Jalen Williams Warns Oklahoma City Thunder Against Habitual Comebacks After Historic Win

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Jalen Williams has advised his Oklahoma City Thunder teammates to avoid relying on comebacks after their remarkable recovery against the Memphis Grizzlies. Trailing by 26 points at halftime in Thursday's playoff game, the Thunder staged an impressive rally. They secured a 114-108 victory, pushing the Grizzlies closer to elimination with the largest second-half comeback in playoff history.

Williams expressed his thoughts on falling behind, stating, "In the moment, it sucks. It's not something you want to make a habit of, but we also have extreme confidence in how we can play to turn the tide. We were able to do that." This comeback was also the second-largest in any playoff game since the 1997-98 season, following the Los Angeles Clippers' 31-point turnaround against the Golden State Warriors in 2019.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played a crucial role for Oklahoma, scoring 31 points on Thursday. Interestingly, he was a rookie on that Clippers team that achieved a similar feat. Reflecting on this coincidence, Gilgeous-Alexander remarked, "I completely forgot about that [game], so it didn't cross my mind, but that is crazy. If they could build it, we could erase it. That's how we see it. That's what we did."

The pivotal moment for Memphis came when Ja Morant had to leave the game in the second quarter due to a hip injury. Following his exit, they were outscored 74-41. Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo commented on their performance: "I thought we did a great job of fighting for 48 minutes against this team. It's not enough to fight. You also have to execute."

Chet Holmgren credited Thunder coach Mark Daigneault for changing the game's momentum by designing a play for him in the third quarter. Holmgren stated, "Mark changed the trajectory of the game. Trusted me in calling a play for me to bomb one at the half after the s***storm I put up in the first half. Credit to him for that. Once I saw one go in, I felt good."

The Thunder are now poised to secure their progression with another win in Game 4 scheduled for Monday.