Oklahoma City was able to pull away from Minnesota in the second half to put together an impressive 26-point victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander predictably led the way with 31 points on 10-for-27 shooting. The presumptive NBA MVP also benefitted from making 11 of his game-high 14 free-throw attempts, seven of which came in the first quarter.

ESPN/ABC's Mike Breen used one of the many opportunities Gilgeous-Alexander was at the line to praise that part of his game, opening the door for Doris Burke to potentially make history by becoming the first person to ever use the term "free throw merchant" on a nationally televised contest.

"There's a reason NBA Twitter likes to call him the free throw merchant, Mike," she said.

The above tweet has no less than three skull and crossbone emojis so you know it was a big moment. Or maybe it wasn't. NBA Twitter, however one wants to unscientifically define that group, does say that about the Thunder superstar. It's important to point out Burke wasn't calling him that, just sharing that others call him that.

Gilgeous-Alexander was second in the NBA this year with 8.8 free throw attempts per game and is currently fourth in that stat during the playoffs. Getting to the line is a huge part of his weaponry and he's definitely not afraid to sell contact.

Thing is, routinely getting unguarded looks at the basket from the charity stripe seems like a good thing if you're trying to win basketball games, which is sort of what this whole thing is about. So while the merchant moniker may be derisive it's not so much an indictment about his value as it is a coping mechanism for aggrieved fans forced to endure the relative dullness of his free-throw line trips.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Doris Burke Drops Surprising Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 'Free Throw Merchant' Line.

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