Tonight, two of the NBA's leading scorers will face off against each other when the Dallas Mavericks face up against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder (45-20) are currently a top team in the West behind an All-Star season from guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
While the Dallas Mavericks are the No.8 seed in the West looking to stay alive in the play-in, or possibly move up out of it.
The last time these teams met, the Mavericks came up with a 146-110 victory. Mavs star Luka Doncic outscored Gilgeous-Alexander, dropping 32 points that night to give the Mavericks the blowout victory.
Still, SGA held his own, scoring 25 points for the Thunder that game. Now the Thunder young core get a chance to avenge their loss to Luka and the Mavs crew on national television.
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Shai Vs Luka Chasing MVP
This should be an exciting matchup between two of the premiere scorers in the NBA and have a massive implication on the MVP race, as the league's most prestigious award is still up for grabs.
Based on their play, both players have built solid cases for a MVP this season. According to the latest Kia MVP Ladder NBA projects, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is No.2 behind Nikola Jokic, while the league currently ranks Luka Doncic at five.
Luka has recently torn up the league, posting a triple-double in seven of his last eight games.
Doncic is currently leading the league in scoring at 34.3 points per game, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is behind him at 31.1 points per game.
Both have proven to be big-time scorers this season; however, on paper, Doncic stats look better at 34.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 9.8 assists a game on 49.4% from the field.
Shai, on the other end is a better defender averaging 2.1 steals a game and has continued to be big-time in scoring for the Thunder; having a career-high 46th game with 30 points or more this season during Wednesday's win against Portland to close out a four-game road trip.
The Thunder do have an overall better record than Luka and the Mavericks, in which MVP voters may look at when considering the MVP for the NBA 2023-24 season.
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