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Tim MacMahon
OKLAHOMA CITY — It was a disappointing NBA Finals debut for Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, the 2022 lottery picks who’re main items of the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder’s basis.
Holmgren and Williams mixed for 23 factors on 8-of-28 capturing in Oklahoma Metropolis’s 111-110 Recreation 1 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Whereas expressing confidence within the Thunder’s younger stars’ skill to bounce again, Oklahoma Metropolis coach Mark Daigneault made a degree to place the problem Holmgren and Williams are dealing with in perspective.
“Normally delivering within the Finals shouldn’t be on the curriculum for third-year gamers they usually have thrust themselves into that scenario, which is a credit score to them,” Daigneault mentioned after Saturday’s observe. “Now that they’re right here, they need to proceed to do what they’ve achieved all over the playoffs, which is go on the market, absolutely compete, be taught the teachings and apply it ahead.
“And so they have achieved an excellent job of that. I believe you’ve got seen that over the course of the playoffs. They have not at all times performed their greatest sport however they at all times get themselves able to play the subsequent one.”
Williams, 24, a third-team All-NBA choice who additionally earned a second-team All-Defensive spot, averaged 20.4 factors, 5.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.6 steals per sport through the Thunder’s run by means of the Western Convention playoffs.
Nevertheless, Williams endured tough patches throughout that run, significantly a 10-of-43 capturing droop over a three-game span within the West semifinals in opposition to the Denver Nuggets. He busted out of that funk by scoring 24 factors on 10-of-17 capturing within the Thunder’s Recreation 7 blowout win and averaged 22.2 factors within the West finals in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves, highlighted by a career-playoff-high 34 factors in Recreation 4 following Oklahoma Metropolis’s solely loss within the sequence.
“I try to consider myself as someone that is very unusual,” mentioned Williams, who had 17 factors on 6-of-19 capturing in Recreation 1 in opposition to the Pacers. “I do not ever assume that I am in my third yr as a result of then that enables me to make excuses. I ought to simply go on the market and play.
“Strain is a privilege. So I get pleasure from being counted on and doing that, and I simply assume I have been counted on since, I really feel like, final yr, to be completely sincere, simply in regard to being there for the remainder of the blokes. And now we’re right here within the Finals. So I do not actually see it that a lot totally different.”
Holmgren, 23, solely has a season and a half of precise NBA expertise as a consequence of a foot damage that sidelined him all the 2022-23 season and a fractured pelvis that triggered him to overlook virtually three months this season. He is confirmed himself as an elite rim protector and excellent third offensive possibility, averaging 16.4 factors, 8.6 rebounds and a couple of.0 blocks per sport through the West playoffs.
However Holmgren struggled in Recreation 1, scoring solely six factors on 2-of-9 capturing. He performed solely 24 minutes as Daigneault opted to not pair him with fellow 7-footer Isaiah Hartenstein, shifting Holmgren to heart within the beginning lineup with guard Cason Wallace changing Hartenstein.
Holmgren normally has a bonus when defended by opposing facilities, however that did not materialize throughout his Finals debut.
“I really feel like I may have slowed down, form of completed a few of these performs on the rim,” Holmgren mentioned. “Clearly it hurts in a one-point loss. One single distinction on one single play may have determined the entire sport. Places a magnifying glass on each single occasion within the sport. Everyone was feeling that on the place they are often higher.”