OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 Limited to just 33 games in the NBA regular season by a series of injuries, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams never really developed much of a rhythm.<\/p>\n
However, after his 22-point, seven-rebound, six-assist performance in the Thunder\u2019s 119-84 Game 1 win over the Phoenix Suns in their first-round play-off series, he looks as if he is finally returning to form after being a key piece in last season\u2019s championship run.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been out for so long, we knew it was going to take some time for him to get back to himself,\u201d Oklahoma City\u2019s Luguentz Dort said. \u201cBut he is now. He\u2019s confident, real aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series continues on Wednesday (Thursday morning, Singapore time) when the Thunder and Suns meet in Oklahoma City for Game 2.<\/p>\n
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said his approach to making adjustments for the second game, after Oklahoma City built a big lead early and then maintained it in on Sunday in the series opener, was an open-minded one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to look at it more like a menu and less like a prediction,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to try to guess. You don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different directions they could go in. We try to understand what all those directions are \u2013 could be different line-ups, it could be different tactics, could just be the same ones and try to execute them better. We try to account for all that, just make sure our team has contingencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the improvements Phoenix coach Jordan Ott said his team must make in Game 2, is to avoid being in isolation against the Thunder\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n
While the Suns\u2019 Dillon Brooks said the approach was a good one overall, he also said he would not avoid such matchups against fellow Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a good defender overall, but I just like the matchup,\u201d Brooks said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTeam Canada, we\u2019ve been going at it for a while. I won\u2019t forget our one-on-ones that we had in Paris. You see a guy like that going hard on the offensive end all game and trying to get a rest on defence, I\u2019ll find a way to make him use his legs, use his hands, use his mind on that defensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, was the runaway winner in the Clutch Player of the Year award balloting, revealed on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
He received 96 of 100 first-place votes and had 484 total points, well ahead of Denver Nuggets standout Jamal Murray (117) and Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards (116).<\/p>\n
The guard led the NBA with 175 points that occurred in clutch time, defined as games that were within five points in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime.<\/p>\n
Brooks had 18 points on 6-of-22 shooting in Game 1, while Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points but hit just 5 of 18 from the field.<\/p>\n
Ott said that Brooks has been one of the tone-setters for the Suns, not only through the season but in the play-in tournament and now the play-offs as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been in these play-off battles. Knows that it\u2019s a series. You gotta play with that edge. It helped us get going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in play-off action on Tuesday, the Portland Trail Blazers exploited an injury to Victor Wembanyama to score an upset 106-103 victory over the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n
Wembanyama exited in the second quarter at the Frost Bank Center after hitting his head on the court floor following a collision with Portland\u2019s Jrue Holiday.<\/p>\n
Scoot Henderson led Portland\u2019s scoring with 31 points, while Holiday added 16 as the series is tied 1-1.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Lakers produced another disciplined defensive effort to defeat the Houston Rockets 101-94 and take a surprise 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
LeBron James finished with 28 points, while Marcus Smart added 25 and Luke Kennard 23.<\/p>\n
In the East, Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe combined for 59 points as the Philadelphia 76ers scored a series-leveling 111-97 victory on the road over the Boston Celtics. REUTERS, AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 Limited to just 33 games in the NBA regular season by a series of injuries,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,6,2065,472,4045,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-715719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-phoenix","11":"tag-phoenix-suns","12":"tag-phoenixsuns","13":"tag-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116447474051965463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715719","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=715719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}