Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 52, but Warriors stun Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA’s top team, got 52 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s leading scorer, on Wednesday. It wasn’t enough to defeat a team just hovering above .500.

The Golden State Warriors stunned the Thunder with a 116-109 win, despite an enormous night from Gilgeous-Alexander. The MVP candidate posted his first career 50-point game just a week ago, then recorded his second three games later.

It was all Gilgeous-Alexander early, as he personally outscored the Warriors 21-20 in the first quarter and entered halftime with 31, making him the fourth player in Thunder history to post 30 in a first half since play-by-play data was first recorded.

He finished the night with 16-of-29 shooting from the field and 18-of-21 shooting from the free-throw line, plus four assists and three rebounds.

The Warriors were down 34-20 after that first quarter and down 58-48 at halftime, but caught the Thunder early in the third quarter with a torrent of scoring. There were several lead changes from there until midway through the fourth quarter, when the Warriors built up a multi-score lead and kept it.

Gary Payton II provided the exclamation point, and perhaps the dagger.

Stephen Curry was a major factor in the turnaround, scoring 17 of his 21 points in the second half. It was a question whether he would even play before the game, as he sat out the first game of the Warriors’ back-to-back starting Tuesday after battling sore knees and pain in his right thumb.

Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors in scoring with 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, while the Warriors bench outscored the Thunder’s 48-21. It was a rough shooting night for the Thunder overall, finishing 9 of 39 from 3-point range.