SGA Hyped as MVP By Followers as Thunder Beat Luka, Mavs to Advance to NBA Cup Semifinals

The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder have been dominant all season, so it is solely becoming they superior to the 2024 NBA Cup semifinals.

OKC defeated the Dallas Mavericks 118-104 in Tuesday’s quarterfinals showdown at Paycom Heart and improved to 19-5 within the course of. The Mavericks had no reply for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who regarded the a part of potential league MVP with 39 factors, eight rebounds, 5 assists and three steals.

Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will face the winner of Wednesday’s recreation between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors within the semifinals in Las Vegas.

The battle between SGA and Luka Dončić was the sport inside the recreation, and the Mavericks star could not sustain from a scoring perspective with 16 factors, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals on 5-of-15 taking pictures from the sphere. Kyrie Irving added 17 factors, whereas Klay Thompson completed with 19.

Dallas noticed its seven-game dropping streak come to an finish largely due to Gilgeous-Alexander’s particular person brilliance, and social media had some MVP love for the guard:

There was no scarcity of stars on this recreation, and the brightest one on OKC’s aspect wasted no time setting the tone. Gilgeous-Alexander poured in 16 factors within the first quarter alone by mixing in exterior photographs and unstoppable drives into the lane.

To Dallas’ credit score, it weathered the early SGA storm and closed the deficit to only three by halftime with Naji Marshall offering a spark. It was much-needed manufacturing as a result of Dončić struggled together with his shot towards the Thunder’s bodily crew protection.

Nonetheless, the Mavericks wanted extra from Dončić in the event that they had been going to win on the street towards among the finest groups within the NBA.

The five-time All-Star impacted the sport in different methods together with his rebounding, facilitating and even steals on the defensive finish, however the lack of scoring from somebody who entered play averaging 28.7 factors an evening was notable because the Thunder created separation within the third quarter.

It additionally stood out as a result of Gilgeous-Alexander shifted into takeover mode once more for stretches within the third quarter with a mixture of drives and pull-ups. That drew further defensive consideration, and Isaiah Joe took full benefit with back-to-back triples all whereas Dončić entered the fourth quarter with two made discipline targets.

The second three from Joe got here on the third-quarter buzzer after Alex Caruso hustled to maintain the possession alive and gave the house crew a commanding 17-point lead.

That benefit expanded to as many as 20, though Dallas performed its method again into the sport with a 10-run that featured back-to-back threes from Irving. But all it took was the Thunder placing Gilgeous-Alexander again into the sport to grab management once more, as his three put an finish to the run and his steal arrange Cason Wallace in transition.

So long as SGA was on the ground, there was little question concerning the final result.