Thunder’s Gilgeous-Alexander hungry to cap MVP season with NBA crown

“I don’t play for the individual stuff, I don’t play for anything else besides winning I never have in my whole life,” Gilgeous-Alexander stated Wednesday, a day earlier than the Thunder host the Pacers in sport one of many best-of-seven championship collection.

From youth basketball in Canada by way of college basketball within the United States, Gilgeous-Alexander stated, his focus has been on profitable titles.

“Now I’m 26, I want to win the NBA championship,” he stated. “It’s always about winning for me.”

With that objective in his sights, Gilgeous-Alexander delivered a spectacular season that noticed him supplant Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic because the NBA Most Valuable Player.

“SGA” averaged 32.7 factors, 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds. 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocked pictures per sport in main the Thunder to an NBA-best 68 regular-season wins.

He turned the primary participant to steer the league in video games with no less than 20 factors , 30 factors , 40 factors and 50 factors in a season since James Harden in 2018-19.

Named MVP of the Western Conference finals after the Thunder dispatched the Minnesota Timberwolves in 5 video games, Gilgeous-Alexander might turn out to be the primary league scoring champion since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 to win the NBA title in the identical season.

Gilgeous-Alexander stated it had been “a long week to wait” since sprucing off Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves which adopted a seven-game victory over Jokic and the Nuggets within the convention semi-finals.

He acknowledged after the convention semis that he’d been nervous within the run-up to sport seven however that have has solely helped him within the build-up to the Finals.

“As these playoffs go on, you get better in controlling the situations, controlling your emotions. You understand what’s coming,” he stated.

“I just figured out how to navigate through all the emotions and the nerves and the waiting process, which is just plugging into my loved ones, try not to think about it so much, stress about it so much just enjoy life and stay in the moment.”

In addition to not trying too far ahead, Gilgeous-Alexander stated he’s additionally not but trying again on what has been an historic season for the Thunder.

“I’ve been so focused on just game one,” he stated. “Trying to be the best version of myself for this group and trying to make sure that we’re clicking on all cylinders on the biggest stage of our careers has been on the forefront of my mind and all I do worry about when I worry about basketball.”

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