NBA Game Reviews: January 15, 2021

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the face of OKC and a future perennial All-Star

Considering he’s stuck playing in a small market for a losing team, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be the most underrated basketball player in the league. After a breakout rookie year in LA, the Clippers sent him and every pick they owned to the Thunder as part of the Paul George trade. Shai, along with Chris Paul, were the main reasons the Thunder surprised the league and made the playoffs last season. When OKC went into full rebuild mode this offseason and traded just about everybody on their roster for picks, there was one untouchable: SGA.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has taken yet another leap in his game this season, and is again the main reason that the Thunder are surprisingly winning games. The 22-year-old out of Kentucky is averaging over 21 points and six assists per game, and has the Thunder as one of the most difficult teams to take down night in and night out.

On Friday, SGA had a career-high 33 points while tying his personal assists record (10) in a come-from-behind OT win against the Bulls. Down by as many as 22, Shai and the rest of the gritty Thunder never gave up, and now sit at 6-6 with some impressive wins for a team that had minimal expectations. The Thunder are still rebuilding, as they continue to transition from the KD-Westbrook era. With SGA running the show and the overhaul of upcoming draft picks over the next decade though, it could be sooner rather than later that there’s a new All-Star duo in OKC leading them through the playoffs.

2. No lead is safe against the reigning NBA champions

COLORS KEY | FULL LAKERS FUTURE OUTLOOK

The Lakers struggled early on against the Pelicans on Friday night. The Pels were shooting a scorching 66% from the field midway through the second quarter and were able to build a 15-point lead with six and a half minutes left before halftime. Six minutes later as they went into the break, the Lakers were down just one. The Lakers would go on to win easily by a score of 112-95 behind a dominant second-half from LeBron James and LA’s deep bench.

The cohesiveness that this Lakers team plays with fuels their confidence despite large deficits. The Lakers had one of the busiest off-seasons ever for a reigning champion, adding five new guys to replace the eight they lost. With the abbreviated offseason and training camp, this new team was expected to take some time to gel. A slower start wouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. Especially during the first half of LA’s Opening Night game against the Clippers which saw the reigning champs face a large hole. However, they then went on a run to tie the game and proved anyone wrong that completely counted them out. 

While they didn’t walk away with the win in that game, they did end up dominating against the Pelicans despite trailing big early on. Just like they’ve done time and time again this year as their opponent builds large leads, only to see the reigning champs get back on track and eviscerate the opposition. The Lakers are now 11-3, recently setting a franchise record for starting 7-0 on the road, and they have the best defensive rating in the league. LeBron is playing like an MVP candidate yet again, the Lakers are proving no lead is safe against them, and the 17-time champs are playing like they want to hang banner number 18 at the end of this season.

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