On January 11th, Beijing time, the Thunder defeated the Knicks 126-101. After ending their 15-game winning streak at the Cleveland Quicken Loans Arena, the Thunder flew to New York to face the third-ranked Knicks in the Eastern Conference at Madison Square Garden. In this strong matchup, OKC easily overwhelmed the five giants of New York, and the game entered garbage time after three quarters, with SGA scoring 39 points in three quarters and clocking out.
Before this game, the NBA's official MVP rankings had been updated: SGA, Jokic, Giannis, Wembanyama, and Tatum were in the top five, and SGA finally ended Jokic's eight-week streak at the top of the MVP rankings.
After suffering a loss in Cleveland, SGA started the game with fierce momentum, scoring 13 points and 3 rebounds on 8 shots with 5 made and 3 free throws made, without any assists. He wanted to crush the Knicks with his personal attack, and he succeeded. At halftime, Alexander had already scored 19 points, with a true shooting percentage as high as 69.1%.
In the third quarter, Alexander played all 12 minutes, scoring 20 points, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 1 block on 9 shots with 7 made, 1 three-pointer made, and 5 free throws made. With his individual performance in the third quarter, Alexander directly collapsed the Knicks. In three quarters, he played 29 minutes, made 15 of 21 shots, made 1 of 1 three-pointers, and made 8 of 8 free throws, scoring 39 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block, with a shooting percentage of 71.4%, a three-point percentage of 100%, a true shooting percentage of 79.5%, and a plus-minus value of +18.
Thunder media hailed Alexander as the MVP.
After this game, Thunder media created a poster to congratulate SGA for topping the MVP rankings.
Although the Thunder lost to the Cavaliers two days ago, Alexander's personal performance was superior to Mitchell, so the calls for Alexander to win the MVP are getting higher and higher.
Thunder fans: Alexander is the best athlete in the league.
However, according to BXR's MVP odds, Alexander has a 28.9% chance of winning second place, while Jokic has a 53.1% chance.
Written by Yan Xiaobai: A tribute to SGA