Thunder storm back vs. Knicks, OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is budding superstar | Hoops Tonight

Thunder storm back vs. Knicks, OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is budding superstar | Hoops Tonight

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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball all right moving on to the Oklahoma City Thunder versus the New York Knicks this was a really fun back and forth game the Knicks one up by 12 points in the third

Quarter uh at one point they made their first five threes in the third quarter as they went on a run the Thunder bench brought them back Jaylen Williams just was ridiculous had everything going he was scoring at The Rim he was making these like push shots in the lane he had

Uh probably the best dunk of his career so far this like transition push where he dunked on Dante Devan chenzo and and Miles McBride like in like a sandwich contest and he just went up over both of it was one of the most impressive athletic plays of his career to this

Point he made seven pull-up jump shots in this game all of them from two-point range now James Harden has recently just barely snuck past him in this list but he’s still the second best pull-up jump shooter in the League this year at a minimum of 300 attempts getting 1.11

Points per pull-up jumper crazy thing is most of them are pull-up twos he takes 5.1 pull-up jumpers a game only 1.4 of them are threes so the vast majority of them are from two-point range he shoots 42% on those pull-up threes shoots well over 50% on pull-up twos and that’s a

Really high value shot especially when you get to the postseason CU I’m a big believer that there’s more resilience and see in pullup close range shooting than there is in pull-up long range shooting when you get to the later rounds of the postseason so Jaylen Williams starts the Run shot making

Dunking on people Josh Hart does a really nice job just kind of bringing some intense full-court ball pressure on Jaylen Williams which kind of slowed him down just a little bit and then Oklahoma City just went to Josh Giddy and Josh giddy was just again kind of a similar

Thing to what we were talking about with Houston versus Dallas New York just plays a lot of smaller guards and Josh giddy was just taking advantage of the small guards by just barreling down the lane and spinning over his left shoulder and making little push shots close to

The basket he had 16 points 13 rebounds and 12 assists in this game he also hit a couple of huge threes late in the game uh during their second half run when uh when New York was leaving him open really really impressive night from Josh giddy late game was a complete show

Both teams were missing a bunch of free throws as a matter of fact the two teams combined to go 13 for 25 from the foul line in this game and so we have this like chaotic finish at the end of the game Jaylen Brunson misses a free throw

And there’s this crazy rebound situation the ball goes out of bounds stays with the Knicks the Knicks run this really smart action like a staggered ball screen where they get Chad holgren switched down to Jaylen Brunson and then set another brush screen with Josh uh um with Josh Hart that just allows Brunson

To get a little bit of an angle on Chad and he just gets into Chad’s body and extends out and makes this really nice left-handed hook shot or left-handed scoop shot excuse me off the glass that puts the Knicks up one only 4 seconds left on the other end of the floor Mark

Dagal draw draws up this super interesting kind of like decoy action with uh with Jaylen Williams and Shay so everyone else is out at the three-point line Jaylen Williams and Shay are basically right at the left elbow if you’re facing the basket inbounds is on the left side of the floor and

Essentially what they did is they had Jaylen Williams fake like he was going to set a pin down for Shay but then Shay turned around and set a back screen for Jaylen Jaylen rolls to the rim the Knicks actually defend it really well uh uh chasing over the top and Shay

Actually breaks to the right block and ends up with Miles McBride on him with plenty of time plenty of h space on the floor and he just pivots right over his right shoulder and takes a right shoulder fade Shay didn’t even really have much going in this game because

Jaylen Williams was playing so well and obviously he’s coming back from an injury he’s a little uh Rusty but he just gets his lift on that right shoulder fade and knocks the shot down and puts the Thunder back up one they go to the other end the it was off of a

Different action but they more or less get the exact same Mirror Image look for Jaylen Brunson so this time it’s on the right uh kind of block extended but Jaylen Brunson is a left-handed shooter so he pivots over his left shoulder takes the same type fadeaway shot over

The same kind of like dominant shoulder on the Baseline and he it’s dead on straight but he leaves it short and the Knicks end up losing so I want to I want to go back to uh Jaylen Williams for a second I want to use three plays to demonstrate just how crazy Jaylen

Williams is going to be in this league just how crazy good he’s going to be first the transition dun so on this play pre precious aoua is in the front Court he’s trying to knock around an offensive rebound uh I can’t remember who it was but somebody on the Knicks misses a

Three on the Tapout jayen Williams is dribbling the ball up the right side of the floor and you can see him look to his left and identify that precious is trailing the play he looks up the floor and he sees miles McBride is right in front of him has stopped the ball the

Other three guys uh the other three Knicks are all kind of flaring out to Shooters no Nick actually just runs to the rim which is always like it’s basketball it’s Rim basketball Shooters that’s it’s like an order of operations when it comes to uh uh to transition

Defense and a lot of coaches teach stopping the basketball first because if you stop the basketball first that buys time for other guys to get back if you can make him turn or change direction or something like that but either way basketball always comes before Wing Shooters but he identifies he looks up

The floor sees precious tuua Trail in the play looks up the floor sees miles McBride in front of him but sees everyone else kind of spaying out to the three-point line in behind the half court line like 10 feet behind the backourt line Jaylen Williams goes

