One of the key questions going through the Thunder as they try to repeat as champions revolves round Jalen Williams and whether or not he can absolutely be himself after lacking a lot time with accidents this season. In Game 1’s win over the Suns, he appeared like he had returned to kind, Rylan Stiles writes for Sports Illustrated.
Stiles was impressed with Williams’ exercise in passing lanes and going after free balls, in addition to his general protection and talent to drive downhill with drive.
The 6’6″ wing tallied 22 factors, seven rebounds, and 6 assists in 29 minutes whereas hitting two of his 5 three-point tries. His presence and vitality appeared to impress the Oklahoma City crowd, based on Stiles.
We have extra from across the Northwest Division:
- Anthony Edwards is questionable for the Timberwolves‘ Game 2 matchup in opposition to the Nuggets on Monday on account of proper knee damage upkeep, the staff introduced (via Twitter). He had beforehand been listed as questionable for Game 1 as nicely, however ended up enjoying 38 minutes, scoring 22 factors on 19 photographs whereas including 9 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks within the 11-point loss.
- Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault says that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t get sufficient credit score for his work on the defensive finish. “We’ve had a great defense for a while now, and he plays the most minutes,” he stated, per Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (Twitter video link). “We don’t have a great defense if we don’t have our highest-minute player being as good as he is and as impactful as he is.” In addition to his 25 factors and 7 assists in Sunday’s win over the Suns, Gilgeous-Alexander additionally recorded two blocks.
- Defending Nikola Jokic is usually a query of what you’re keen to surrender, Vinny Benedetto writes for The Denver Gazette. In Game 1, the Timberwolves allowed him to shoot attractiveness from deep. Benedetto notes that Jokic’s first three photographs have been almost wide-open threes. “If I’m open, I’m going to shoot it,” Jokic stated after. “If I’m not open, I’m just going to play the game.” The three-time MVP completed the sport hitting simply two of his seven appears to be like from deep, which might point out that the technique paid off, however Nuggets head coach David Adelman was removed from involved. “He’s going to have a game this series where he makes five or six threes, if that’s going to be the coverage,” he stated.
