Jalen Williams gets 100% honest about Thunder's desire to win NBA Cup
12/16/2024 03:23 PM
After Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Houston Rockets 111-96 in the NBA Cup semifinals, eliminating the Rockets, Williams opened up about facing the Milwaukee Bucks in the final. In the association’s second mid-season tournament, head coach Mark Daigneault expects to see both teams’ fastballs in Tuesday’s matchup. During his media availability postgame, Jalen opened up about what it would be like for him and the Thunder.
At 20-5, Oklahoma City remains atop the Western Conference. However, for a team with NBA Finals aspirations, Williams sees Tuesday’s final matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the 2021 champion Bucks as a tremendous opportunity.
“I think it’s a very good test for us later on to kind of understand the playoffs and just kind of simulate that,” Williams said. “That’s the biggest thing aside from the money. Just having the amount of media we have here and how intense the games are, it’s a good simulation of focus when we’re not on the court to be able to play and get the job done. Aside from that, we’re trying to replicate a playoff kind of feel and go from there.”
While Williams said winning the $500,000 for Jaylin Williams was part of the Thunder’s motivation for the NBA Cup, the tournament’s Las Vegas atmosphere added a new element to winning.
“Our playoff atmosphere for people who are not familiar is very hard to replicate in Oklahoma. So, I wouldn’t it say it’s that, but it does have a certain energy to it that makes it very competitive,” Williams added. “It’s probably because of the money. But there is a very competitive aspect to it. Obviously, everybody wants free money.”
Mark Daigneault says Thunder’s spirit of competition is taking over
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault believes Jalen Williams and his team’s natural spirit of competition equates to seeing the best version of themselves night in and night out. After beating the Rockets on Saturday, Daigneault says behind closed doors, the Thunder’s competition level never diminishes.
“We have a competitive group of guys. The NBA is competitive. If we line up in practice and play five-on-five, the guys are killing each other trying to win a scrimmage with nobody watching, and I would imagine it’s mostly like that in every NBA gym,” Daigneault said. “So, when you put anything on the line, the guys are going to be amped up for that.”
The Thunder and Bucks face off in the NBA Cup final on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
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