Jan. 8, 2026, 11:01 a.m. CT
After second-guessing himself for a few possessions, Jalen Williams decided to hunt for his signature look. He went one-on-one with Brice Sensabaugh. Creating space, he galloped back for a signature stepback mid-range jumper. The pull-up bounced a couple of times before it kissed the glass and fell through.
Excitement. Relief. Redemption. Use whatever word you want, but that was a big-time moment. Williams finished with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. He shot 1-of-5 from 3 and went 4-of-4 on free throws.
The Oklahoma City Thunder survived a potential disaster with a 129-125 overtime win over the Utah Jazz. Once up by 20 points on the rebuilding squad, it looked like they were on their way to their first three-game losing streak in two seasons.
It’s been quite an adventure for Williams since he returned from wrist surgery. More valleys than peaks. Maybe we’ve all underestimated how long it’d take for him to get back in the groove of things. The jumper has been absent for most of the season. I don’t know how you can watch some of these badly missed outside shots and not worry about his wrist.
That said, Williams’ pull-up jumper tied things up with 27 seconds left in regulation. It was one of several moments where someone on the Thunder came up big to rally late. You hope he can build off that. After Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tied it up again, they saw it as a chance to get an improbable win.
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“OT’s are like fresh starts. You can treat it like basically a new game. 0-0, like our famous saying that’s ingrained in everybody’s brain, but that’s actually what it is,” Williams said. “Get a fresh start to restart the game and see who’s better for five minutes.”
Gilgeous-Alexander put on his Superman cape and dragged the Thunder to a much-needed win. He dropped an efficient 46 points. Quite the way to break out of a small two-game slump. He scored nine points in overtime himself as he refused to lose to another below .500 team for the second time in as many tries.
Worry about all of the smaller problems that have surfaced in recent weeks, but the big one is whether Williams can return to his All-NBA form by the time the playoffs roll around. He has four months, but time is ticking. There’s no other reality where the Thunder go back-to-back if he isn’t an efficient 20-point scorer.
“I think everything’s about perspective. I don’t want this to sound cocky, but the last three years, we’ve won so much. When we have a normal human stretch of losing a game or two that we shouldn’t have lost, the world freaks out,” Williams said. “The thing that we do internally that’s a good job is just going out there and playing like we’re not superheroes. We have human moments. We are human. We get physically and mentally tired just throughout the season. I feel like that kinda showed in that stretch.”
You can see that on the defensive side for the Thunder. It was another night where they were destroyed on the boards and taken apart in the paint. You can see the frontcourt injuries pile on with each passing game. While they still have the league’s best defense, it wasn’t the shutdown machine that it’s previously been despite the same personnel in uniform. They desperately need some reinforcements soon.
“It’s nothing we haven’t done before. It’s just limiting the stretches that we have where we’re not like that. We’ve had some guys banged up too, so that obviously goes into that equation a little bit. Not having AC, not having I-Hart, not having J-Will. Some of the more energy guys. Like I said, we’re human,” Williams said. “There’s gonna be a stretch that we have where you can kinda tell it takes a toll a little bit. I think a lot of it too is understanding how the game’s being called. Trying to still be physical, but also back off a little bit, which has been tough.”