Jan. 10, 2026, 9:31 a.m. CT
Getting the ball at the top of the key, Jalen Williams had Cedric Coward fall for the pump-fake. He drove to the basket before eventually going up for a floater as Jock Landale was about to go for the stop. The opening bucket of the fourth quarter helped him get things going.
The Oklahoma City Thunder mounted a 21-point comeback in a 117-116 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. The stunner fits the textbook definition of ‘highway robbery’ as the former looked lifeless through most of the night.
Williams finished with 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, 10 assists and five rebounds. He shot 0-of-3 from 3 and went 8-of-10 on free throws. He also had a steal and a block.
As the Thunder were buried on the scoreboard early on, the social media discourse around Williams was impossible to avoid. They needed the All-NBA player to step up. The table was cleared for him to hunt out as many shots as he’d like. Instead, it was more of the same with a passive shot-hunting mindset.
It’s tough to blame Williams, either. The jumper hasn’t been there all season. I think we’ve all underestimated how long it’d take for him to get over his wrist surgery. At this point, it feels like the badly missed shots have affected his confidence. To the point that he’s hesitant to get his signature pull-up jumper.
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With a quiet 14 points through three quarters, it felt like that noise would only grow. But something happened in the fourth frame. Almost like a flip was switched inside Williams’ head. Instead of going for jumpers, he became a drive-only scorer. The results were his best stretch of basketball in perhaps this whole season.
The confidence was back. Williams sliced through Memphis’ defense. A couple of high steps had him directly in front of the rim. He used his pterodactyl-esque wingspan to finish over defenders. The touch was also back. A couple of his drives resulted in pretty layups that kissed the glass.
Another bonus that comes with drives is free-throw trips. That’s been something Williams has sought. Frustration has only boiled over. To the point you can count on him to visibly disagree with non-calls. Well, double-digit free-throw attempts showed you how he can return to being a superb-efficient 20-point scorer.
One person who can relate to his situation is his teammate Kenrich Williams. The veteran role player also had the same surgery and understands the rollercoaster recovery that comes with it. He has faith that this breakout performance could finally get things going for him as a chance to return to his All-NBA level.
“Dub is a special player. Super huge for our team, just his versatility, everything he does on the court. I see him have a game like this and it’s good for his confidence moving forward. I had the same surgery, so I know that that’s a super tough injury to come back from, and it’s on his right wrist,” Williams said. “But as the games go on, I think that confidence will rise up and he starts getting more comfortable using that hand. He had a big game tonight, both on offense and defense. Big shoutout to Dub.”
In just one quarter, Williams changed the narratives of this game. He had 12 points in it as the Thunder mounted a comeback. If you’re OKC, you want him to watch what he did in that stretch ad nauseam on the plane ride back. That’s the formula for him to be a reliable second option until his wrist unthaws from its laffy-taffy stiffness he’s previously described it to be.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault talked about Williams’ late push. It was a vintage performance where he took over in the fourth quarter. Something that’s rarely happened this season but was a staple for OKC over the previous years.
“He just kept competing on both ends of the floor. He had that little flurry. There were many moments there where the lead could have gone from 14 to 20. Wiggins had a little spurt there. Dub had a spurt,” Daigneault said about Williams. “We just got kind of different lifts from different guys to keep us within striking distance, or close enough at least. We were able to put some game pressure on them.”