INDIANAPOLIS — Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wouldn’t go as far as to say that fatigue was a factor in him fizzling in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s Game 3 loss to the Pacers.
But Gilgeous-Alexander was adamant that fatigue can’t be an excuse, no matter how much the Pacers make it a priority to wear him down.
“You got to suck it up,” Gilgeous-Alexander said Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “There’s a maximum four games left in the season. It’s what you worked the whole season for. It’s what you worked all summer for. To me, the way I see it, you got to suck it up, get it done and try to get a win.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA MVP, finished with 24 points and four assists in Game 3, a significant drop-off from his sensational 34-point, eight-assist performance in Oklahoma City’s Game 2 win. His six turnovers in Wednesday’s loss were the most he has committed in a playoff game.
Gilgeous-Alexander was held to only three points on 1-of-3 shooting with no assists as the Pacers rallied in the fourth quarter for the win that gave Indiana a 2-1 series deficit.
“I think we’re trying to make it tough on him,” said Pacers shooting guard Andrew Nembhard, the primary defender on Gilgeous-Alexander. “The biggest thing is just you’re persistent, trying to make it tough on him. It’s a team job. We all have to be locked in and tied together on that end of the floor to get it done.”
According to GeniusIQ tracking, a defender picked up Gilgeous-Alexander an average of 65.5 feet away from the basket when he was bringing the ball up in Game 3. That’s the furthest of any game in his career, regular season or playoff.
Gilgeous-Alexander brought the ball up the floor only 23 times, his second fewest in a game this postseason.
The Pacers also made Gilgeous-Alexander fight for every step in the half court. Indiana blitzed him 12 times, the most he has ever faced in a playoff game, according to ESPN Research.
And Indiana made Gilgeous-Alexander work relentlessly on the other end, too. He was the primary defender in 22 field goal attempts, which was also his most ever in a playoff game.
Yet Gilgeous-Alexander downplayed exhaustion as an issue in the fourth quarter, when the Pacers outscored the Thunder by a 32-18 margin for Indiana’s second comeback win of the series.
“I’m not too sure. I don’t think so,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s a physical game. We’ve had plenty of physical games. We’ve had games like that where I’ve been great late, games where I’ve stunk late. I don’t think it was anything out the blue, anything I hadn’t seen before.”
