Jalen Williams got here off the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder the final time they confronted off with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the Thunder’s subsequent sport two days later, the rookie from Santa Clara moved into the beginning lineup and hasn’t moved since.
Friday night time, Williams figures to be within the beginning lineup for the twenty third consecutive sport when the Thunder tackle the Cavs in Oklahoma City.
Williams’ offensive contributions are in every single place. He’s coming off a 24-point efficiency in Wednesday’s loss to Atlanta after scoring simply 4 the sport earlier than, a win in Denver.
But he has change into a fixture in a Thunder rotation that gives little different certainty exterior of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey.
“I think his play speaks for itself,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault stated of Williams. “He’s a great player already. He’s got a very bright future. We have a lot of belief in him. We’re excited with where he’s going.”
Against the Hawks, not solely did Williams have his second-highest scoring whole of his rookie season, on 11-of-16 capturing, however he additionally had 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
“I think we expect that from him,” Gilgeous-Alexander stated. “He’s proven for sure that he belongs in this league, and he’s gonna be a really good basketball player for a really long time.”
The Thunder have dropped two of their final three, trying 51 fewer free throws than their opponents in that span (94-43).
Daigneault stated a number of the distinction could be attributed to enjoying from behind and needing to foul late in two of these video games.
“But there’s a lot of those that are within our control that are just cheap fouls that, right now, we don’t have the margin to give those up,” Daigneault stated. “Those are the ones we have to own. I also think that we’ve gotten fouled at times and it hasn’t been called. We’ve got to continue to play through that but that’s frustrating as well.”
Cleveland has gained two of its final three, together with a 113-95 victory in Houston on Thursday.
Friday’s sport is the rubber sport of a three-game street journey for the Cavs. Cleveland gained the primary assembly of the season in opposition to the Thunder, 110-102 at residence Dec. 10, and has gained 4 straight in opposition to Oklahoma City.
The Cavs have been with out Donovan Mitchell in that earlier assembly this season, as he sat out with a sore leg. Mitchell may miss Friday’s sport as nicely, after aggravating the groin damage that stored him out the three earlier video games in Tuesday’s loss to the Knicks.
On Thursday, Mitchell was named an All-Star starter for the primary time earlier than lacking Cleveland’s sport in opposition to the Rockets. After the win, Mitchell crashed the postgame tv interview with Darius Garland to foyer for Garland’s inclusion on the All-Star roster after Garland had 26 factors on 9-of-16 capturing with 9 assists.
“Darius has continued to grow,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff stated. “And this is a place where we’ve seen him grow the most is understanding the moment, understanding each game and how it’s different and what it takes for him and how to be a tone-setter.”
Kevin Love additionally missed Thursday’s sport as a result of decrease again spasms.
