I think we could have won if I played. Went to seven with them without me playing. I don’t think I make us worse. That’s really my answer to that. But it’s also hats off to them. What do you want them to do about me being hurt?”
The Thunder were also without replacement starter Ajay Mitchell for a majority of the series. Mitchell had a big second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 22.5 points in the sweep, but strained his right calf in Game 3, ending his season.
Without Williams and Mitchell, some of the scoring burden was expected to fall on starting center Chet Holmgren. But Holmgren struggled in his matchup with Wembanyama and the Spurs, averaging 10.7 points on only 7.3 shot attempts in the seven games.
That included a nearly silent Game 7. Holmgren went 1-of-2 shooting in 33 minutes, scoring four points on the night of the Thunder’s elimination. He was able to get only three total 3s up the last four games of the series -- and he missed them all.
“I feel like part of it was being kind of closed out heavy,” Holmgren said. “Then also kind of just being a little bit out of rhythm sometimes. I feel like there were definitely opportunities to get more attempts up that I didn’t in the moment. That’s an area to improve.”
Gilgeous-Alexander defended Holmgren in the aftermath, saying the Thunder became the top seed in the West the moment Holmgren entered the lineup and reiterated that they “need Chet Holmgren” moving forward.
“I didn’t perform my greatest this series either,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked whether he’d talk to Holmgren about areas of improvement. “Chet won’t come to me with a development plan for the summer, you know what I mean? Chet knows how much I care about this game and want to be the best version of myself. I know how much Chet loves this game and wants to see the best version of himself.”
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