There’s a peculiar distance between the often bubbly 24-year-old and what might be the greatest performance of his life. Jalen Williams created it himself.
When did you know Monday would be a good night, asked the voice filming his amble down the back hall of the Paycom Center, perhaps his last for a while after a 120-109 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, pushing the Thunder a game away from the title.
“After the game was over,” he said, his eyes flickering in search of an answer that’d efface him.
Way to have your moment, a warm, elder voice told him in passing.
“Appreciate it,” Williams replied in a low-tone as if a door was held open for him.
His most succinct answer was his 35-minute display, a Herculean ask-me-anything on the hardwood during which he responded to an offseason’s worth of questions — namely what his value could be on a stage like this. One typically cruel and telling of third-year players, especially with his responsibilities.
Forty points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Nuff said. So he’ll seemingly choose to button up beyond that, because the most colossal win and outburst of his career is now expected to be followed by the next biggest win. The one above all.
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Oklahoma City is one more win from the cigar. For Williams, any of the other smoke is exactly that.
“The biggest game thing,” Williams said, “I’ve gotten kind of numb to. Every time we play in the Finals, it’s the biggest game of your life.”
He later added: “It’s something more that I’ll, like, look back on later than worry about what kind statement it makes. I think the only statement we have right now is we’re up 3-2 and we have to still go earn another win.”
It’s not that he doesn’t know what he did. He reached for Pacers’ throats with vein-popping, primal roars and rim detonations. He was the engine that swung this series back under the direction of the Thunder’s bug-crushing boot. But he might not care for the details.
Williams played the fewest minutes in a 40-point Finals game ever (35). Kobe Bryant and Giannis Antetokounmpo each played 38. He joined Magic Johnson and Russell Westbrook as the three youngest players to score 40 in a Finals game. He became the first player to do so in their first three seasons since Dwyane Wade in 2006.
That Williams rushed to 40 didn’t speak nearly as loudly as the fashion he did it in. His rhythm changed. Tap dance to Krump. He filtered out the moments where he might’ve previously dribbled endlessly, or flailed near the rim, or chucked an 18-footer over a well-timed contest. He went from sidestep jumpers above the free-throw line to a thousand first-quarter cuts. Finesse to force.
He launched from hell’s cannon. Flames followed his trail. His strides peaked 30 miles above speed limit, worthy of a court date in the great state of Oklahoma. He ran and ran, Forrest Gump’s reincarnation. He was 9 for 16 in the paint, just begging for a SLAM magazine poster.
Somehow, the first quarter was his most flawed. But the backdoor cuts, his movement in orbit around center Isaiah Hartenstein, were the tell that Monday night would be explosive. The Pacers were left to readjust their jaw, yet to be blitzed thus far this series the way OKC did Monday night.
The Thunder led by as much as 18 before Indiana did the Indiana thing and severed the lead. It got as close as two points, 95-93, with 8:30 to play. Then Williams drilled the 25-footer that started an avalanche.
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It snowballed through steal after steal, six for the Thunder in the fourth quarter. Enough transition fury to bury T.J. McConnell’s nightmare-inducing 18-point uproar. Enough to guarantee that Tyrese Haliburton, noticeably limping after missing all six of his attempts Monday, never rose to the moment.
Game 5 lived a life unlike the remainder of the series. Oklahoma City, weighed down thus far by its lack of ball movement and scarcity of 3-point attempts, shot and made more 3s than the ever-chucking Pacers — it was 14 of 32 from deep.
Its typical turnover-thriving identity fled for the better part of four games. Monday’s game was closer to regular-season dominance, with OKC forcing 22 turnovers and scoring a series-high 32 points off them.
Williams — handsy, overbearing, precise — was at the center of that.
“Great force,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I mean, that’s the word.”
There isn’t one Daigneault has tied to Williams more. “J-Dub” and “force” have been interchangeable, for better or worse. Early this season, when questions remained of whether the third-year budding star could realize his potential, whether he could be the right hand Shai Gilgeous-Alexander needed to hoist the Larry O’Brien, Williams struggled to impose his will.
His rim numbers were abysmal. Free throws were a foreign concept. He quarreled with officials. He pleaded for ways to transcend the midseason plateau that seemingly threatened OKC’s title hopes. He squeezed out basketball blackheads for the sake of being camera-ready in these Finals.
“There’s times earlier in the season where he had some ugly plays, ugly games, trying to establish the type (of) force you saw tonight,” Daigneault said Monday. “I complimented him back then. But he’s trying to make an All-Star team. He’s an All-NBA player this season. He’s got an individual career that he’s ambitious (about).”
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In the 10 games since the Thunder tipped off the West Finals versus Minnesota, Williams has averaged 24 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists, all while shooting 40% from 3 on 4.5 attempts. Monday’s outburst was the only one capable of sweeping Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31-point, 10-assist outing under the rug.
Eruptive drives, and-ones that send chills through the Paycom congregation. Sound familiar? Why not? Westbrook’s spirit, at the very least, lives in the fire Williams projects in his screams. That piercing look their victims receive when the at-rim damage is done.
But living up to the last regime is not where Williams exhales. He’d like to be immortalized for doing what his predecessors never could, and for what his detractors questioned he was capable of — not simply being a game away from it.
“I know he’s not satisfied by this performance,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Williams. “Yeah, he works hard. He played well tonight because of it. It’s no fluke.”
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt sat across from Williams at midcourt postgame. He peeled back at Williams’ exhaustion. Williams circled a later date when asked about Monday, his moment. Now wasn’t the time to revel.
“Having fun?” Van Pelt quipped.
“I am,” Williams shot back, an awkward smile following.
“All business,” Van Pelt determined.
Maybe under champagne showers, and only then, will Williams crack that boyish smile at the player he’s become in these playoffs. He’s willing to wait at least one more game.
Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Joel’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.