This player enabled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to torch the Sacramento Kings

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was playing at his usual MVP level last night against the Sacramento Kings, as he dropped 37 points and 11 assists on just 20 field goal attempts. In the process, he handed the Kings their fourth-straight defeat.

But how did Gilgeous-Alexander torch our Kings? Who is to blame for this disaster?

Gilgeous-Alexander's new best friend

As we mentioned in the introduction, Gilgeous-Alexander is looking like a bonafide MVP right now (currently 3rd on Basketball Reference's MVP Tracker). So, performances like this are not out of the ordinary for him. But still, there was another force at play that is worth spotlighting, particularly if these two teams end up meeting in the playoffs.

To deal with Gilgeous-Alexander, head coach Mike Brown chose to start Keon Ellis over Kevin Huerter, despite the latter being healthy. Ellis is an excellent point-of-attack defender. So, he would, in theory, give the Kings a better chance of containing Gilgeous-Alexander.

However, Ellis couldn't stay in front of Gilgeous-Alexander, and a big reason why was the immaculate screen-setting that was demonstrated by the Oklahoma City Thunder's marquee offseason signing, Isaiah Hartenstein.

No matter how good of a screen navigator you are, it is hard to stay connected to your assignment when their pick-and-roll partner sets a bone-crushing screen on you. And for the Kings, once their point-of-attack defender loses connection with the ball handler, it leaves Domantas Sabonis out on an island with a speedier player. Like this:

The Kings tried to counter this by putting a bigger defender like Keegan Murray on Gilgeous-Alexander in the hopes that he would have an easier time powering through the screen. But alas, that did not work, either:

No matter who the Kings put on Gilgeous-Alexander, no one could get around the human obstacle that was Hartenstein. This was worth pointing out because Hartenstein just found his way back into the lineup after sustaining a fractured hand injury in the preseason. This game against the Kings was only Hartenstein's second game back (first start) since suffering the injury, and he already looks like the perfect Starsky to Gilgeous-Alexander's Hutch.

The sample size is small, but the Thunder have a net rating of +20.8 (78-win pace) when Hartenstein and Gilgeous-Alexander share the floor together (49 minutes, per PBP Stats).

Now, there was a lot of other stuff that went wrong in the Kings' 21-point loss to the Thunder. They couldn't contain Gilgeous-Alexander in other ballscreen coverages (like hard hedges). They shot 20% worse from three than the Thunder. The list goes on and on.

But the Kings' inability to keep Gilgeous-Alexander in front of them could be a problem that many teams have, thanks to his new partner-in-crime.