Thunder star Jalen Williams to miss Celtics matchup with right hip strain

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The Western Conference-leading Thunder will be without one of their most important pieces for Wednesday’s marquee matchup with the defending champion Celtics. All-Star forward Jalen Williams will miss the nationally televised tilt after suffering a right hip strain during Oklahoma City’s 140-127 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday, according to Chris Haynes.

Williams sustained the injury midway through the second quarter Monday night, after a collision with Nuggets swingman Peyton Watson on a drive to the basket that resulted in a hard, awkward landing directly on that right hip:

Williams was clearly favoring the hip when he got up, but strode to the line for a pair of free throws and remained in the contest for another few possessions, stroking a 3-pointer and setting center Isaiah Hartenstein up for an and-one layup before checking out for his normal rest with 5:10 left in the first half. Soon after, though, he headed to the locker room; soon after that, he was ruled out for the remainder of the game, finishing with 12 points, six assists and two rebounds.

The Nuggets took full advantage of Williams’ absence. Without Williams to serve as a pressure-release valve and complementary playmaker on offense, Denver head coach Michael Malone felt more emboldened to sell out with all manner of coverages — double-teams, traps, zones — to force the ball out of MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands and make Oklahoma City’s other players prove they could make enough plays to beat them. With the exception of Luguentz Dort, who made five of his eight 3-pointers after intermission, they couldn’t: Non-SGA and Dort Thunderers shot just 12-for-32 (37.5%) from the floor in the second half.

Oklahoma City missed Williams on the defensive end, too. Watson and Russell Westbrook, whom Williams had spent most of his first-half floor time guarding, combined for 18 points on nine shots with five 3-pointers in the second half — part of a Denver deluge that saw Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Co. torch the NBA’s best defense for 73 points on 67.5% shooting after halftime en route to by far the Thunder’s worst…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/thunder-star-jalen-williams-to-miss-celtics-matchup-with-right-hip-strain-215325722.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-03-11 21:53:00

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