OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥� When the season ended, and when his team’s reign as NBA champions ended along with it, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tipped his cap.
The Oklahoma City guard 鈥� the 鈥� was great in . The San Antonio Spurs were greater. And that meant there won’t be a repeat champion in the NBA this year.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points and was his normal brilliant self with an array of mid-range scores, paint attacks, even stepbacks over San Antonio’s 7-foot-4 wall named . It wasn’t enough and Gilgeous-Alexander made no excuses.
鈥淪o many things go into it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked about the difficulty of winning a championship 鈥� and trying to go back-to-back. “Sometimes it鈥檚 like things you can鈥檛 control, sometimes it鈥檚 things you can control. Yeah, it鈥檚 a hard task to do one time, so to do it twice will only make it even more challenging.鈥�
The Thunder played all season to have home-court advantage in Game 7 and got it by two games, winning 64 to San Antonio’s 62. But the Spurs beat the Thunder four out of five in the regular season, then got four more out of seven in the West finals. And Oklahoma City, to be fair, was not at its best 鈥� with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell out with injuries.
鈥淣ot to make any excuses, but they鈥檙e a really good team over there,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And losing Ajay and Dub the way we did in the midst of a series, you would think it would be a lot harder for us.鈥�
Oklahoma City looks like a team that is built to contend for years. So, too, do the Spurs. A rivalry seems very much born.
鈥淵eah, they鈥檙e young, they’re talented, well-coached,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. 鈥淧lay the right way, play together, seems like they like each other. They have the makeup, for sure. You don鈥檛 beat us without the makeup and they beat us. They have the makeup to go get one.鈥�
The Thunder will have some roster decisions to make and have multiple first-round picks to either use to add talent 鈥� or perhaps combine in a trade if they want to move up for a chance to draft a specific person.
Those decisions aren’t for Gilgeous-Alexander to make. Canada is hoping he’ll play a little bit of World Cup qualifying this summer 鈥� basketball’s next World Cup is in 2027 鈥� and he’ll be looking to add to his game, as elite players always do.
鈥淲e just have to take it one day at a time from here on out,鈥� Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Try to get better this summer, be a better team than we were this season 鈥� and try to get back over the hump.鈥�
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