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Jalen Williams shows in OKC Thunder win vs. Jazz how fourth quarter is 'his time to shine'
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- Jalen Williams shows in OKC Thunder win vs. Jazz how fourth quarter is 'his time to shine'
SALT LAKE CITY — The formula was right.
A regular Shai Gilgeous-Alexander outpour? Check. Another volcanic fourth quarter for Jalen Williams ? Yep. A game altering Chet Holmgren block? Uh-huh.
Among the myriad of miniature boxes the Thunder (28-13) needed to mark to pin down the league's hottest team, the essential ingredients floated to the top in a 134-129 win .
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The Jazz looked every bit like a team on the rise, too. Utah entered Thursday having won 12 of its last 14 and six straight. After shaving down a once-19 point OKC lead, a seventh wasn't out of the question.
It tried a zone. It smirked at any wide-open opportunities from the corners, shooting 40.6% from 3. Lauri Markkanen , while perhaps a ship that'll never set sail, delivered a Thunder audition that Simon Cowell would've sent to Hollywood. Collin Sexton baptized Holmgren with the hang time and audacity of Evel Knievel.
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Jan 18, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots the ball past Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (23) during the second half at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
None of it sank Oklahoma City.
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It matched Sexton and Markannen's outbursts with a well-balanced attack within its lineup. It shot 55.8% from the field and 43.8% from deep. It played with a level of offensive cohesion that the team perhaps hasn't mastered but has toyed with.
The Thunder picked apart that zone. It funneled things through Holmgren at the middle of the floor, playing with an urgency and cutting with a level of energy that wasn't present when the Lakers ' zone thwarted it earlier in the week. OKC's core might've grown a couple of chin hairs since it ran into the wall that was Minnesota 's zone back in November.
"We're definitely a different team playing against the zone since then," Gilgeous-Alexander admitted.
The Thunder is just a different team overall since then. Adjusting to teams adjusting to them, finding ways to win when leads slip from under them. The ingredients to cook up a good team are stirring toward a boil.
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Well-balanced breakfast
The Thunder, as much of a well-oiled offensive engine as it's been through half a season, hasn't had as many nights with balance quite like this . Especially not from every last one of its starters.
You had your protein, with Holmgren being sturdy enough for four blocks, including a rejected Walker Kessler dunk that ultimately saved the game.
You had your vegetables, with Cason Wallace handling business in Lu Dort 's absence (illness) by dropping a career-high 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting. There's also Josh Giddey , who's swallowed stretches of bigs roaming off him and, at times, has even turned in days like Thursday: A fairly effective 20 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while being connective.
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You had your daily vitamin with Gilgeous-Alexander's prescribed 31-point, six-rebound, six-assist showcase. Good enough to acknowledge, but normal enough to probably forget a couple days later when he does it again.
And you had your water: Williams' touch from all over the floor resembled as much, delivering 27 points on 11-for-14 shooting and eight assists. Improbable 3s (he was 4 for 5 from deep Thursday) and untrackable zips to corner shooters defined his night.
It took all that to knock off the Jazz. But it also looked effortless — a free-flowing, 36-assist night that isn't all that surprising by now.
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Dub Wayne
When the clock turns to the final 12 minutes, the bat signal goes up.
The call for the braided, midrange-loving, finish-over-three-people-or-don't-finish-at-all sophomore assassin. Fourth quarters belonging to Williams evoked an eyebrow raise initially. But after weeks of his increased comfortability in the final period of games, it's become more than a trend.
Everyone knows it.
"That beginning of the fourth is his time to shine," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Thursday's fourth quarter saw him tally 11 points and four assists without missing a shot. Devastating 3s, a profound handle on the offensive flow and the game itself.
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"He's been on one lately," coach Mark Daigneault said.
The numbers agree with Daigneault. In the previous eight games before Thursday, Williams was averaging 21 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while shooting 55% from 3 and 64.2% from the field. Those numbers mostly improved against the Jazz.
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Jan 18, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) celebrates after scoring against the Utah Jazz during the second half at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
In fourth quarters specifically through the past eight games, Williams is averaging 9.5 points and is shooting a blazing 77.8% from 3.
"It's one thing to have a guy that's just like a hired gun shotmaker," Daigneault said. "But he's not that at all. He controls the game, he gets his teammates involved, he makes appropriate plays, and he blends in his own aggression."
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And as Daigneault noted Thursday, he's doing so while defending a guy like Markkanen for much of the night. Or Karl Anthony-Towns. Or teetering between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown .
Williams' rapid ascension begs the question of whether his role in OKC's rise is becoming underrated. Gilgeous-Alexander's MVP-caliber season is an obvious element. Holmgren probably hasn't received enough for a historically uncommon level of defensive responsibility (and output) for a rookie. But Williams is getting better. Way better, way too fast.
He's looked about as close to an All-Star as there is. He'd probably be one elsewhere, and he has a shot next year once the Thunder gets more national TV games and people realize him and 6-foot-9 center Jaylin Williams are different people.
This version of Williams makes it easy to envision him as another young team's franchise player. The fact that he's lower on the totem pole than that for OKC has made fans as optimistic as they've been in years.
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Thunder vs. Timberwolves
TIPOFF:7 p.m. Saturday at Target Center in Minneapolis (Bally Sports Oklahoma)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Jalen Williams shines late in Oklahoma City Thunder win vs. Utah Jazz
