Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder have a chance to clinch their second straight Finals appearance with a win tonight in Game 6 vs. the San Antonio Spurs.
OKC leads the series 3-2 after suffocating Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in Game 5. Wemby was held to 20 points and shot 4-15 from the field as the historic Thunder defense had him questioning every move he wanted to make.
Before breaking down SGA's play in this series so far, let's take a look at the player props for SGA tonight, with odds provided by bet365:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Player Props - Game 6 vs. Spurs
First Play Props
Basket | +750 |
Assist | +390 |
Rebound | +1300 |
Points
Over 29.5 | -105 |
Under 29.5 | -120 |
35+ | +235 |
40+ | +575 |
45+ | +1100 |
50+ | +1900 |
Assists
Over 7.5 | -145 |
Under 7.5 | +115 |
10+ | +205 |
13+ | +850 |
Rebounds
Over 3.5 | -140 |
Under 3.5 | +110 |
5+ | +155 |
7+ | +650 |
Threes Made
Over 1.5 | +100 |
Under 1.5 | -125 |
3+ | +320 |
4+ | +850 |
5+ | +1600 |
6+ | +2800 |
Points + Assists + Rebounds
Over 41.5 | -105 |
Under 41.5 | -120 |
Double Double
Yes | +200 |
No | -270 |
Steals + Blocks
Over 2.5 | +135 |
Under 2.5 | -180 |
Simply put, SGA hasn't lived up to MVP standards in this series. His points per game average has fallen from 31.1 in the regular season to 26.2 vs. San Antonio, and he's shot just 38.8% from the field without being much of a threat from three.
The Thunder have been 19.8 points better with Shai off the court as compared to on it in their 13 playoff games. It's certainly a small sample, but defense becomes exponentially better and that the ball moves more when Jared McCain and others are flying off screens from Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams - both elite passing bigs.
Of course, the murky play with SGA on the court has much to do with the constant double-teams employed by San Antonio, which slows down the Thunder offense and forces SGA to make a pass on the perimeter. To his credit, he's done a terrific job navigating these double-teams and is averaging 9.8 assists per game in the series, which would be a career high in APG in a playoff series for the star guard.
The assist numbers have benefitted from the unprecedented shooting of Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, and Jaylin Williams who have all hit at least nine threes while shooting over 42% from behind the line.
Caruso, especially, has been the biggest surprise on offense. He's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, but he averaged 6.2 points and shot 29.3% from three in the regular season. In this series, he's scored 15+ in four of the five games and has shot 18-31 from three.
Regardless, when it comes to a clutch-time situation, there's no doubt that OKC would prefer for the ball to be in SGA's hands. He's shooting 20.7% from the field and hasn't made a three in the fourth quarter in this series, but he is the Clutch Player of the Year after all.
Maybe Game 6 will be a different story for the back-to-back MVP. It would be a massive statement for him to finally have an efficient game on the road en route to another Finals appearance.
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Odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.
