Berry Tramel
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jalen Williams took a handoff from Isaiah Hartenstein, then used I-Hart as a screen to put Indiana’s Aaron Nesmith in a hotbox. With Nesmith on Williams’ hip, the Thunder star had the Pacer defender on the run.
Williams faced the basket using one of those machine-gun dribbles as Nesmith scrambled to get back in position. Williams went right, then dribbled behind his back to go left, crossing Nesmith in the lane. Two speedboats passing in the night. Williams went straight to the basket and finished a left-handed scoop layup before Indiana shotblocker Myles Turner could get over to help.
Less than two minutes later, Williams brought the ball up, went left to zip past Nesmith, veered right across the lane as Pacer Obi Toppin came over to help and laid in an easy basket.
Williams looked like he had a jetpack on those plays. The first of those field goals produced a 91-91 tie. The second, 95-95. Fairly important midway through the fourth quarter of a game the Thunder had to have to keep its NBA championship hopes ablaze.
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Have you heard NBA people talking about needing shot creators the deeper the playoffs go? That’s exactly what transpired in Indianapolis on Friday night in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The defenses of the Thunder and the Pacers have taken over. The offenses are playing in a crowd. No room to maneuver. No room to execute. Individual talent trumps team ball at this stage, fourth quarters of crucial games, when defenses get set and go all Davy Crockett at the Alamo.
They’re not giving in.
The Thunder beat the Pacers 111-104 because down the stretch, it had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose one-on-one abilities are perhaps the world’s best. But also because it has Jalen Williams, the Santa Clara version of the same-sounding teammates (with Arkansas’ Jaylin Williams), whose one-on-one ability is among the world’s best.
SGA scored 15 of the Thunder’s final 16 points in Game 4 and wore the hero’s cape, with 35 points. But Williams finished with 27 points, on 8-of-18 shooting and a perfect 11-of-11 from the foul line.
The Pacers found no such difference-maker, much less two.
“Just trying to match their physicality and force throughout the game,” Williams said. “Just being aggressive. I just try and find my spots and get better each and every game. Tonight was just one of those things. I saw some stuff where I could be a little more aggressive early, that’s what I just tried to do.”
The all-Thunder Monday ScissorTales check in on Mark Daigneault’s moves, recall a team from yesteryear similar to these Pacers and look at how valuable is homecourt advantage when the Finals are tied 2-2. But we start with the Thunder’s budding superstar.
I’m not sure Oklahomans realize what they have on their hands.
Jalen Williams is in his third season. He’s in the NBA Finals. He also made all-NBA (third team).
Sounds impressive. Is impressive.
You’re known by the company you keep, and here’s the company Williams is keeping in the all-NBA/NBA Finals/third-season-or-less club:
Dwyane Wade 2006, Shaquille O’Neal 1995, Hakeem Olajuwon 1986, Magic Johnson 1982, Larry Bird 1981, Bill Walton 1977, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1971, Walt Frazier 1970, John Havlicek 1964, Jerry West 1963 and 1962, Bill Russell 1959 and 1958, Elgin Baylor 1959. That’s it, since ‘59, when the NBA was 12 years old and starting to grow enough veterans to give the league some muscle.
Hall of Famers all. Epic players all. The least of that club is probably, who, Frazier or Havlicek? In the last 30 years, only Wade had joined the ranks, before Williams. It’s a club of talented, young, precocious stars who made it to basketball’s biggest stage.
It’s like Mark Daigneault said last week, when he called Williams and Chet Holmgren “uncommon,” for being indispensable third-year players on Finals teams. Uncommon is exactly what they are. And Williams, all-NBA this soon and in the heart-pounding drama of tight Finals games, is even rarer.
What we saw out of Williams in Game 4 was more than a season saver. It was an announcement that his upside is far more vast than anything we imagined.
On defense, the guy covered Pascal Siakam and wore down the Pacers’ much-bigger forward. On offense, Williams played point guard most of the first three quarters, to give Gilgeous-Alexander much-needed relief so he could go strong in the fourth quarter.
“Yeah, he was special tonight,” SGA said. “He’s been really good the last couple nights. It’s impressive to see his growth and his ability at such a young age on this stage.
“That’s what makes us a good team. It’s more than just me. Way more than just me. He can carry the load. He can be the second fiddle. He can just play defense. He can guard your five (center). There’s so many things he can do on a basketball court. I think that’s why he’s having the year he’s having. He was amazing tonight.”
Williams has had some postseason clunkers. So did Nikola Jokic. And SGA. And Anthony Edwards. And Jalen Brunson. And Steph Curry. And Donovan Mitchell. Welcome to the playoffs, where defenses batten down and take away teams’ strengths. Superstars don’t avoid the shutdowns. They play through it.
“I mean, it forces you to play at a higher pace, a higher performance,” Williams said. “I think my biggest thing is just stepping into the moment, success or fail, just kind of living with the results.
