Jalen Williams looked like an All-Star in name only on Thursday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder forward Williams had a nightmare Game 6 against the Denver Nuggets. During the second-round playoff contest at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., Williams managed a season-low six points on a disastrous 3/16 shooting (including 0/4 from three).
Williams was also a -8 over his team-high 38 minutes and completely smoked a wide-open dunk attempt with just over 5:30 remaining in the fourth quarter to help put the lid on any hopes of a Thunder comeback. They eventually went on to lose 119-107 to set up a Game 7 on Sunday.
Jalen Williams blows the wide open dunkpic.twitter.com/E7ba0nSf2A
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) May 16, 2025
Users on X quickly let Williams hear it for that elimination game stinker.
The Thunder: “Help us Jalen!! Do something!”
— Novo (@NovoHeat) May 16, 2025
Jalen Williams:pic.twitter.com/BrQ2B6tZNi
Jalen Williams just hall of shame performance
— Aligned RB (@RyB_311) May 16, 2025
Jalen Williams vs Jamal Murray in this series pic.twitter.com/K3s5JUKCkk
— Russ' TD (@RussFcb) May 16, 2025
jalen williams pic.twitter.com/j8yXSyw3oi
— $ (@skycapal0t) May 16, 2025
The 24-year-old Williams was a first-time All-Star this season, averaging 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game. But the series against Denver has been a particular struggle for Williams, as he is now shooting a woeful 32/95 (33.7 percent) over six games. Williams had also scored in double figures during every single game this year (regular season and playoffs) … until Thursday’s six-point outing in the biggest game of the season thus far.
Oklahoma City badly needs Williams to take better advantage of the single coverage and scramble situations that result from Denver throwing so much defensive attention at star teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Still though, Williams was not the only reason why the Thunder failed to close it out in Game 6. For one, a costly gamble by head coach Mark Daigneault did not help matters either.
