Shai Gilgeous-Alexander faces ‘legacy moment’ in Game 7 after struggles vs. Spurs
Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor reacts to the two-time MVP’s shooting woes in the Western Conference Finals and why Saturday’s series finale will have a big impact on his legacy. Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Is SGA hurt or has he just been figured out?
Earlier in the series after game four, we showed a graphic on the screen, and then here's an updated version of that.
Looking at his shot distribution in the series when Victor Wembanyama has been on the floor.
It's been cut in half pretty much with him getting to the rim.
As you can see with your eyeballs watching games, 12% of SGA's shots come at the rim, compared to 24% the rest of the postseason.
9%, in the paint non-restricted with Wemby on the floor, 17% rest of the entire postseason.
Where that change is experienced is they're turning him into more of a mid-range shooter.
58% of SGA's shots come from mid-range when Wemby's on the floor, compared to only 38% in all other situations.
That is the Wemby influence.
That is on what the Spurs are doing and how they're defending him.
But what's interesting is just how poorly SGA is shooting the ball on the series.
He's 36% from the mid-range, 24 out of 67 after tonight's game six.
He was O for five from three tonight, his worst shooting game of the series from threes.
Now six for 23 from three in the entire series, 26%.
If Shai isn't hitting these pull-up jumpers at the rate that we know he can He had some of the most miraculous pull-up, step back, sidestep three-pointers during the regular season that we've seen.
We know he's one of the greatest mid-range shooters really in the history of basketball.
It's just a factual thing.
He's well over 55% on pull-ups, and so many of those are heavily contested.
But in this series, he's been absolutely contained.
Is that, like I said, has he been figured out by the Spurs?
Is this purely their ability to keep him out of the paint, throw him off rhythm with Castle and Vassell bothering his shot?
Or is this something f- with his hands?
We've seen wraps on his fingers.
Is there something affecting him, causing him to be so efficient?
Regardless, it's undoubtedly one of the keys to the series here, considering we're talking about a two-time MVP here, and he's shooting 36% from mid-range and 26% from three.
And we're entering a game seven now, a two-time MVP might blow a three-two lead.
This is a legacy moment for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Michael Jordans, the Kobe Bryants, those guys figure it out in these situations where they can't get to the shots that they want to get to, when they're facing a defense that turns them into something that they don't wanna be.
SGA loves the mid-range, but not taking basically two-thirds of his shots from that area of the floor.
I look forward to seeing how he performs in game seven.
I thought maybe this would be the finally SGA plays a great game moment of the series, but it wasn't, so we'll see if it happens in game seven.
