Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bolsters MVP case with fourth 50-point game of season in win over Rockets

The oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has emerged as the new frontrunner for the MVP award, yet it is not entirely secured with Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets still having a remarkable season behind him. In fact,it’s uncertain whether Jokić is even trailing Gilgeous-Alexander in the minds of voters. Ultimately, betting odds primarily reflect how much money has been wagered by the public.

Irrespective, this is a close competition and everything that both Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić, along with their respective teams, accomplish over the last five weeks of the season — good or bad — will impact the final results.

I’m taking a risk here, but I’m going to bet that Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 51 points in Oklahoma City’s victory against the Rockets on Monday counts as a positive mark on his side of things.

This was already Gilgeous-Alexander’s fourth instance of scoring at least 50 points this season,leading all players in that category. All four of these high-scoring games have occurred within his last 19 matches.He also tops the league in games with at least 40 points (9), at least 30 points (37), and at least 20 points (59).SGA has only scored below twenty once this entire season—an occurrence where he managed to score just shy with an18-point performance during his fourth game.

Add it all together and you get an notable streak of56 consecutive games where he’s scored no less than20points for an average of32.6points per game—the highest in league standings. The next closest competitor isJalen Brunson,who has achieved20points across seven straight games.Seven. Just think about that.

The cherry on top was that SGA’s outstanding performance on monday coincided withtheThunder’sfiftiethvictoryoftheseason,and they needed every bitof their star player’s contributions.Houston managedto score128points despite missingfourstartersincludingAlperen Sengun,Amen Thompson,Dillon BrooksandFred VanVleet.