Ten years ago, Stephen Curry became the first player since Shaquille O’Neal to win his first MVP and first NBA title in the same season. That historic 2015 campaign marked a turning point in the league: The Golden State Warriors seized the West, and Curry’s long-range brilliance changed the sport forever.
A decade later, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has just won his first MVP, and he now sits four wins away from an NBA title that could launch a new dynasty for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But despite the similarities, SGA is not the “next Curry”—the Thunder’s superstar guard attacks defenses in a completely different fashion.
Using new pose-tracking data from the NBA and Sportradar, we can visualize the MVP’s scoring in exciting new ways. The animation above shows all of SGA’s points from the conference finals, arranged by shot location. The first flurry includes his rim attacks. Then we see a barrage of midrange jumpers. That’s followed by a handful of made 3-pointers and, finally, a plethora of free throws.
A few things jump out. First, Gilgeous-Alexander does a vast majority of his damage inside the arc. Only 72 of his 476 postseason points (15 percent) have come on 3-pointers. Even against Minnesota’s long and active defense, SGA was able to accumulate 17 dunks and layups and 29 midrangers. That means 46 of his 53 buckets during the Western finals came inside the arc. And then there are the free throws. One of the biggest reasons SGA has taken 147 free throws this postseason is because he gets downhill and changes speed and direction more effectively than any other player in the game.
To wit: Nobody drives the ball as much as Gilgeous-Alexander. This past season, he was the only player in the NBA to average more than 20 drives per game—almost three drives more than the second-place Jalen Brunson. And SGA has kept it up throughout this postseason run. The animation below maps out his driving shot attempts game by game in the conference finals. During that five-game OKC tour de force, SGA accumulated 48 shots off drives alone.
These yellow lines might look like spaghetti on a plate, but there is a method to this squiggly madness. As SGA slices into the heart of the defense, he’s constantly making reads, searching for the right opportunity to pounce. These forays to the basket are the lifeblood of not only Shai’s scoring repertoire but also OKC’s entire offensive system, which has been one of the most potent attacks of these playoffs.
If the Pacers are to have any chance of slowing down the NBA scoring champ, they’ll need to cut off his drives. In Game 3, Minnesota’s only win of the Western finals, the Wolves held SGA to just six driving shot attempts and 14 total points. Easier said than done—and Minnesota’s roster arguably features more players who are equipped for the task than Indy’s does. During two regular-season matchups against OKC, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle used Andrew Nembhard as the primary defender on Gilgeous-Alexander. It didn’t exactly slow down the MVP, who racked up over 20 points in each game on drives alone.
More on the NBA Playoffs
While the previous animations showcased the volume of his scoring, we can also use this technology to re-create any individual play from any angle. Doing so can help us visualize just how hard it is to guard him. Let’s look at one representative play from the conference finals from the defender’s perspective.
To begin the possession, SGA drives to the left elbow with relative ease. I’ve paused the clip at that key moment—what do you think will happen next?
From here, SGA has a buffet of options. He can push forward down the left lane line into one of his patented running baseline jumpers. He might just pull up for a jumper at the elbow. He could spin back to a middie near the free throw line or spin into a right-handed rim attack. Shai puts defenders in this exact predicament over and over again, forcing them to try to stay in front of him as he shifts and spirals from one direction to another. Here’s how the above play ends:
In this case, Gilgeous-Alexander sees Naz Reid is overplaying the left-handed attack, so he pivots hard on his right foot, spins back toward the paint, and beats Reid to the rim for a gorgeous right-handed layup. While the breadth of Shai’s moves inside the arc gives him a plethora of scoring options, his greatest skill is reading the defense and taking what’s given.
These are the types of plays that powered SGA to the 2024-25 scoring title. He ended the season with a league-most 302 driving layups, outpacing Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is the league’s most prolific paint scorer since Shaq was in Los Angeles.
Most Driving Layups and Dunks, 2024-25 NBA Season
But here’s the wrinkle that makes SGA’s bag so different. Even if he doesn’t get to the rack, many of his drives still end in made field goals—this 26-year-old also just happens to be among the best midrange jump shooters on the planet, something he proved time and again against Minnesota last round.
This animation not only charts the 27 2-point jump shots SGA made in the Western finals, but it also shows us how he got them. As you can see, many of them begin just like the spinning layup in the earlier clip, but instead of attacking the rim, Shai stops or spins his way into a clean jumper. Watch the above video again, and focus specifically on the left elbow: Even from one area of the floor, his scoring arsenal is endless. His footwork is immaculate. His ability to change speeds and pivot off either foot is world-class. His efficiency is remarkable by any measure, but when you factor in the self-creation and the off-balance nature of his tries, his efficiency numbers are downright stunning. So far this postseason, he’s converted a ridiculous 53 percent of his league-leading 109 attempts from 8 to 16 feet from the rim. Those are Durant numbers.
In the “dunks and 3s” era, a growing number of young NBA scorers lack any semblance of a pull-up or fadeaway. That is definitely not the case for this fella. Of SGA’s 346 attempts this postseason, 127 have been 2-point jumpers, by far the most in the playoffs. That’s 36.7 percent of his total field goal attempts—for context, a mere 11.6 percent of shots in the NBA this season were from this category.
Midrange jumpers might be niche in the modern game, but they are a main feature of our new scoring champion’s shot diet. This isn’t just arcane trivia. SGA’s ability to score from this forsaken zone is a huge reason why his defenders seem to always be off-balance. It enables pump fakes that lead to free throws and all those driving layups. And the fact that Gilgeous-Alexander can score from anywhere gives him a leg up on playoff defenses that are keyed in on slowing him down. It was perhaps the biggest difference between SGA and the 23-year-old Anthony Edwards in the conference finals: Where the Thunder turned Ant into a facilitator by shutting off the rim and the 3-point line, SGA was able to make hay in traffic because of his advanced in-between game.
SGA’s ability to blend volume and efficiency is more than a game-changing weapon—it’s also a breath of fresh air for those of us who miss the aesthetics of players like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, two guys who leveraged midrange pull-ups and fadeaways to give the Pacers fits in huge playoff games of yore.
Unfortunately for Indiana, it’s not just the dual threat of the driving layups and the 2-point jumpers that makes SGA unstoppable. He also knows that free throws are among the best shots in the game, and love it or hate it, he’s one of the best in the world at getting them. His pace and his serpentine movements reliably destroy the balance of his defenders, and his knack for creating contact at these precise moments is a massive boon for OKC’s offense. He led the league by converting 7.9 free throws per game this past season and has been right at that mark throughout this playoff run.
For the Pacers to have a chance at winning the Finals, they must find ways to contain the best attacking guard in the NBA. It won’t be easy. Whether it’s drawing whistles, hitting midrangers, or finishing at the rim, Gilgeous-Alexander now possesses the best 2-point scoring arsenal of any guard in the league. Steph Curry may have changed the game from downtown, but SGA is bringing the future of the NBA back inside the arc.
