Jalen Williams Comments On OKC's Christmas Day Loss To The Spurs: "There's This 7-Foot-5 Guy..."

Jalen Williams may have opened some presents on Christmas Day, but the Oklahoma City Thunder got a huge lump of coal when they went up against the San Antonio Spurs on national TV.

For the third time this season, the Spurs got the better of OKC, pulling off a 117–102 win in front of a disappointed crowd inside Paycom Center. After eating yet another loss inflicted by San Antonio, J-Dub has a pretty good idea of the team’s problems in this matchup.

The biggest problem? The man (or, in LeBron James’ words, the alien) in the middle. “There’s this guy who’s 7-foot-5 and takes up a lot of space on the floor,” Williams told reporters after the game.

It’s not hard to see why Williams couldn’t even say Victor Wembanyama’s name. The French sensation put up 19 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a block in the Spurs’ latest victory over the defending champions. 

Is it even more infuriating for the Thunder that Wembanyama managed all of this in 29 minutes off the bench? Perhaps.

J-Dub, who mustered just 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting Thursday afternoon, was also not pleased with his team’s flow on offense. “When you want the game really bad, we kind of lost track of that. And then every play we tried to make down was like a Hail Mary instead of sticking to principles regarding our offense,” he pointed out.

Against the Spurs’ defense, OKC shot just 39.0% from the field and 25.0% from three-point territory. The Thunder lost the rebounding battle 49-48 and got outscored 52–46 in the paint.

On top of this, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turned in a subdued performance of 22 points on a 1-for-6 outside shooting clip. Meanwhile, the Thunder backcourt allowed the tandem of De’Aaron Fox (29 points, 12-for-19 FG shooting) and Stephon Castle (19 points, four rebounds, seven assists) to get into a deadly rhythm.

The Spurs now have the psychological edge of claiming that they have won the season series against the Thunder. OKC, meanwhile, will have two more chances to redeem itself against San Antonio as these teams are set to collide on January 13 and February 4.

Will J-Dub have “Beat the Spurs” on his New Year’s resolutions? That could be the case.