Tim Bontemps
Multiple Authors
PHILADELPHIA — After lacking 26 of the prior 28 video games with a proper hamstring pressure, All-NBA ahead Jalen Williams made his return to the Thunder lineup Monday evening, ending with 18 factors, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in 20 minutes in a 123-103 victory over the injury-riddled Philadelphia 76ers that was Oklahoma City’s twelfth straight win and improved its report to 15-1 because the All-Star break.
More importantly, Williams mentioned that not solely is his leg feeling higher, however his surgically repaired proper wrist — which delayed his begin to the season by over a month — is lastly again to 100%, declaring it “feels better than it ever has.”
“It was just like one of those things that like when you have surgery and you rush into games, it’s like, I wouldn’t say rush, but I’m going into games with … I don’t know what my hands are going to look like,” Williams mentioned after the victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “So now I’ve had the time to actually sit down and work on it and do what I normally do throughout that process, now I’m in a really good spot with it.
“And now it is simply extra about getting my legs again and getting a rhythm with the crew.”
It has been a particularly difficult season from an injury standpoint for Williams, who played just his 27th game Monday night and his first since scoring 28 points in 20 minutes in a road win over the Phoenix Suns on Feb. 11.
That night, Williams — who had just returned the game prior — aggravated the right hamstring strain that had already cost him several weeks and wound up costing him several more. And that injury had come several weeks after Williams finally got his season underway in late November following offseason wrist surgery after he played a starring role in the Thunder claiming their first NBA title in June.
“I would not say irritating is the phrase,” Williams said when asked how frustrated he has been by the injuries. “I feel if I used to be on a distinct crew, I’d be extra pissed off, however I’m round good power. So I feel that is been one of many issues that maintain me going.
“I’ve been trying to use [the injuries] as a positive, too. My wrist has felt better than it ever has, so I think that was a big hurdle during the season that I’ve been able to, I guess, really get over. It feels back to normal. … I feel really good.”
For Oklahoma City, Monday evening marked simply the sixth time all season that the beginning 5 from Game 7 of June’s NBA Finals took the court docket collectively, and constructed upon solely a complete of 41 minutes throughout the primary 5 video games.
As the Thunder have tried to develop into the primary crew because the Golden State Warriors in 2017-18 to defend their title — a report streak of eight consecutive seasons with no repeat champion — accidents have been a relentless storyline, and never only for Williams.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the favourite to repeat because the league’s MVP, has missed 12 video games, placing him in hazard of falling in need of the league’s 65-game minimal for end-of-season awards eligibility. Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe are the one gamers to have missed fewer than 10 video games all season, and 4 of the crew’s prime eight gamers — Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso and Ajay Mitchell — have missed greater than 20 video games.
Now that Williams is again, when Mitchell — who was suspended for Monday’s game for an incident in Saturday’s win over the Wizards — returns to motion Wednesday in Boston in opposition to the Celtics, it is going to mark one of many first instances all season the Thunder can have their whole projected rotation accessible to play.
“I think it’s going to end up being a blessing in disguise a little bit,” Williams mentioned of the numerous accidents the Thunder have handled this season. “It’s going to give us a little more urgency to kind of figure out how to play with all the guys. I think it’s also one of the coolest things about the team is that we have an issue because of our depth.
“I do not assume we have all performed collectively but. So I feel that goes somewhat taken without any consideration as a result of we’re actually good, however it’s positively a type of hurdles we’re going to have to get over. We have sufficient video games to do it.”
That, however, has only minimally impacted Oklahoma City’s push to claim the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs for a third year running. Entering Monday night’s action, the Thunder had a plus-11 net rating — the best in the NBA by a full three points over the Detroit Pistons — and had both the league’s seventh-ranked offense and top-ranked defense.
The Thunder have needed every bit of their hot play over the past several weeks to stay in front of the San Antonio Spurs, who won yet again Monday night in Miami. The Spurs, who have beaten the Thunder in four out of five meetings, remain three games back of Oklahoma City, with the tiebreaker in hand, with 10 games remaining for both teams.
The Thunder will now hope to use these final three weeks of the regular season to get themselves in rhythm for what the franchise hopes will be another deep playoff run — and a second straight title.
“Yeah, I’m excited that we have all people wholesome,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I’m excited for them. I hate when a man’s out with an harm that sucks for the man first, however it’s energizing. It provides us one other puzzle that we’ll have to work by.
“It’s not easy when you’re integrating guys back in, but it’s also a credit to the guys that have been healthy, that have played well and have really elevated our team. And so I am excited for Wednesday.”
