When the Houston Rockets traded away guard Chris Paul and future first round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook last offseason, few could have predicted that the two teams would meet in this years’ playoffs. Even fewer may have guessed that the series would be taken all the way to a game seven.

The Thunder have been one of the NBA’s best stories this year. ESPN’s Basketball Power Index had initially given Oklahoma City a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs prior to the start of this season. That number was by far the lowest in the league, yet they now find themselves contending with a team that thinks of itself as a Finals contender. A Thunder win in game seven on Wednesday night would be an upset by all stretches of the imagination.

While Oklahoma City has been led by Paul to get to this point, their biggest X-factor however in game seven may be the play of guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. On The Uncontested podcast, hosts Jacob and Tayler discussed what Gilgeous-Alexander could do to get the Thunder through to the second round.

“Game five and game six defensively was just night and day,game five he was horrendous defensively, you could tell that they called him out in film, that he took it personal, and that he wanted to improve,” Jacob said.

 In game six, Gilgeous-Alexander mostly matched up with Russell Westbrook and P.J Tucker, holding them to 17 and nine points respectively.

While Gilgeous-Alexander was able to keep Westbrook and Tucker contained, Jacob also believes that the former Kentucky player will have to be more aggressive at the rim as well.  

 “I saw a very engaged Shai Gilgeous-Alexander defensively tonight, you need that in game seven, but then he’s also got to be his confident self offensively going to the rim," said Jacob. “I want to see Shea shoot like six to eight free throws in game seven because that means he’s being aggressive and he’s attacking the cup.”

Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will try to complete their upset Wednesday night at 9 ET/6 PT on ESPN.