Throughout the 2024-25 campaign, arguably the biggest concern for this Oklahoma City Thunder team was whether Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the supporting cast needed to win an NBA title.
Even through 10 games played in the postseason (four of which came via series sweep over the 48-win Grizzlies), such a question was still seemingly on the minds of most fans and media pundits, and, more specifically, fears over whether his number two in Jalen Williams had the capability to step up in times of immense pressure to compliment their cornerstone superstar were running rampant.
Excitingly enough, on Sunday afternoon, the ball club seemingly put this latter worry to rest, as J-Dub finally found himself posting an elite performance on both ends of the floor for a full 48 minutes and, in turn, played a pivotal role in the Thunder clinching their first Western Conference Finals berth since 2016.
Jalen Williams proves capable of shining bright for Thunder in Game 7 win
After having one of the worst games of his playoff career on Thursday evening, heading into their winner-take-all Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets, Williams acknowledged that he was adopting a "completely new attitude."
However he went about altering in his pre-game approach, it seems to have done wonders for his on-court performance, as he would wrap up the Thunder's series-clincher with 24 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal while shooting 58.8 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from distance in his nearly 33 minutes of action.
Throughout this hard-fought seven-game showdown, Williams was far from a reliable and dependable weapon.
In one game, the All-Star would find himself dropping a whopping 32 points on 52.4 percent shooting and 42.9 percent shooting from deep, while the next, he'd be finishing with an abysmal 10 points on 15.4 percent shooting.
As alluded to earlier, Game 6 was easily his worst offensive showing of all, as he posted a putrid 6 points on a miserable 18.8 percent shooting in what should have been a defining moment for the 24-year-old.
Though certainly upsetting at the time, the worried reactions from the faithful followers of the Thunder spawned as a result of such a slump have now been canceled out by his epic outing in the club's 125-93 semifinal finale.
The forward proved more than capable of serving as a game-changing second option on this title-hopeful Oklahoma City squad, and, as a result, they now have officially punched their ticket to their fifth conference finals since migrating out to the Sooner State back in 2007.