Jalen Williams explodes back onto the court, dominating in limited minutes. His impactful return ignites OKC's championship aspirations.
Jalen Williams finally made his return to the Oklahoma City Thunder lineup on Monday night in a 123-103 road win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
And much to the delight of OKC fans everywhere, the young Thunder star looked like he was in midseason, All-NBA form.
Despite missing the past 16 games due to a hamstring strain, Williams scored 18 points on 8-14 shooting while dishing out 6 assists and grabbing 4 rebounds. Any concern that OKC's third All-Star would not have enough ramp up time before the postseason seemed to dissipate almost immediately.
"Dub looked great. Great force. Seemed to be in rhythm," OKC Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said of Williams in the postgame media availability. "So, I think it's a credit to first of all him and the work he's done while he was out. And then, you know, there's a a lot of people that have their hands on guys when they're returning to play. Medical performance and coaching staff. So great job by everybody to get him ready because he didn't miss a beat obviously."
Williams numbers are all the more impressive considering he did all his damage in only 20 minutes of playing time. Which begged the question of whether or not the versatile All-Defense selection was on a minutes restriction or if he will be on one going forward.
"I don't lay out the minute stuff, but it's always a soft thing, you know, like we we have a soft plan and we adjust it accordingly," Daigneault answered in response to a minutes limit query. "But he was great. He did a really good job."
A performance such as this one is encouraging for the league's best team as the Thunder gear up in hopes for their second consecutive championship run. Oklahoma City may have retained the #1 overall seed all season despite numerous injuries, but OKC's ceiling goes to another level with a fully healthy Jalen Williams.
Of course, in true Thunder fashion, Williams credited his stellar return to play to his teammates.
"We have a very good team so I don't have to do too much," Williams told Thunder reporter Nick Gallo when asked about his first game back. "It felt good. Like I said, we have a really good team. I think a lot of it behind the scenes was trying to get in shape and trying to maintain. Everything after that, you know, it's cool."