OKLAHOMA CITY. — Jalen Williams wasn’t in much of a reflective mood after his Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 120-109 in Game 5 of the NBA finals on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
Williams batted down questions about his monster performance, which moved the Thunder within one game of the franchise’s first championship since moving to Oklahoma City, much the way teammate Chet Holmgren swats shots.
“It’ll be cool to look back on down the line,” Williams said after scoring 40 points to give the Thunder a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.
However, Williams’ teammates and coach had no issues heaping praise on him
“Great force,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s the word, and we’ve used that word with him in his development. When he’s at his best, he’s playing with that type of force. That was an unbelievable performance from him just throughout the entire game.”
Williams finished 14 of 25 from the floor and 9 of 12 from the free-throw line.
During the Finals, Williams is averaging 25.8 points.
“He can shoulder a load,” teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said of Williams. “He does so many things for us as a basketball team on both ends of the floor when he’s the best version of himself. . . Makes a world of difference when he’s that good, for sure.”
Williams scored 13 points in the third quarter, helping Oklahoma City withstand a strong push from the Pacers, then added 11 more in the fourth as the Thunder pulled away.
“He’s one of those guys that you want to see succeed,” Holmgren said. “He works really hard, so you want to see it pay off for him, and we saw it tonight. Not only tonight, but we don’t get here without him playing as good as he’s playing.”
While much of the postgame focus went to Williams, Gilgeous-Alexander also had a big game. The newly selected NBA Most Valuable Player finished with 31 points, 10 assists, four blocks and two steals. Gilgeous-Alexander had nine points and four assists in the fourth quarter.
Even without much offensive production from a hobbled Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers cut what was an 18-point first-half deficit to two on Pascal Siakam’s 3-pointer from the wing with 8:30 remaining.
The Thunder immediately responded, though, with Cason Wallace grabbing the rebound on Williams’ missed layup and flipping it to Luguentz Dort, who found Williams for a 3-pointer.
