Trailing 2-1 against the Mavericks, the Thunder expects more Jalen Williams And Chet Holmgren. Because the winger and the pivot must face a Dallas defense which has controlled them well in the last two games.
Jalen Williams often bumps into a Mavericks racket whose first objective is to lock access to the circle. It is therefore difficult for him to finish as easily in the circle as in the regular season, and therefore to shine in “money-time”, where he was particularly valuable during this campaign.
The Mavericks rely on their size at the end of the match by aligning Derek Lively, PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr. to prevent the Thunder's penetration as much as possible.
“They have two good rim protectors on their team, so we have to kind of try to find a balance between when to attack and finding the right angles to finish”, admits Jalen Williams. “I think I'm athletic enough that, if I'm in the air and I know I can't finish, I still have the opportunity to get the ball out. Often, and it's hard to explain, but if I feel like they can block the shot, or disrupt it, then I can bring the ball out. »
Chet Holmgren Limited in Outdoor Address
For Chet Holmgren, the concern is rather offshore. The Thunder's pivot remains on a 1/6 then a 0/2 at 3-points, and he is only at 23.1% from far in the series. Here too, Dallas manages to limit one of its strengths.
“I’m not going to go into the details of the systems. But they watch the videos, they have good coaches and they know what we're trying to do in certain situations,” advances the rookie. “It is our duty to execute them well and reproduce what we have done throughout the season. It is an extremely complex strategic game, which often comes down to shooting successes and failures. You can miss easy shots and score difficult ones. There are many things that affect how you view results. »
But it's also the experience of the playoffs of being in the tough in a series, of having to react and adapt like Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams must do. And the two Thunder players intend to raise their voices.
“Obviously, we would all like to have several titles under our belt, to have the experience and experience with certain thingsconcedes Chet Holmgren. “But we're a young team, we don't have that and we're not going to look at that as something that would stop us from going out on the floor to do what we need to do. We will find the solution. »
