The Oklahoma City Thunder enter Wednesday night with a chance at reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012, when the Miami Heat defeated them. Now,

Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player on Wednesday on TNT from Madison Square Garden, ahead of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and Pacers. He averaged a league-best 32.7 points per game for a Thunder team that won 68 games and claimed the league’s No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs.

The case for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was simple ... If that wasn’t enough, he also won the scoring title. That’s an MVP year. Gilgeous-Alexander was announced Wednesday as the NBA’s Most ...

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was ice-cold at the free-throw line. Jalen Williams calmly knocked down clutch jumpers. Chet Holmgren swatted Jaden McDaniels' reverse layup. Like it should be, OKC's Big 3 was the reason they built a 3-1 series lead in a 128-126 Game 4 win.

Of course, the real star of this entire situation was Doris Burke, who wondered if the fan was "breaking the plane" when he made the catch, which briefly introduced the idea that referees might for the first time in history use replay to determine if a fan was in or out of bounds.

Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo were the only players to appear on every MVP ballot this season. It only made sense that they would be unanimous All-NBA picks as well.