Regular season MVP Alexander admitted that this year was a failed season.

A day after the Oklahoma City Thunder lost Game 7 to the San Antonio Spurs, ending their playoff run prematurely, regular season MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander publicly stated in an interview that he considered his season a failure because he couldn't help the team achieve a back-to-back championship.

“I didn’t achieve my goals, I didn’t do what I wanted to do,” Alexander said frankly. But he also emphasized that in his career, it is often during times of failure and disappointment that he can see himself more clearly and achieve the greatest improvement. He believes this time is no exception, and he must find out why he didn’t make it to the end and strive to ensure that this does not happen again.

In this seven-game series, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's consistently efficient performance was hampered by the Spurs' highly targeted defense, and his field goal percentage dropped from 55.3% in the regular season to 40.9%.

Despite scoring 35 points on 21 shots in Game 7, Alexander had to resort to many difficult mid-range jump shots against the Spurs' help defense system, which featured Stephen Castle and Victor Wimbledon guarding the paint, and his attempts at the basket were significantly reduced.

When discussing Wimbledon's defense, Alexander believes that the opponent's backcourt is very unique. The Spurs leave all the defense to Wimbledon to handle. Although this defense is not unbreakable, it is indeed very special.

With their second-leading scorer Jalen Williams and another key rotation player, Ajay Mitchell, both sidelined with injuries, the Thunder struggled offensively. Starting center Chet Holmgren also faltered against the Spurs, scoring only 4 points in the decisive Game 7.

However, Alexander strongly defended his young teammate after the game. He emphasized that it was Holmgren's addition that enabled the Thunder to become the top team in the Western Conference, and that the team will continue to need him in the future.

Image source: Internet