Friday Bolts: 11.08.19

ICYMI: LaMarcus Aldridge single-handedly defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder last night.  Aldridge shot 19-23, which is an incredible feat I must say.  I tried to do better standing right next to a six-foot goal, but I went 9-23.

Before the game, though, Darius Bazley showed he could spin a ball very slowly on his finger:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has had a hot start to his sophomore season.  ReidBelew (Welcome to Loud City) says SGA has taken “the leap.”  “SGA has taken the leap with force. His sophomore season with the Thunder has him, at time of writing, averaging 22/6/3—that’s a very good basketball player. Per 36 minutes (a useful tool for comparing season by season stats), Shai has increased his: field goals made and attempted, his field goal percentage, his 3 pointers made and attempted, his 3 point percentage, his free throws made and attempted, offensive, defensive, and total rebounds, steals, blocks, and points. He has decreased his turnovers and personal fouls. Except for small dips in his FT% and assists, SGA has improved as basketball player in almost every single possible way.”

The latest installment of Sonic Boom, the trigger-inducing podcast on the Seattle Sonics’ move to OKC, discusses a mystery man at the center of the move.  “No matter what Walker and the other Seattle owners believed about his motives, no matter what Evans said his goals were at the time, no matter the fact that he never became CEO, at the end of the interview, Evans says he got what he wanted.  ‘At the end of the day,’ he says, ‘it met objective one, right? Let’s get a team in Oklahoma City. And so no, there’s no regret. None at all.'”

In non-Thunder related news: the best moment of the NBA season happened last night:

Send in your mailbag questions for Brandon, who’s been closely covering the Thunder in person this season.