Northwest Notes: Williams, Edwards, Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic

One of the most important questions going through the Thunder as they try to repeat as champions revolve round Jalen Williams and whether or not he can totally be himself after lacking a lot time with accidents this season. In Game 1’s win over the Suns, he appeared like he had returned to kind, Rylan Stiles writes for Sports Illustrated.

Stiles was impressed with Williams’ exercise in passing lanes and going after unfastened balls, in addition to his general protection and skill to drive downhill with power.

The 6’6″ wing tallied 22 factors, seven rebounds, and 6 assists in 29 minutes whereas hitting two of his 5 three-point tries. His presence and vitality appeared to impress the Oklahoma City crowd, in response to Stiles.

We have extra from across the Northwest Division:

• Anthony Edwards is questionable for the Timberwolves‘Game 2 matchup in opposition to the Nuggets on Monday resulting from proper knee harm upkeep, the group introduced (via Twitter). He had beforehand been listed as questionable for Game 1 as properly, however ended up enjoying 38 minutes, scoring 22 factors on 19 photographs whereas including 9 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks within the 11-point loss.
• Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault says that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander He would not get sufficient credit score for his work on the defensive finish. “We’ve had a great defense for a while now, and he plays the most minutes,” he stated, by Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (Twitter video link). “We don’t have a great defense if we don’t have our highest-minute player being as good as he is and as impactful as he is.” In addition to his 25 factors and 7 assists in Sunday’s win over the Suns, Gilgeous-Alexander additionally recorded two blocks.
• Defending Nikola Jokic is commonly a query of what you are prepared to surrender, Vinny Benedetto writes for The Denver Gazette. In Game 1, the Timberwolves allowed him to shoot attractiveness from deep. Benedetto notes that Jokic’s first three photographs had been practically wide-open threes. “If I’m open, I’m going to shoot it“Jokic said afterward.”If I’m not open, I’m simply going to play the sport.” The three-time MVP completed the sport by hitting simply two of his seven appears from deep, which might point out that the technique paid off, however Nuggets head coach David Adelman was removed from involved. “He’s going to have a game this series where he makes five or six threes, if that’s going to be the coverage,” he stated.