Banner-raising teams are never built through one’s man work, but for as great as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s team is, basketball often has a funny way of forcing a Most Valuable Player to, at some point, produce that “put-the-team-on-my-back” moment. Poised and prepared as said opportunity arrived during Game Four of 2025’s NBA Finals, Gilgeous-Alexander confirmed himself as iconic, making scale-tilting plays on both ends of the floor. After the smoke had settled, the Pacers’ passes had been intercepted, and Gainbridge Fieldhouse was left in a stunned silence, one statistic stood above all: 15 points in the final four-and-a-half minutes for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s megastar. The methods were both as-expected and extraordinary at once, as Gilgeous-Alexander turned to his trademark, smoother-than-shea butter pull-ups — or perhaps “Shai butter,” in this case — as Oklahoma City solved a Pacers puzzle that no other team could this spring. 2-1 series deficits put megastars under a microscope like no other, and in the series-tying victory, Gilgeous-Alexander passed every examination through a 35-point, three-rebound, three-steal, one-block, one-triple masterpiece, complemented by elite shooting overall (12-of-24) and from the foul stripe (10-of-10). · Jun 14, 2025