Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his cousin Nickeil Alexander-Walker are dealing with off for the primary time in a playoff collection because the OKC Thunder leads the Minnesota Timberwolves 3-1 within the Western Convention finals. The 2 have been shut rising up and have additionally performed for Group Canada in worldwide competitions.
After the Thunder’s Sport 4 win, the place Alexander-Walker broke out for the Timberwolves, Gilgeous-Alexander expressed how proud far they’ve come as cousins.
“At this stage, going towards one another for what it felt like half a sport tonight, was tremendous enjoyable. He received the higher of me typically, and I received the higher of him. Stuff we have dreamt about for our entire lives. It’s loopy that it has come to fruition,” mentioned the Thunder famous person and reigning MVP Gilgeous-Alexander.
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Alexander-Walker topped the scoring for the Timberwolves with 23 factors on 9-of-15 capturing from the sector. He additionally made 5 of his eight three-pointers, 4 rebounds, six assists, and two steals within the sport, whereas being the first defender for each Gilgeous-Alexander and co-star Jalen Williams.
Nevertheless, it was not sufficient as Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 40 factors, 9 rebounds, and 10 assists to guide the Thunder to the grindout Sport 4 win in Minnesota.
After seeing Alexander-Walker impress on each ends of the ground, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander praised his cousin and believed there are extra such video games in him within the foreseeable future.
“He was actually good tonight. It felt like he barely missed,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “The form of night time he had tonight, like he’s very able to doing that each night time. It is only a matter of time earlier than he blows.”
The collection now shifts to OKC for Sport 5 because the Thunder is now one win away from their first NBA Finals look since 2012.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander makes emotions identified about boos in Minnesota
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander acquired boos from the Timberwolves crowd all through Sport 4. Whereas it didn’t have an effect on how he performed within the sport, Gilgeous-Alexander expressed his emotions about being a villain in Minnesota.
“It’s tremendous enjoyable. It’s fairly up there with being at house… It’s your job to go on the market and play basketball and kinda shut them up,” he mentioned.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot 13-of-30 from the sector, and 12-of-14 from the free throw line to steer the Thunder to a 3-1 lead, regardless of the fixed heckling he acquired from Timberwolves followers.
With the collection shifting again to OKC for Sport 5, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is predicted to be celebrated, particularly if the Thunder wrap up the West finals collection on their house courtroom.
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Edited by Dipayan Moitra