A lot was manufactured from the Jalen Williams/Shai Gilgeous-Alexander screening motion the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder used to shut out Recreation 4 of the NBA Finals. Down the stretch of that soon-to-be immortal victory over the Indiana Pacers, Williams merely obtained ball-screens from Gilgeous-Alexander, who then had a a lot simpler time scoring (or drawing fouls) on Aaron Nesmith than he did Andrew Nembhard.
It wasn’t a really ingenious play-call; we see it on a regular basis within the NBA. Head coach Mark Daigneault merely, lastly, put his two greatest offensive gamers within the motion to obtain a good matchup.
As Oklahoma Metropolis regarded to shut the door in Recreation 5, Daigneault went again to an identical properly. With seven minutes to go and a five-point lead, Williams crept as much as display screen Nembhard. Nesmith yells out the protection, and Nembhard gathers his senses. Immediately, Williams darts out to the wing, and the MVP is three steps previous everyone, not a lot rejecting the display screen as ignoring it.
Indiana’s protection collapses, and Gilgeous-Alexander whips a cross along with his left-hand to the nook. Lu Dort, like each Thunder position participant Monday night time, does his factor:
https://t.co/7dG1odjCGu pic.twitter.com/0OJEDId2Dq
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) June 17, 2025
Doubtless with some path from the teaching employees, it’s a slick, veteran play. Think about the drained, caffeinated room of Indiana coaches planning their response to the Gilgeous-Alexander/Williams two-man recreation all weekend. Now, really feel their clean stares when Oklahoma Metropolis’s stars are (actually) two steps forward on the recreation’s most pivotal juncture.
Oklahoma Metropolis’s protection, the principle cause it’s one win away from a title, is past cliché. Overlook being tenacious, or gritty, or filled with dawgs; it’s merely the very best most of us have ever seen. However they, like most NBA champions earlier than them, are additionally led by stars.
Chet Holmgren Is In all places
And no, it’s not a Batman and Robin state of affairs, however a real Large 3.
Chet Holmgren’s influence isn’t textbook. Even when he makes an ordinary play, like attacking the rim on a handoff — solely normal in case you ignore the very fact it’s a 7-foot-1 man doing it — he finishes like this…
CHET GETS CRAFTY ON THE FINISH 😮💨
OKC is LOUD for Recreation 5 on ABC 🗣️🔊 pic.twitter.com/0MGqQzUu8d
— NBA (@NBA) June 17, 2025
Holmgren’s leap to offensive stardom has been stunted within the 2024-25 season; lacking 50 video games didn’t assist. The three-point capturing isn’t sniper-level but, and whether or not he rolls or pops out of a ball-screen, the outcomes stay blended.
However even in these NBA Finals, his offensive influence can’t be completely extricated from what makes him an ideal participant in complete. Within the fourth quarter of Recreation 4, along with his Thunder trailing by seven, he went on a private 6-0 run to shut the hole, forcing his means into put-backs and to the free-throw line.
If Holmgren by no means provides a pound of muscle to his slender body, he’ll be all proper. After an ankle twist and a number of laborious falls that despatched him to the ground in Indiana, and would’ve despatched many others to the locker room, he was capable of dish out body-to-body punishment whereas overlaying the unbelievable floor he usually does.
That is the worst he’ll be as an offensive participant for the remainder of his profession. Within the series-tying Recreation 4 win, Holmgren scored 14 (well timed) factors on a tidy 60.1 p.c true capturing whereas grabbing 4 offensive rebounds. That’s a neat little stat line, nevertheless it’s greater than sufficient for star-level influence as a result of Holmgren is already one of many NBA’s greatest defenders. After that 6-0 run to begin the fourth quarter, the child from Minnesota closed out the Pacers on protection, each serving to on the rim and crucially switching onto Indiana’s guard, who couldn’t do a rattling factor in opposition to him:
Chet crunch time protection.
0-4 FG within the final 2 minutes when focused #wow https://t.co/swtkNNssnP pic.twitter.com/aScNSkpD10
— Mohamed (@mcfNBA) June 14, 2025
It’s rim-protection instincts, it’s floor protection, and 11 defensive boards to associate with it. In Recreation 4, Indiana posted a universe-collapsing 137.5 offensive ranking when Holmgren sat and a rubbish 94.5 offensive ranking within the 37 minutes he performed. Throughout Monday’s Recreation 5, it was extra of the identical. He shot simply 4-of-15 however grabbed 5 offensive boards and made play after play on protection, significantly throughout a dominant Oklahoma Metropolis first half:
Dub might have put it away, however Chet Holmgren’s first-half protection was large in constructing the 14-point lead: pic.twitter.com/d96enWiTZo
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 17, 2025
If the Thunder do win the championship, Holmgren received’t win Finals MVP. This playoff run would possibly finally be considered because the stepping stone he takes to stardom. However the Thunder protection is 5 factors per 100 possession higher when he’s on the court docket within the postseason, and the distinction is even higher within the Finals. He solely has to play common offense to return star influence, and even within the Finals, he’s doing greater than that.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Is Attaining Mastery
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, just like the Pantheonic gamers earlier than him, is turning into an unquestionable winner. Not simply an unfathomable expertise who is without doubt one of the biggest perimeter scorers of all-time, not simply an NBA MVP, however a grasp of the sport.
