How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 'Shut Up' Chet Holmgren

The Oklahoma City Thunder just pulled off another come from behind win on Sunday evening, downing the Memphis Grizzlies after being down by as many as 19 points on Beale Street, 114-100. This moved the Thunder to a sparkling 10-1 record despite dealing with a laundry list of injuries.

All-NBA swingman Jalen Williams, veteran big man Kenrich Williams and rookie guard Nikola Topic have yet to debut. Tonight, the Thunder also missed Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort who join Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso and Isaiah Joe as a group that have missed multiple games already this season. Even Cason Wallace has spent a contest in street clothes.

Ultimately, the Thunder just keep finding ways to win. Even on the last leg of this road trip that helped earn frequent flyer miles as Oklahoma City jetted over to L.A., then up to Portland, back down to Sacramento and finished it by going across the country to Memphis.

Those factors spoke to the slow start for the Thunder, who saw their energy dip and offense suffer to start this contest. Though, as per usual, Oklahoma City eventually got the car back on the road.

Part of what helped the OKC Thunder was a nine point flurry of points by superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in under a minute of play in the finale frame. Set up by two straight triples.

However, those step back 3s dropped on the heels of an alarming miss from downtown for Gilgeous-Alexander that led to a Memphis bucket, this game entering cutch time, and OKC needing a timeout.

Rising star big man Chet Holmgren revealed what he harped on during that stoppage, pleading with his teammates to get to the rim against the league's worst paint defense to close out this game. Eventually though, the Gonzaga product had to shut up in his own words, as Gilgeous-Alexander caught fire.

"He shut me up. He missed the two threes right before that. I was saying in time out, 'we got to put some rim pressure and give them a chance to mess up'. And then he comes out and bangs two. So, he shut me up, and that's what he does - took the game over, made big plays down the stretch. Nothing new, nothing surprising," Holmgren explained to the media of Gilgeous-Alexander's shot selection following the Thunder's comeback win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Gilgeous-Alexander posted 35 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and shot 50% from the floor in this game in a 3-for-9 outing from beyond the arc. Holmgren chipped in 21 points in this winning effort for OKC.

Up next, the Oklahoma City Thunder have another three game in four night stretch, with a back-to-back starting on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors before welcoming in the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. After the OKC Thunder deal with these two Western Conference contenders what has been a condensed stretch of the schedule finally softens. The Thunder will enjoy two straight off days prior to Saturday's game against the Charlotte Hornets, which starts a four game in eight day stretch to give the shorthanded Bricktown Ballers time to recharge.