A lot was manufactured from the Jalen Williams/Shai Gilgeous-Alexander screening motion the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder used to shut out Sport 4 of the NBA Finals. Down the stretch of that soon-to-be immortal victory over the Indiana Pacers, Williams merely acquired 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 Sport 5, Daigneault went again to the same 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. Instantly, 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 course from the teaching workers, 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 primary cause it’s one win away from a title, is past cliché. Neglect being tenacious, or gritty, or filled with dawgs; it’s merely one of the 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 every single place
And no, it’s not a Batman and Robin scenario, however a real Large 3.
Chet Holmgren’s affect isn’t textbook. Even when he makes an ordinary play, like attacking the rim on a handoff — solely normal for those who ignore the actual fact it’s a 7-foot-1 man doing it — he finishes like this…
CHET GETS CRAFTY ON THE FINISH 😮💨
OKC is LOUD for Sport 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 taking pictures 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 affect can’t be completely extricated from what makes him an awesome participant in complete. Within the fourth quarter of Sport 4, along with his Thunder trailing by seven, he went on a private 6-0 run to shut the hole, forcing his approach 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 exhausting 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 protecting 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 Sport 4 win, Holmgren scored 14 (well timed) factors on a tidy 60.1 p.c true taking pictures whereas grabbing 4 offensive rebounds. That’s a neat little stat line, however it’s greater than sufficient for star-level affect 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 go together with it. In Sport 4, Indiana posted a universe-collapsing 137.5 offensive score when Holmgren sat and a rubbish 94.5 offensive score within the 37 minutes he performed. Throughout Monday’s Sport 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 could have put it away, however Chet Holmgren’s first-half protection was enormous in constructing the 14-point lead: pic.twitter.com/d96enWiTZo
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 17, 2025
If the Thunder do win the championship, Holmgren gained’t win Finals MVP. This playoff run would possibly in the end be seen because the stepping stone he takes to stardom. However the Thunder protection is 5 factors per 100 possession higher when he’s on the courtroom within the postseason, and the distinction is even better within the Finals. He solely has to play common offense to return star affect, 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 among 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 Sport 4 to a double-double in Sport 5, partially as a result of his teammates made pictures. However his drives had been extra perceptive, versus his heroic, game-winning stretch on the finish of Sport 4, the place no matter vitality 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 Sport 5, he didn’t escape additional 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 Sport 5 could be his staff’s strongest offensive efficiency of the collection.
Earlier on this collection, I twice wrote probably the most “worrisome” development for the Thunder was an absence of 3-point makes an attempt. Positive sufficient, they hit their nadir in Sport 4, taking pictures 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 Sport 5, Gilgeous-Alexander was just too good on many possessions, right here leveraging his all-time-great flexibility and stability to keep away from a journey, then make a kick-out cross that results in a 3:
Unimaginable to overstate what a freak athlete SGA is.
Idk if every other NBA play can keep away from the journey by maintaining 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 every thing a hoops purist might need in knowledgeable bucket-getter. However don’t let the superior fantastic thing about his recreation distract from the actual fact Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ascending to mastery.
Jalen Williams, Unleashed
Extra precisely, Jalen Williams has unleashed himself. Within the greatest recreation of his life, he not solely performed one of the best recreation of his life, however dedicated to one of the best model of himself and would reside 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 pictures straight on the rim.
In Sport 4, we noticed a mentality shift from Williams. As a substitute of making an attempt to dribble into sufficient house to stand up and shoot midrange pull-ups, pictures 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 lower off, he might downshift right into a mid-range pull-up. That’s what makes Williams a particular scorer, not the opposite approach round.
On this first clip from Sport 3, he has a transparent angle on Thomas Bryant — of all defenders — to get to the rim or at the very least farther into the paint. As a substitute, he leverages that angle right into a step-back jumper. It’s nice transfer, however one which leads to a shot Indiana will fortunately hand over:
The final two clips above completely illustrate his adjustment. Williams places his preliminary defender in jail then explodes by a crack within the protection to attract a foul, which might’ve been an and-1. Later, he arrives on the free-throw line unencumbered with an open pull-up ready for him. As a substitute, he picks a facet of Tony Bradley to assault, drives on the left hip and, regardless of not making a ton of house, 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 “quick midrange” shot, so thus, a middy; the 2022 first-round choose 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 course, no humorous enterprise, only a artful end on the finish of the drive to create a scoring angle. In contrast to his Batman in Gilgeous-Alexander, a lot 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 finished. 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, we now have not seen any weak spot from Williams, solely strengths. Within the NBA’s ground-coverage age, the place all 5 gamers on the courtroom should have the ability to fly from sideline-to-sideline and apply pressure every time 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 Workforce this season. That effort hasn’t slowed within the Finals:
take a look at J-Dub on this defensive possession, ridiculous peel change to complete: pic.twitter.com/E0i1YUYbYh
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) June 17, 2025
Like each staff able to profitable 68 regular-season video games, the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder have an amazing 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 Sport 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 staff able to seizing a 3-2 lead within the NBA Finals, they’ve bona fide star energy. It doesn’t all the time 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.