After the aforementioned rocket to Dort, he additional buried Indiana along with his protection, stealing the ball on two straight possessions and later blocking Nembhard in transition, cementing a ridiculous 31/2/10/2/4 line:
Gilegous-Alexander jumped from a zero-assist efficiency in Recreation 4 to a double-double in Recreation 5, partly as a result of his teammates made photographs. However his drives have been extra perceptive, versus his heroic, game-winning stretch on the finish of Recreation 4, the place no matter power he had left was spent on attending to a shot he appreciated. His step-back jumper on the baseline following the push-off that wasn’t didn’t simply escape Nesmith, however Nembhard coming over in assist.
In Recreation 5, he didn’t escape further defenders a lot as invite them. After emptying the clip on the most important juncture of Oklahoma Metropolis’s season, he got here out decided Recreation 5 could be his workforce’s strongest offensive efficiency of the sequence.
Earlier on this sequence, I twice wrote essentially the most “worrisome” pattern for the Thunder was a scarcity of 3-point makes an attempt. Positive sufficient, they hit their nadir in Recreation 4, capturing a really 1994 3-of-16 from deep. Indiana had efficiently choked off each transition alternatives and drive-and-kick alternatives within the half-court. In Recreation 5, Gilgeous-Alexander was just too good on many possessions, right here leveraging his all-time-great flexibility and steadiness to keep away from a journey, then make a kick-out cross that results in a 3:
Inconceivable to overstate what a freak athlete SGA is.
Idk if another NBA play can keep away from the journey by conserving that left foot down on the spin. Results in three: pic.twitter.com/QMwrQJChdh
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 17, 2025
The scoring is unquestionable. His instruments as a driver deserve their very own wing within the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame. The deal with, the footwork and the contact are all the things a hoops purist may need in an expert bucket-getter. However don’t let the superior great thing about his recreation distract from the very fact Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ascending to mastery.
Jalen Williams, Unleashed
Extra precisely, Jalen Williams has unleashed himself. Within the largest recreation of his life, he not solely performed the very best recreation of his life, however dedicated to the very best model of himself and would stay or die with the outcomes. He shot simply 3-of-8 within the first quarter and didn’t get to the free-throw line, however he missed three of these photographs straight on the rim.
In Recreation 4, we noticed a mentality shift from Williams. As an alternative of attempting to dribble into sufficient area to stand up and shoot midrange pull-ups, photographs Indiana was prepared to cede to him by enjoying drop protection and/or late-switching, he trusted himself to go full bore to the entrance of the rim. Then, if he was reduce off, he may downshift right into a mid-range pull-up. That’s what makes Williams a particular scorer, not the opposite means round.
On this first clip from Recreation 3, he has a transparent angle on Thomas Bryant — of all defenders — to get to the rim or no less than farther into the paint. As an alternative, he leverages that angle right into a step-back jumper. It’s nice transfer, however one which ends in a shot Indiana will fortunately surrender:
The final two clips above completely illustrate his adjustment. Williams places his preliminary defender in jail then explodes via a crack within the protection to attract a foul, which may’ve been an and-1. Later, he arrives on the free-throw line unencumbered with an open pull-up ready for him. As an alternative, he picks a aspect of Tony Bradley to assault, drives on the left hip and, regardless of not making a ton of area, the 6-foot-6 linebacker gracefully scoops the ball off glass along with his left hand whereas leaping off of his left foot. Williams is a nice jump-shooter, however a pressure of nature when he’s going North-South.
After which, the downshifting. Now, most monitoring websites will name this a “brief midrange” shot, so thus, a middy; the 2022 first-round decide advantages from making use of pressure first then easing up:
Dub decel pic.twitter.com/M4TxcEN7Ek
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 17, 2025
It’s a dribble to make use of the display screen, then two after the purpose of contact. There isn’t any change of path, no humorous enterprise, only a artful end on the finish of the drive to create a scoring angle. Not like his Batman in Gilgeous-Alexander, lots of Williams’ greatest buckets don’t go away your jaw on the ground. Typically, he’s both larger or faster than his defender — or each. Simply counting on that is sufficient to get the job carried out. Decisive drives just like the above give assist defenders much less time to assault his dribble, the weakest a part of his driving recreation.
However over the previous two video games, now we have not seen any weak spot from Williams, solely strengths. Within the NBA’s ground-coverage age, the place all 5 gamers on the court docket should be capable of fly from sideline-to-sideline and apply pressure at any time when they get the place they’re going, it’s becoming Oklahoma Metropolis’s Large 3 is a real two-way cohort. Jalen Williams made All-Defensive Second Crew this season. That effort hasn’t slowed within the Finals:
have a look at J-Dub on this defensive possession, ridiculous peel swap to complete: pic.twitter.com/E0i1YUYbYh
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 17, 2025
Like each workforce able to profitable 68 regular-season video games, the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder have an incredible roster, top-to-bottom. Even within the NBA Finals, such depth has proven, with Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins hitting 4 3-pointers apiece in Recreation 5, and Kenrich Williams easily taking Jaylin Williams’ place within the rotation because the Thunder downsize to match Indiana’s velocity. They’ve choices upon choices.
However like most each workforce able to seizing a 3-2 lead within the NBA Finals, they’ve bona fide star energy. It doesn’t at all times manifest historically, given how full Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren are as gamers. However this quirky assortment of Gen Z stars, the primary actually Zoomer Large 3 in NBA historical past, is simply that: a Large 3, foolish Instagram captions and all.
