Jalen Williams/Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Screening Action Oklahoma City Thunders have ended Game 4 of the NBA Finals in the past. Williams only got the ball screen from Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored (or foul) on Aaron Nesmith more easily than Andrew Nembhard.
This is not a very creative way to play. We’ve been seeing it in the NBA. Head coach Mark Digneault eventually put two of his best offensive players into action for a favorable showdown.
Daigneault returned to a similar well when Oklahoma City hopes to close the goal in Game 5. Williams climbed seven minutes from Screen Nembhard and scored a five-point lead. Nesmith yelled and Nembhard gathered his senses. Suddenly, Williams flew to the wing and the MVP crossed three steps across each person, instead of rejecting the screen and ignoring it.
Indiana’s defense collapsed and Gilgeous-Alexander whipped the pass with his left hand. Like every Thunder Role Player on Monday Night
– OKC Thunder (@okcthunder) June 17, 2025
The coaching staff may have a certain direction, and this is a smooth veteran. Imagine the tired, caffeinated room of Indiana coaches planned for a response to the two-game Jill Axend/Williams game throughout the weekend. Now, when Oklahoma City stars (literally) lead two steps ahead at the most critical junction of the game, they feel their blankness.
Oklahoma City’s defense is the main reason to stay away from the championship, and it’s a cliché. Forget tenacious, tough or full of Doug; it’s just the best most of us have ever seen. But they are led by the stars, like most NBA champions before.
Chet Holmegren is everywhere
No, this is not the case with Batman and Robin, but a real big three.
Chet Holmgren’s influence is not a textbook. Even if he does standard matches, such as attacking the rim in a handshake – only if you ignore the fact that it is a 7-foot-1 guy, he’s done that…
Chet becomes cunning at the end 😮💨
OKC’s Game 5 on ABC🗣️🔊 pic.twitter.com/0mgqqzuu8d
– NBA (@NBA) June 17, 2025
Holmgren’s leap across offensive stars in the 2024-25 season has been hampered. The lack of 50 games will not help. The three-point shooting percentage is not yet sniping, and whether he rolls or pops up from the screen, the results are still mixed.
But even in these NBA finals, his offensive influence cannot completely get rid of what makes him a great player overall. In the fourth quarter of Game 4, his thunder was 7 behind, and he made a 6-0 individual run to close the gap and force him to the defender and free throw line.
If Holmgren never adds a pound of muscle to a slim frame, he’ll be fine. By passing the twists of his ankle and multiple hard waterfalls, sending him to the Indiana floor and sending many others to the locker room, he is able to exude body-to-body punishment on the incredible ground he usually does.
This is the worst offensive player in the rest of his career. In Game 4 win, Homgren scored 14 points (timely) on a neat 60.1% real field goal percentage while grabbing four offensive rebounds. It’s a neat little stat series, but it’s enough for the star impact, as Homegren is already one of the best defenders in the NBA. After the start of the fourth quarter, the kid from Minnesota ended the Pacers on defense, both helping the rim and turning critically to Indiana’s guard who couldn’t do a damn thing to him:
Chet tightens the time to defend.
When targeting, 0-4 fg in the last 2 minutes #Wow pic.twitter.com/ascnskpd10
– Mohammed (@mcfnba) June 14, 2025
It is an instinct for edge protection, ground coverage, and 11 defense boards. In Game 4, Indiana released the offensive rating for the 137.5 Universe in 37 minutes of Holmgren SAT and the Trash 94.5 offensive rating. In Game 5 on Monday, there was more. He only scored 4 of 15 goals, but grabbed five offensive boards and played after the defensive game, especially when Oklahoma City dominated:
DUB may have knocked it out, but Chet Holmgren’s first-half defense was big in building a 14-point lead: pic.twitter.com/d96enwitzo
— Lucaskaplan (@lucaskaplan_) June 17, 2025
If the Thunder did win the championship, Homegren wouldn’t win the final MVP. This playoff game may eventually be seen as a stepping stone for his advancement. But when the Thunder entered the field in the playoffs, the Thunder had better defense and the finals had a bigger difference in the finals. He only needs to play an average offense to return to the planet’s influence, and even in the finals, he’s more than just doing it.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is in control
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, like the pan-educator before him, is becoming an unquestionable winner. Not only is he an incredible talent, he is one of the greatest perimeter scorers of all time, not only an NBA MVP, but also a master of the game.