“I put a lot of work into my game, so I just go out there and play. I just don’t want to ever play a game and look back where I wasn’t aggressive, afraid to do a move, whatever the case may be.”
The Thunder is favored to win what these NBA Finals have become: a best-of-three, with OKC having homecourt advantage. But either way, the Thunder future seems limitless, because it has SGA and a budding superstar in Williams, plus Chet Holmgren, whose upside soars, and a complete roster, and draft capital, and Sam Presti’s smarts, and Clay Bennett’s rock-solid ownership.
Don’t overlook that Williams and Holmgren element.
“Our young guys want to be great, man,” Alex Caruso said after Game 4. “Like, they really, really do. They want to be great … Dub (Williams) there’s a reason he’s an all-NBA player, an all-star at just I think he’s 23 (actually 24). I mean, he’s a phenomenal talent.
“To be able to do it without a lot of experience and without being in that moment before, like this is their first NBA Finals, down 2-1 on the road, down 10 at one point in the game, just answering, throwing punches, throwing punches. That can’t get overlooked. That’s an impressive feat.”
It’s an historic feat. Williams has joined a stunningly exclusive club. The Thunder should rejoice.
Daigneault’s big move
Daigneault has had his mind full in this series, considering Indiana coach Rick Carlisle is an old hand at playoff strategy. But Daigneault made a fourth-quarter adjustment that opened the Thunder offense in Game 4.
Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander began screening for each other. That made Indiana defensive whiz Andrew Nembhard make quick and difficult decisions: switch with Nesmith, who was guarding Williams; fight over the screen, which could put him trailing Gilgeous-Alexander; or go under the screen and give SGA a sliver of opening for a 3-point shot.
The Pacers generally chose to switch, which put Nesmith, a solid defender but no Nembhard, guarding SGA. Gilgeous-Alexander came alive with a variety of baskets or foul shots.
“We’ve worked on that over the course of the last couple years,” SGA said. “Both of us can do multiple things with the basketball: shoot, pass, handle. We try to just play off our instincts and play off each other, be aggressive, make the right basketball play.
“If we do so, we usually end up with a pretty good shot because of the players we are. It showed up big tonight, for sure.”
Pacers look like old Pistons
The Pacers are superstarless. Both Tyrese Haliburton and Siakam have made all-NBA, but they generally are considered below the superstar line.
All of which makes this Indiana an awful lot like the 2004 and 2005 Detroit Pistons. Those Pistons won the NBA title in ‘04 and reached the Finals again in ‘05, with a superstarless lineup.
Ben Wallace was a dynamite defensive center who made second-team all-NBA. The rest of the starters were Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. They averaged from 17.6 points (Hamilton) to 10.3 (Prince). Rasheed Wallace had been an all-star, but none had made all-NBA.
That’s similar to these Pacers, who play in a higher-scoring era and whose starting five ranges in scoring from 20.2 (Siakam) to 10.0 (Nembhard). In all, seven Pacers average double digit scoring.
“We are put together really, probably, unlike any other team in the NBA in terms of our dependence on one another,” Carlisle said. “You can look at the stats, and individual guys having big nights is a big part of success. But with us, the thing that works for us is balance. A lot of guys involved, a lot of guys passing it. A spirit that is evident, positive, regardless of whether things are going good or bad.”
These Pacers haven’t come from anonymity. They made the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
Those Pistons of a generation ago? Before their back-to-back NBA Finals trips, they made the 2003 East finals.
The coach of the 2003 Pistons, who was fired despite resurrecting the franchise’s success rate? Rick Carlisle.
Mailbag: Resting SGA
Daigneault gave Gilgeous-Alexander more rests in Game 4, not necessarily more rest. SGA took a seat in each of the four quarters.
Chris: “I noticed Coach gave Shai a short break mid-fourth quarter, which stuck out to me as pretty important.”
Berry: Yes. From 7:10 to 6:22. I thought it was a curious move. SGA picked up his fourth foul, and Daigneault took him out. I was wondering if he thought he might get the under-7 timeout to give SGA an extended rest. But the timeout already had come, because there was no timeout and Daigneault quickly got SGA back in. But I do think resting SGA helped. He was taken out in both the first and third quarters, which almost never happens. And he seemed fresher down the stretch. The biggest help was Williams bringing the ball upcourt a good chunk of the game, against Indiana’s full-court pressure.
The List: 2-2 Finals
Since 1970, 22 NBA Finals have been tied 2-2. The team with homecourt advantage has won 15 of those titles. Here are the seven that accomplished what the Pacers are trying to do: win a virtual best-of-three in the NBA Finals with only one home game remaining:
2021: Bucks over Suns, 6 games
2011: Mavericks over Heat, 6 games
2006: Heat over Mavericks, 6 games
1985: Lakers over Celtics, 6 games
1978: Bullets (Wizards) over SuperSonics, 7 games
1977: Blazers over 76ers, 6 games
1974: Celtics over Bucks, 7 games
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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