Thunder forward Jalen Williams' 'disappointed' take on losing NBA Cup vs. Bucks
Yesterday at 12:26 PM
Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder lost the NBA Cup final to the Milwaukee Bucks 97-81. While head coach Mark Daigneault revealed an encouraging takeaway from losing, Williams expressed his honest disappointment. The Thunder were held to a season-low 81 points, including the fewest points scored in a single quarter (14) this season, as Milwaukee outscored its opponent 46-31 in the second half.
After the game, Williams expressed his disappointment with the loss, which will not count toward the Thunder's regular-season record.
"Disappointed. Obviously, it's a lot of money we're playing for," Williams said. "I mean, you saw the way they were celebrating, they're happy. I think when there's money on the line, everybody's going to play hard. But, yeah, disappointed. I think you also have to know, in a sense, that this doesn't really count toward our record, right? Or stats don't really matter, but there is a competitive advantage.
"If I'm going to play a game, I'm going to play hard. I'm not changing how I play because of the circumstances."
Williams finished with 18 points, but it took 20 attempts as the Thunder's offense went ice-cold after halftime. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a team-high 21 points on 8-of-24 attempts.
"I want to win at the end of the day, and I think I speak for the whole team," Williams added. "And obviously, they wanted to win. They had a fun time celebrating, and they were playing hard. There hasn't been a team that we played during the whole Cup thing that didn't play hard. So, I think it's a good thing."
The Thunder shot 33.7% from the floor, including 15.6% from deep (5-of-32). And they were held to 14 third-quarter points.
Mark Daigneault's encouraging Thunder takeaway from Bucks loss
After Jalen Williams revealed the keys to limiting Giannis Antetokounmpo, it didn't prevent the Bucks superstar from turning in a dominant triple-double performance (26 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists) against the Thunder. After the loss, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault looked at the bright side of his team gaining experience this early into the regular season.
It's an opportunity for the Thunder to examine what went wrong and learn how to prevent a similar defeat from occurring again.
"When you lose a game like tonight, it gives you wisdom," Daigneault said. "It gives you information on yourselves as long as we're growing through all those experiences. Then, we'll gain momentum as the season goes on with a young team and a team that's growing through everything."
The Thunder will face the Magic on the front end of a back-to-back set on the road on Thursday before playing the Heat on Friday night.
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