Forward Jalen Williams’ honest tribute to the Mavericks’ suffocating defense

Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a 20-point deficit in a 106-98 loss Dallas Mavericks. Head coach Marc Daigneault gave his honest take on the loss before Williams talked about what the Mavericks defense faces without All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor.

Gilgeous-Alexander was ruled out during pregame due to a sore wrist, which shifted most of the defense to Williams. After the loss, he spoke about how it was on Friday night.

“Tonight was probably the toughest of them all … different coverage tonight, which was good,” Williams said. “It allowed me to read the game and understand the game. So I’m definitely not going to take those opportunities for granted.”

Williams struggled to find his offensive rhythm against the Mavs, scoring four points in the first half without making a single field goal. Jalen went 1-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-6 from the free throw line before finishing with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds in Friday’s loss.

“I’m just trying to find my teammates. There was a lot, I wouldn’t say new, just more than that,” added Williams. “Obviously, because they didn’t have Shai there, they kind of thought they were going to throw a lot of that stuff in there. I’m just trying to learn and understand the coverages where I need to throw the ball and how I can still pick my spots and be aggressive.”

Thunder’s Jaylen Williams looked at the experience as a learning moment for the third-year forward. In a rare absence for Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed just seven games last season, it was a big spot for Jalen, facing a team that eliminated the Thunder 4-2 in the Western Conference semifinals in last year’s playoffs.

Marc Daigneault’s candid look at the Thunder’s loss to the Mavericks

Thunder head coach Marc Daigneault was pleased with his team’s second half performance performance. Despite the losses, Daigneault had plenty of positive results takeaway.

“Obviously (they) did a really good job after halftime,” Daigneault said. “After a tough second quarter or the end of the second quarter, I thought we played a pretty good game outside of that six-minute period where they really broke the game open.” But we came out of halftime, made it a game and got within striking distance very quickly. And being able to get into a one-point game in the fourth, which is all you can ask for, considering we were at halftime.

The Thunder will host the Nets on Sunday.