After the aforementioned Rockets arrived at Dortmund, he further buried Indiana with defense, stealing the ball on two consecutive properties and later blocking Nimbard’s transition, solidifying the ridiculous 31/2/2/10/2/2/2/4 line:
Gilegous-Alexander jumped from zero assistant performance to double-double in Game 4, partly because his teammates made shots. But, with the end of Game 4, his driving force was more sensitive than his heroism, winning the game. After inference, his jump jump shot on the baseline not only escaped not only Nesmith, but also not.
In Game 5, he didn’t escape more defenders like he invited them. After clearing the clip at the most critical junction of Oklahoma City’s season, he confirmed Game 5 will be his team’s strongest offensive performance in the series.
Earlier in this series, I wrote twice about Thunder’s most “worrying” trend is the lack of three-pointers. Sure enough, they hit Nadir in Game 4, hitting 16 goals from Deep’s shot in 1994. Indiana successfully got rid of the transition and driving opportunities of the half-game. In Game 5, Gilgeous-Alexander was too good on many properties, here using his historical flexibility and balance to avoid traveling, then making a kick pass that resulted in three:
It is impossible to exaggerate what a freak athlete SGA is.
IDK If any other NBA game can avoid traveling by keeping your left foot spinning. Causes three: pic.twitter.com/qmwrqjchdh
— Lucaskaplan (@lucaskaplan_) June 17, 2025
The rating is undoubtedly. His tool as a driver deserves his own wings in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Handles, footwork and touch are everything Hops purists want in professional buckets. But don’t let the awesome beauty of his game disperse the fact that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander upgrades.
Jalen Williams, Release
More precisely, Jalen Williams released himself. In the biggest game of his life, he not only played the best game of his life, but also devoted himself to the best version and would live or die. He only had eight shots in the first quarter but didn’t make it to the free throw line, but he missed three of them directly on the edge.
In Game 4, we saw Williams’ mentality change. Instead of trying to dribble enough space to rise and shoot mid-range pull up, Indiana is willing to ced him by opening coverage and/or delaying conversion, he trusts himself to drill completely into the front of the edge. Then, if he is cut off, he can Downshift Enter the middle distance pull up. That’s what makes Williams a special scorer, not the other way around.
In the first clip of Game 3, he has clear angles to all the defenders Thomas Bryant to reach the edge or at least go into the paint. Instead, he uses that angle to enter the gradual jumper. It’s a good move, but the people who lead to Indiana shooting will be happy to give up:
The last two clips above perfectly illustrate his tweak. Williams put his initial defender in prison and then exploded through the cracks in the defense, foul, which could have been and 1. Later, he reached the free throw line and waited for him without opening up. Instead, he chose Tony Bradley’s side attack, driving on his left hip, and while not creating a lot of space, the 6-foot-6 defender gracefully pulled the ball off the glass with his left hand as he jumped off his left foot. Williams is a great jumper, but when he heads north, he is the power of nature.
Then, downshift. Now, most tracking sites call it “short middle” shots, so, middle. 2022 first-round draft picks from first exerting force and then relaxing:
Dubbing speed reduction pic.twitter.com/m4txcen7ek
— Lucaskaplan (@lucaskaplan_) June 17, 2025
Using the screen is a dribble, then two after the contact point. No direction changes, no fun business, just crafty finishes at the end of the drive to create the scoring angle. Unlike his Batman at Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams’ best buckets don’t let your chin rest on the floor. Usually, he is either bigger or faster than his defender. Just relying on this is enough to get the job done. Decisive drives like the above drive give defenders less time to attack his dribble, which is the weakest part of his driving game.
But in the last two games, we haven’t seen any weaknesses of Williams, only advantages. In the NBA’s ground-covering era, all five players on the court must be able to fly from the sideline to the sideline and exert force when they reach their forward position, which is suitable for Oklahoma City’s 3 Big Three. Jalen Williams has become the second team on the entire defense this season. The finals did not slow down in the finals:
Check out J-Dub on this defensively owned J-Dub, ridiculously switch to finish: pic.twitter.com/e0i1yuybyh
— Lucaskaplan (@lucaskaplan_) June 17, 2025
Like every team that can win 68 regular season games, the Oklahoma City Thunder is a huge top-down roster. Even in the NBA finals, this depth showed that Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins hit four 3-pointers in Game 5, while Kenrich Williams successfully took Jaylin Williams to take the balls of play in the rotation to match Indiana’s speed. They have a choice.
But like most teams that can lead 3-2 in the NBA Finals, they have real star power. Given that Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren are the completeness of the players and do not always reflect traditionally. But this quirky Gen Gen Stars is the first real Zoomer Big 3 in NBA history, and that’s it: a big 3, stupid Instagram subtitles, etc.
