Not Williams' hammy, but the OKC machine
The story must be Jalen Williams.
Like, it has to be. How can it not be?
Oklahoma City prevailed upon Phoenix 120-107 Wednesday night at Paycom Center, pushing its first-round series advantage over the Suns to 2-0 with Game 3 tipping off Saturday in Phoenix.
But that can’t be the story, not now, not after what happened to Williams.
Dave Pasch, calling the game for ESPN, reported Williams’ words as he removed himself from the game in the third quarter.
“Left hammy,” Williams said.
Not the right hammy, thank goodness, the strained hamstring that caused Williams to miss so much of the season, but the left hammy.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault went right to it in his postgame comments.
“We think he aggravated his left hamstring,” he told attending media. “We’ll take a look at him over the next couple days.”
Couple of days?
It must be more urgent than that.
It’s J-Dub, for crying out loud.
Did you see him?
Nineteen points and four assists over his 23 minutes on the court — a team-best plus 17, too — with every one of those points coming in the first half when the Thunder built a 65-57 lead.
The Thunder would eventually stretch that to a 126-100 edge with 10:47 remaining before the Suns mounted a too-little, too-late, though furious comeback, even making it a 10-point game with 3:47 remaining.
Still, Williams?
I don’t think so.
The first half was nice. The stars came out.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went for 17 points in the first 24 minutes, even after beginning slowly, even after wrenching the fingers of his left hand on a fall to the floor, only to then make 5 of 6 shots to close the first quarter when his team needed all of them just to remain in front.
Then came Williams, who owned the second quarter, netting 13 points, including eight in a frantic 1:13 off the clock, a natural three-point play, followed by a deuce, followed by a 3.
“Boy,” said Doris Burke, Pasch’s analyst, “they cannot stay in front of him.”
Only to be followed by the biggest push of all, in the third quarter, led by Chet Holmgren, who netted 11 points and rejected three shots, and Gilgeous-Alexander, who netted 12, part of a 37-point, five-rebound, nine-assist night.
Then, to begin the fourth, A.J. Mitchell.
He assisted Isaiah Hartenstein for a slam on the Thunder’s first possession, produced one of those 50-50-at-best layups off the top of the glass on their second and followed with two free throws on their third.
It was those three possessions that pushed OKC to its biggest lead. Had they not happened, what was later whittled to a 10-point edge would have been only four.
Here, we should probably mention Dillon Brooks was pretty great for the Suns, scoring 13 of his 30 in the fourth quarter, none of them easy, forcing Thunder starters to remain on the court.
There it is.
Sure you can make a case the story’s got to be Williams.
At ESPN and beyond, it will eat the most oxygen.
That doesn’t make it the story, though, because, haven’t you noticed?
We’re trapped in an era of what could and might happen rather than what is happening or what just happened, the consequence of which is missing what’s right in front of our face when what’s right in front of our face tends to be the real deal.
Also if you haven’t noticed, its why NBC getting the NBA back was far better immediately than ESPN, which has had it forever.
But I digress.
Wednesday’s real story?
It’s so, so, so hard to stop OKC.
It requires stopping so many different players because so many different players can hurt you. It requires not resting, not being distracted, being your best self and, most of the time, OKC playing poorly.
Think about this.
Isaiah Joe was the Thunder’s ninth player and played 15 minutes. Jaylin Williams was their 10th and played 11. Jared McCain played 8 seconds. Aaron Wiggins, who can really play, didn’t play at all.
All that and what really fuels OKC is collective defense. On Wednesday, that meant the Suns turning it over 21 times to the Thunder’s 10. It also meant 14 Thunder steals, twice the pilfers of the Suns.
OKC may not have blown Phoenix off the court as it did in Game 1, but that’s because Phoenix is a real NBA team that this time played to the end and still it trailed by 26 in the fourth quarter and lost by 13.
If Jalen Williams is out for an extended period, like five weeks, fine, then he can become the story.
The finals, don’t you know, don’t begin until June 3.
Game 2, first round?
The story was not Williams, but his team, again proving how hard it is to stop, no matter who’s on the floor, because they’re all so good together.
Again.
The “machine” in OKC isn’t just system—it’s talent with purpose. Chet Holmgren changes everything at both ends, a defensive menace with the skill to bend a game. He isn’t a side piece to the Thunder story; he’s one of the engines driving it. Dynasty talk starts with players like Chet.