It I’m going for it and he just like hits the Jets bodies miles McBride shoves him off Rises up and just and just throws it down there’s a token contest off the side from Dante dvan chenzo but he has absolutely no chance just a ridiculous athletic play and

Again it’s the recognition of what’s happening on the floor it’s the size Advantage just as the ball handler with his size strength and athletic tools and then the incredible StraightLine force in athleticism that he brings to the table second play a fourth quarter hesitation pullup jump shot on Alec

Burks this actually might have been in the third quarter I can’t remember exactly when it was but uh he gets Alec Burks in isolation at the top of the key and he’s kind of working mixing off the dribble and he hits him with a hard between the legs dribble step back and

When he makes the move Alec Burks like stutter steps back and like lands with his heel all the way back on the foul line and so Jaylen Williams has realized like oh like he can’t guard me without being way back on his heels so he knows he’s going to have an easy pull-up

Jumper so he gets the ball back into his left hand and takes a hesitation dribble just a high hesitation dribble just to kind of reset his rhythm and then he rises straight up and down and knocks down the jump shot what this demonstrates to me in order to guard

Jaylen Williams because of his crazy downhill Force which is what we talked about earlier you have to be on your heels you have to be constantly looking to give ground back into the right or back into the left if you play up on him he’s just going to go right around you

And so he gets these really high quality pull-up jump shots and that’s a big part of why the shooting stats look the way that they do obviously he’s a great shooter but he’s also just getting awesome looks because of his incredible athletic tools that he brings to the

Table he is literally as a second-year player the second best pull-up jump shooter in the entire league minimum of 300 attempts and James Harden is like right there and he’s been above him at various points during the season the last play it’s 102 to 96 just under five

Minutes left in the Thunder run a uh a Spain pick and roll which is basically you just have a shooter underneath the basket that relocates to the top of the key as you’re running your ball screen and the shooter in this case is Shay G Alexander the ball handler in this case

Is Jaylen Williams the screen Setter in this case is Aaron Wiggins Josh Hart is on on Jaylen Williams Jaylen Brunson is guarding Aaron Wiggins right and then I want to say miles McBride was on um was on Shay gild Alexander so as Wiggins goes up and sets the screen Jaylen Williams comes

Off hard to his right hand side and brings two to the ball he brings Josh Hart trailing the play and Jaylen Brunson comes over basically it amounts to a trap okay so in case Aaron Wiggins is rolling into the basket and this is the beautiful part of the play design

With Shay G Alexander miles McBride is in position to help he’s underneath the basket he’s there to help in case that rle man comes down unguarded like Aaron Wiggins was coming down but the play design has Shay gild Alexander flashing to the top of the key but you can see

Miles McBride identify it and he kind of stays back to help on Aon Wiggins and if you watch Jaylen Williams he gives a head fake he looks with his entire body at Shay and when he does that Miles McBride lunges towards Shay Aaron Wiggins slips behind him Jaylen Williams

Hits him with the uh with the pass right and stride so that he can slip inside and uh and make the right-handed layup on the glass and the most important part there is again the floor recognition but also that highlevel pick and roll playmaking to be able to manipulate the

Defense with your eyes and again like he had I think seven or eight assists in this game with with uh with just one turnover like this has been consistent theme with Jaylen Williams is like he’s way Advanced as a playmaker for a guy his age I legitimately think this kid is

Not just really good not just star potential I think Jaylen Williams has legitimate potential to become a top 10 player in this league there just aren’t that many prospects that come through the NBA that have this combination of real downhill athletic Force outstanding to deadly pullup jump shooting and highle

Playmaking how how many guys how many guys can you like genuinely say that about in the league there’s just not that many I it’s hard to even find a comp you talk about a guy like Jaylen Brown and Jaylen Brown obviously at this phase of his career is a much better

Player than Jaylen Williams but like Jaylen Brown if you’re talking about his strengths and weaknesses like outstanding downhill athletic Force good pull-up shooter mediocre to bad playmaker right talk about Jimmy Butler it’s like outstanding downhill force and it’s like good pull-up shooter you know great playmaker right there’s we haven’t

Really seen a prospect that can bring all three at an extremely high level to the table now Jaylen Williams has a long way to go to get to that point but I really do think he has that potential I think he can be like a better version of

Jimmy Butler a Jimmy Butler that’s a more consistent jump shooter and by the way that that that’s not something that that’s not something that I believe to be hyperbole he has the character for it he has the work ethic for it he has the athletic gifts for it the touch is

Clearly there the playmaking is clearly there he’s doing it in a smaller role too playing alongside all this Talent like you could make a case if he’s playing in if you swapped him for Jaylen green right now and he’s playing in Houston he’s probably averaging 25 points a game right

Now like a lot of it in the Box Score stuff has a lot to do with just what his circumstance is but I just I continue to be completely and utterly Blown Away by how good this kid is right now and how good he’s capable of being I’m excited

To watch him in the postseason he’s going to be a kid I’m excited to watch develop over the coming years

Jason Timpf reacts to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 113-112 win over Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks. Jason explains why SGA is on the verge of becoming the next superstar in the NBA, and how he and Chet Holmgren can carry the Thunder throughout the Western Conference playoffs.

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