Barreling into a packed paint, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drive-heavy scoring diet resulted in a price to pay. He's evolved into an MVP winner because of it, but the brutal playstyle has its taxes. One being putting your body on the line navigating through several defenders.
The Oklahoma City Thunder continued their roll with a 120-107 Game 2 win over the Phoenix Suns. But their 2-0 Round 1 series lead hasn't happened unscathed.
Jalen Williams' early exit clouded the NBA playoff win. He left with a hamstring injury in the third quarter. This time, on his left leg. It's his third hamstring injury in four months. The previous two were strains on his right leg that contributed to his lowly 33 games this past regular season.
We'll see how severe it is. The Thunder absolutely cannot afford to lose Williams for another extended period of time. You can get away with that in the regular season, but the NBA playoffs are a totally different beast. Especially with each round as the field dwindles by half.
Elsewhere, it looks like the Thunder dodged a major bullet. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 37 points on 13-of-25 shooting, nine assists and five rebounds. Before any of that happened, though, things looked pretty grotesque. A first-half drive resulted in him landing funny on his hand. His left middle and ring finger bent the wrong direction.
Holding his hand for a few possessions, Gilgeous-Alexander eventually toughed it out. The hand injury clearly didn't bother him. He dropped a superb-efficient 37 points as he led the Thunder to a 2-0 series lead over the Suns. They'll need these type of outings more often — especially if Williams is out for a handful of games.
"I don't know. I went up, came down and my hand was hurt. I haven't seen the video of it. I don't even know what happened," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "It was hurting and it was numb. Almost like I hit my funny bone on my hand. I was just trying to get the feeling back. I'm OK, though."
These are the NBA playoffs for you, folks. Everybody is dealing with something at this juncture of the season. Some are more serious than others. Good to see Gilgeous-Alexander tough it out. He's the one guy the Thunder can't afford to miss.
Already without Williams, they couldn't afford to lose their other All-NBA talent. Even with the win, Game 2 was a cold reminder that you need as much luck as talent to win a Larry O'Brien trophy. Let's see how the Thunder respond to their first major postseason injury in four years with this group. But as long as Gilgeous-Alexander suits up, they'll always have a chance.
"Stay in the game, most importantly. Don't worry about anything else," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Adrenaline will carry me through, no matter what it was. I just wanted to stay in the moment and try to get the job done tonight."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander details hand injury from OKC's Game 2 win over Suns