Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got away with something unbecoming of a presumptive NBA MVP.
The Oklahoma City Thunder star Gilgeous-Alexander came under fire during Sunday’s Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets. During the second quarter of the second-round playoff game at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., Gilgeous-Alexander had a pass picked off by Nuggets guard Christian Braun.
Facing a one-on-one the other way against Braun, Gilgeous-Alexander undercut an airborne Braun on the layup attempt, causing Braun to hit the deck. Here is the video of the sequence.
While Gilgeous-Alexander was whistled for a foul on the play, the referees did not even go to the replay monitor to review the sequence for a possible flagrant foul. Thus, the three-time NBA All-Star Gilgeous-Alexander got away with just a common foul (and a negligible one at that since it was just his first foul of the game).
Braun was very lucky there because he managed to land foot-first before rolling over onto the ground. As such, perhaps Braun’s relatively light landing caused the referees to not bat much of an eye.
Nevertheless, that was a very dangerous move by Gilgeous-Alexander, especially on an airborne player. Thunder teammate Luguentz Dort committed a similar act on Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant during the first round of the playoffs, resulting in an injury to Morant. On top of that, another NBA player suffered a season-ending broken wrist, concussion, and facial laceration after being undercut on a layup attempt in transition during a regular season game last month.
