Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander called ‘boring’ by his own head coach

The reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder flirted with disaster against the Washington Wizards on Saturday. The NBA-best 56-15 Thunder only led by seven entering the fourth quarter before pulling away from the league's second-worst team to win 132-111. Oh, and there was a full-blown brawl before halftime. As usual, OKC guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the one constant. The reigning NBA MVP scored at least 20 points for an NBA-record 131st consecutive game. Against the Wizards, SGA scored 40 points on 17-of-27 shooting from the field. After the game, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault was asked what it's like to watch Gilgeous-Alexander's excellence on a night-to-night basis. "Boring," Daigneault told reporters with a shrug. "It's the same every night." After Gilgeous-Alexander broke Wilt Chamberlain's consecutive 20-point game record on March 12 against Boston, Daigneault told reporters, "He was obviously great in the game. What an impressive record. I've reflected on it because, you know, you get lost in the season and take for granted what you're watching every night." Daigneault called SGA "surgical at his craft" and selfless. "The whole life of the streak has not prevented us from having a ton of team success and hasn't prevented his teammates from having success, either," he said. "An individual streak that's about scoring has not come at the expense of the team or his teammates." The Thunder have 11 games remaining in the regular season before making a push to become the NBA's first back-to-back champion since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. Oklahoma City holds a three-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs for the Western Conference's No. 1 seed. The Spurs hold the tiebreaker, if it comes to that, after going 3-1 against OKC this season. Gilgeous-Alexander is the odds-on favorite to become a repeat NBA MVP. He's averaging 31.5 points (second to Luka Doncic's 33.4), 6.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals across 58 games.