How Pistons defense, Thunder teammates led to Jaylin Williams’ career night

Oklahoma City Thunder center Jaylin Williams had a career night in Wednesday’s 124-116 loss to the Detroit Pistons. He finished with a career-high 30 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including five threes, 11 rebounds, four assists, one block, and one steal. After Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault commended Williams’ toughness after the back-up center rolled his ankle in the first quarter, before having the best performance of his career.

After the loss, a reporter asked Williams if he knew how many points he had as he inched closer to the 30-point plateau.

“I knew how many points I had, but I was really taking whatever they gave me,” Williams said. “I forced maybe two shots, which were bad shots, and I hate that I shot them. I just took whatever they gave me. My teammates were passing to me, getting me a lot of open looks. Thankfully for them, I got that many points.”

Williams led a shorthanded Thunder team, missing All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Ajay Mitchell, and Alex Caruso. Against the team with the second-best record in the NBA, Williams made a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game (108-105) with 5:06 left in the final frame.

Although that was the closest the Thunder came to pulling ahead down the stretch, the attempt was admirable, nearly erasing the Pistons’ 17-point lead.

“It’s resiliency. We just have a group of resilient guys. We’ve been up 30, we’ve been down 30. We’ve been up 20, down 20. We’ve been in close games throughout the whole game,” Williams said. “We’ve had guys out. So, we’ve been in a lot of different situations. And I think regardless of what situation we’re in, we’re going to go at it the same way. We’re going to go out there and leave it out on the court. We’re going to play defense. We’re going to play hard.

“We’re going to do those types of things. I think the fact that we’re a team where we do the same things regardless of who’s in — that’s what gives us a chance in every game.”

The Thunder’s lead atop the Western Conference standings shrunk to 2.0 games ahead of the San Antonio Spurs.

Mark Daigneault’s ‘unreal’ endorsement for Jaylin Williams

Head coach Mark Daigneault gave Thunder’s Jaylin Williams his flowers on a career milestone of scoring a career-high 30 points. Daigneault says it’s a testament to how his offense has flowed through Williams, who took full advantage of his opportunites against the Pistons’ second-ranked defense.

“He was unreal tonight. Great toughness and obviously great offense — I think that must be a career high for him,” Daigneault said. “We flowed through him against a team that really pressures, similar to what we’ve had to do lately. He was a great help for us again tonight.”

The Thunder will host the Nuggets at the Paycom Center on Friday.

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