Jaylin Williams had a night to remember for the Oklahoma City Thunder, even though it came in a 124-116 loss to the Detroit Pistons. The Thunder center put up a career-high 30 points, shooting an impressive 9-of-14 from the field and sinking five shots from beyond the arc.
He also grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out four assists, and added a block and a steal to his stat line. This performance was even more remarkable considering Williams rolled his ankle in the first quarter, yet powered through to deliver his best game yet.
After the game, Williams reflected on his scoring spree. “I knew how many points I had, but I was really taking whatever they gave me,” he shared.
“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 took the lead for a Thunder squad missing key players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and others. Despite being shorthanded, they faced off against the Pistons, who boast the second-best record in the NBA. Williams hit a pair of crucial free throws late in the game to narrow the gap to 108-105, but the Thunder couldn't quite complete the comeback from a 17-point deficit.
“It's resiliency. We just have a group of resilient guys,” Williams explained.
“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. 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.”
This fighting spirit is what keeps the Thunder competitive, regardless of who's on the floor. Currently, their lead in the Western Conference standings is down to two games over the San Antonio Spurs.
Head coach Mark Daigneault praised Williams for his outstanding performance. “He was unreal tonight.
Great toughness and obviously great offense - I think that must be a career high for him,” Daigneault commented. “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.”
Next up, the Thunder will face the Denver Nuggets at the Paycom Center on Friday, looking to build on Williams’ inspiring performance.