By rule, a defensive player must allow a moving player that is receiving a pass, outside of the lower defensive box, an opportunity to avoid contact. The speed of the player will determine the amount of distance an opponent must allow. On this play, Brunson does not give Gilgeous-Alexander an opportunity to avoid contact after receiving a pass outside of the LDB and therefore Brunson is not in a legal guarding position. The referees will then judge if the contact affects the SQBR (Speed, Quickness, Balance, or Rhythm) of Gilgeous-Alexander. If it does, this would be a blocking foul and if it does not then a no call would be appropriate.
Thunder fans brought the NOISE for their 12th straight W!
OKC HC Mark Daigneault had to come back to the mic to shout out the environment inside the arena tonight 🗣️
Anthony Edwards when asked about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
“The MVP of the NBA”
“To me, he’s unguardable.. As far as any one-on-one matchup, yeah, you can go on and give it up. Just give him two points most of the time”
“I feel like he should have won it last year, but he's playing out his mind right now."
(via ESPN / Tim MacMahon )