In an otherwise mundane matchup, Jalen Williams had some bulletin board material — to one-up his brother. Always fun to see NBA siblings go at it. In this latest round, the 24-year-old bested his young sibling. Both in the box score and on the scoreboard.
The Oklahoma City Thunder made easy work of the Utah Jazz in a 146-111 win. They led by as many as 43 points as the starters sat out for most of the second half. All 15 suited-up players logged serious minutes.
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Williams finished with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, seven assists and two rebounds. He shot 1-of-2 from 3 and went 4-of-4 on free throws.
Another great game for Williams. Knock on wood, but his hamstring problems feel like an eon ago. He bumped his way to the basket for a handful of layups. He also showed off that his wrist woes are behind him with a mid-range jumper and an outside make. The playmaking also flashed as it was too easy to pick apart Utah’s defense.
Like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams didn’t need to exert a ton of energy. This game was on rookie mode from the jump. He also sat out most of the second half. Inching closer to clinching the first seed, OKC is close to crossing off one of its two big goals for the final one-third of the regular season.
The other, of course, is getting Williams in a groove by the time the NBA playoffs start. And considering how much better he’s looked on both ends of the floor, think they’re close to crossing that one off too. The Thunder will need the All-NBA talent to be their second go-to scorer when push comes to shove.
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On the personal side of things, it was cool to see Williams square off against his brother Cody Williams. He had a couple of isolation possessions to go right at him like they were at their local park. Been a minute since they’ve shared the floor, but it’s always a fun storyline when NBA brothers get a chance to be on opposite sides. Adds some extra flavor to an otherwise forgettable game.
“My brother is the closest human on Earth I’m with. I always talk to Cody, whether I’m hurt or not or whatever the case may be. Just as a big brother role, it’s more like me talking to him about the NBA — actually, that’s cap,” Williams said. “Me and Cody don’t even talk about the NBA. I just started thinking about that. Unless he’s playing and he has a game and he’ll call me after the game, we’ll talk about it a little bit. But everything else is just like, it’s my brother. The same way that you guys talk to your siblings or family members, the same kind of conversation we have.”
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Jalen Williams gets best of brother Cody Williams in OKC’s win over Jazz