Thunder’s Jalen Williams taking pride in defense amid return from wrist injury

Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams made his season debut two days before Sunday’s 123-115 win against the Portland Blazers, and showed little rust on the defensive end of the floor. He finished with two blocks and one steal, playing without starter Isaiah Hartenstein in the Thunder’s lineup. Then, Williams finished with three blocks in Sunday’s victory in Portland.

After the game, Williams discussed how it’s been easier for him to re-adapt to the Thunder on defense than on offense.

“It’s just more about my effort, trying to give you more effort, but as far as pride goes, I’ll always have that chip on my shoulder, defensively. I think I’m one of the best defenders in the NBA, just being able to do a lot,” Williams said. “Pride-wise, it doesn’t go away. I think it just gets me into more of a flow until I get back to, like, normal offensive stuff. Defense is also very fun for me — I like playing defense.”

However, Jalen Williams admits that he and the Thunder could have done a better job of slowing down Avdija amid his 31-point performance.

“I’d have loved to not have fouled as much as a team, but it’s good to have games like that — those are what prepare you for later on in the season. So, when you can find a way to win, even through ugly games, it’s a sign of a pretty good team. Obviously, this being my second game back, these are good games to have, too. I’d rather have them like this, where the game isn’t perfect. So, I can really get into a flow and figure it out. It’s been good.

“Obviously, we gotta keep them off the line, especially Avdija — he had like a hundred free throws today. So, we gotta figure that out. But, again, just figuring out different ways to win — I think — was impressive tonight.”

Mark Daigneault on Thunder’s issues vs. Blazers

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault wouldn’t blame the officials for the Blazers’ whopping 37 free-throw attempts. Instead, he called for his team to do a better job at limiting Deni Avdija from getting to the line 23 times.

“Can’t control the officiating and how the games get called. So, we control what we can,” Daigneault said. “There’s plenty inside the game that we can control. I thought Avdija, tonight, shot 23 free throws, and anytime that happens, to us, we’re going to look in the mirror first. That’s the reality. We could have done a lot better with him in terms of executing our plan, putting him in more of a crowd.

“He was on an island a lot of the night, especially in the first half, and you got three officials staring at him when that’s the case.”

The Thunder will face the Warriors on Tuesday.

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