Jalen Williams' injury just about only downer for Thunder vs Suns, but it's a big one
· Yahoo Sports
The Thunder’s Big Three was exceptional in its 120-107 Game 2 win against the Suns on Wednesday night at Paycom Center.
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The only downer: Jalen Williams exited with an apparent hamstring strain.
OKC dominated the middle quarters and fended off Phoenix in the fourth despite some sloppy play.
The Thunder now heads to Phoenix with a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Let’s get to the grades.
Thunder Big Three: A
An excellent night for the Thunder’s Big Three, Jalen Williams’ hamstring injury notwithstanding.
Williams along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren combined for 75 points on 27-of-48 shooting, including going 7 of 14 from behind the arc. That is spectacular efficiency; by comparison, the Suns’ Big Three of Devin Booker, Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks combined to score 73 points but were 27 of 60 from the floor.
The Thunder’s Big Three shot 56.3%.
The Suns’, 45%.
In addition, OKC’s Big Three also combined for 14 rebounds and 13 assists. Holmgren added four blocks while Gilgeous-Alexander had two steals.
— Jenni Carlson, columnist
Ajay Mitchell: A
How nice must it be to have a savvy vet like Ajay Mitchell come off the bench and do a little bit of everything?
Wait, he’s only a second-year player? That can’t be right.
Yeah, I know. It doesn’t make any sense. Mitchell is way too cool, way too composed for this being his first real playoff run. Mitchell, still fresh off a foot injury, was a bit player last postseason. Now he’s a 20-plus minute per game guy.
Mitchell had 14 points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes.
When the Suns cut the Thunder’s lead to 10 points late in the fourth quarter, Mitchell hit a clutch 3-pointer to extend the margin.
— Joe Mussatto, columnist
Alex Caruso, Thunder creating turnovers: B
Alex Caruso had two steals in the first quarter, both of which led to easy buckets for the Thunder.
After outscoring the Suns 34-2 in points off turnovers in Game 1, the Thunder outscored the Suns by a measly 22-9 margin Wednesday night in Game 2.
That’s a plus-45 margin in two games. That’s basically the series.
— Joe Mussatto, columnist
Early free-throw shooting: C
The Thunder is usually rock solid from the free-throw line. It hit nearly 82% of its free throws during the regular season.
But Wednesday night, OKC went just 8 of 11 in the first half, and at one point late in the third quarter, the Thunder was 11 of 16. That’s only 68.8%.
Not great.
Worse, the Thunder had some normally steady free-throw shooters miss. Jalen Williams bonked a couple. Chet Holmgren and Ajay Mitchell also had misses. Nothing crazy, but the Thunder just didn’t seem as locked in from the line as it normally is.
But late in the game, OKC locked in and hit its last nine free-throw attempts to finish 20 of 25, 80%.
— Jenni Carlson, columnist
Dillon “The Villain” Brooks: A+
This was the total Dillon Brooks experience: a lot of shots (and shotmaking), a lot of physical defense and a lot of chirping.
Brooks had to be separated from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell late in the game after Brooks picked up his fifth foul.
Brooks fouled out with 25 seconds left, because of course he did.
Brooks took 23 shots, but he made 12 of them. He scored 30 points — his biggest playoff point total in four years, and one shy of his playoff career high.
— Joe Mussatto, columnist
Thunder fourth-quarter defense: D
Yikes.
There aren’t many times that the Thunder defense is a letdown, but in the fourth quarter, it definitely let up.
The Suns scored 30 points in the quarter on 11-of-20 shooting. They also got to the free-throw line seven times. All of it helped Phoenix cut the OKC lead to 10 points with just under four minutes left in the game.
Good thing the Thunder started the quarter with a 23-point lead.
— Jenni Carlson, columnist
Thunder crowd: A+
It would’ve been easy for Thunder fans to take it easy during the first round. When your team is the defending champ, pooh-poohing the opening round would be natural. Then after the way OKC dominated Phoenix in Game 1, a Game 2 lull could’ve been expected.
But no.
Paycom Center was rocking again Wednesday night.
And with an 8:30 p.m. tipoff on a week night, such energy shouldn’t be taken for granted.
— Jenni Carlson, columnist
Thunder city edition uniforms, court: A+
An all-around sharp look.
The navy fan T-shirts matched the navy court and city edition uniforms, which honor Oklahoma’s Native culture.
I wouldn’t mind if that was the Thunder’s primary look.
— Joe Mussatto, columnist
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Jalen Williams' hamstring injury just about only downer for Thunder vs Suns