Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reacts after Thunder\u2019s 12-game winning streak snapped in Boston<\/a><\/p>\n\n Thunder struggled to balance offense, defense<\/p>\n
Williams described the game as a balancing act, pointing to how defensive stops impact offensive rhythm.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasketball is like a seesaw,\u201d he said. \u201cYou got to find an equal balance of getting stops in order to flow your offense a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that Oklahoma City was unable to consistently generate quality looks when Boston scored.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen teams do score, we still have to be able to generate good looks\u2026 and we didn\u2019t do that well enough for the whole night,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWhen you play good teams like that you have to be able to execute the whole game, and we didn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n
Facing one of the NBA\u2019s top teams, Williams said the margin for error is slim. He added that elite teams like Boston rarely beat themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what makes them good\u2026 they\u2019re going to go in with a game plan every night\u2026 it\u2019s just about who can execute the most throughout the game on a consistent basis,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
\n Shot-making, effort plays still critical<\/p>\n
Williams said while shooting matters, other factors play just as big a role in winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your process is good offensively, you\u2019re going to make your missed shots,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s so many other things\u2026 offensive rebounding, getting stops, generating easier looks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams said spacing, cutting and screening helps to create better opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just comes down to how well you execute\u2026 and what\u2019s the quality of those shots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n Williams continues to work back from injury<\/p>\n
Williams has dealt with injuries this season and said he is continuing to build confidence and rhythm on the court. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel great\u2026 it\u2019s a good feeling to know that I got through another game,\u201d he said. \u201cBasketball got taken away from me a lot this year, so it\u2019s cool to be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the challenge of playing under a minutes restriction and regaining flow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re used to playing 35 minutes\u2026 and you take 10 away\u2026 your game gets a little more choppy,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
\n Thunder focused on growth, not standings<\/p>\n
With the playoffs approaching, Williams said his focus remains on improvement rather than outside factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really focus on what other people are doing\u2026 wherever the chips fall, they fall,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Still, he acknowledged the importance of meaningful late-season games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be in these games where winning really matters\u2026 to get home court advantage for the playoffs,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
We used AI tools to help with editing and formatting this story. A human journalist reviewed everything before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON – Jalen Williams said execution and consistency were the difference as the Oklahoma City Thunder fell short…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-681660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-oklahoma","11":"tag-oklahoma-city","12":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","13":"tag-oklahomacity","14":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","15":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116300057720855274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}