Latest news with #Game5
USA Today
04-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Sam Presti impressed with Jalen Williams gutting out wrist injury through playoffs
During your average morning shootaround, Jalen Williams had a quote that stuck with my mind. Hiding the wrapping on his wrist, the 24-year-old was asked how it felt. He sports black tape on it throughout the playoffs. It was pretty obvious he was playing through some sorta ailment. Williams snipped back at the reporter. He asked how their wrist was. That also stuck out to Sam Presti. Given several chances to admit that he played through a torn ligament in his wrist throughout the Oklahoma City Thunder's playoff journey to an NBA championship, he kept quiet. Only after champagne was popped and confetti littered downtown OKC in the post-parade scene did Presti let the public know about Williams' wrist injury. You knew something was up. He yelled at his shooting hand after he hit a big-time 3-pointer in a critical Game 5 win over the Denver Nuggets in their Round 2 series victory. Despite having the injury card in his hand, Williams never slammed it on the table. He kept it a secret. Or as secretive as he possibly could. That impressed Presti. Usually, if somebody is playing hurt, you'd hear about it. Ask Luka Doncic's superfans. Or Nuggets fans who'll let you know they were the first injured team in NBA history that didn't have anybody miss a game in their playoff matchup against OKC. "But the part that I am most impressed with is in our modern era, when someone has a poor performance or they're not playing to their capability in a game and there's a lot of attention on it, you often see a little birdie make sure that everybody knows that the player is not 100 percent," Presti said about Williams. "Never happened with this guy. Not one time." Williams wrote himself into Thunder lore. He entered the playoffs as a questionable second-best player on a title contender to a no-doubt good-enough second-best player on a title winner. A 40-point Game 5 explosion in the NBA Finals quickly blossomed into Gen Z Scottie Pippen comparisons. "He powered through. He showed incredible mental endurance and security in himself, and I've said this many times: The best players are secure players," Presti said. "I really thought it was pretty impressive that he just kept moving along with no excuses and obviously played his best basketball down the stretch of the season." Now, Williams is in line for a Cloud 9 offseason. He'll likely get a new deal signed soon, as he's eligible for a contract extension. He completely rewrote how people talk about him. And now he can run as many online victory laps as he wants while he recovers from wrist surgery and awaits his championship ring.
USA Today
01-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Jalen Williams undergoes wrist surgery, be re-evaluated in 12 weeks
Well, that didn't take long. A day after Sam Presti said Jalen Williams would undergo wrist surgery, the 24-year-old went under the knife. The Oklahoma City Thunder announced that he officially underwent a successful procedure to address a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist. He will be re-evaluated in approximately 12 weeks. Williams sustained the injury in the Thunder's April 9 win over the Phoenix Suns. They understood that he eventually needed to get surgery after the regular season ended. That meant he played the entire 2025 NBA playoffs with a bum wrist. It was pretty obvious Williams played through something, despite downplaying it. He'd wrap his wrist for every game and could be spotted holding it in pain throughout the two months of the playoffs. Despite that, Williams stepped up as OKC's second-best player in a championship run. He averaged 21.4 points on 44.9% shooting, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 23 playoff games. A 40-point Game 5 explosion in the NBA Finals was his masterpiece performance. Now, Williams will get a chance to recover. He posted his hand cast on social media, with his ring finger sticking out. Three months from now is September, which should give him time to return by the start of the 2025-26 regular season, like Presti said.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How OKC Thunder watch parties during 2025 NBA Finals are galvanizing the city
LIVE UPDATES: Follow The Oklahoman's live coverage of Thunder vs. Pacers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Courtney Mankin and her team are accustomed to large crowds flocking to The Jones Assembly, but they didn't anticipate the deluge of OKC Thunder fans driving for their doors ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Advertisement 'That Thursday, Game 1, it was like the floodgates had opened,' Mankin — president and partner of local dining group, The Social Order — told The Oklahoman. 'Everyone was super excited to be there. And we were like, 'Oh, OK, this is the Finals. We need to step up our game.'' Now, as the Thunder is on the brink of bringing the city its first NBA championship, a trend is taking shape in one of the NBA's smallest markets. The nation's 20th most populous city is eating, sleeping and breathing Thunder basketball, while holding its breath with every Alex Caruso steal or Cason Wallace deflection. And The Jones Assembly and Fassler Hall's watch parties have given diehards who can't get — or afford — tickets an opportunity to share a communal experience during a historic moment in the city. Monday night's Game 5 tickets started at $425 on StubHub. As of Wednesday afternoon, the cheapest tickets available for a potential Game 7 start at $1,166 apiece on Ticketmaster. The Jones' most expensive cocktail costs $14 for fans watching the game there. Oklahoma City's sports viewing scene is experiencing a vibrancy usually reserved for a town with multiple professional sports teams. Thirty minutes before Game 1 tipped at Paycom Center, 7 miles northeast, Game 2 of the Women's College World Series championship series had begun at Devon Park. On Tuesday, OKC Mayor David Holt signed an agreement keeping the Thunder in the city until at least 2053. Advertisement Mussatto: How an NBA title would solidify legacies of OKC Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Amid this global sports moment, The Social Order, which operates multiple downtown businesses including Spark in Scissortail Park and Dave's Hot Chicken and Fuzzy's Taco Shop in Bricktown, has seen a 20-30% sales increase across all establishments. ESPN's Malika Andrews and Brian Windhorst watched an Eastern Conference finals game while in town at The Jones. Former NBA player and Finals commentator Richard Jefferson swung by The Jones the night after Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Jones, which has partnered with Michelob Ultra on specials, has identified about a 30% sales increase during the Finals, Mankin said, exceeding expectations. Over a mile north of The Jones, Fassler Hall — a German-inspired beer hall that has partnered with the Thunder to brand itself as Thunder Hall — is seeing three to four times the sales versus typical summer nights. During away games, the Thunder has brought some of its in-house entertainment staff and programming to Fassler. Advertisement 'Consumer sentiment in Oklahoma City is good right now,' Elliot Nelson, founder and CEO of McNellies Group, which operates Fassler, told The Oklahoman. 'People are in good spirits. They're in a good mood. People seem to be out a little bit more. Whether that's new customers or old customers, or people coming more frequently, you feel in the market that people are more optimistic. 'It lifts everybody's spirits and there's not a lot of things you see that lifts an entire community where everybody seems to be on board and supporting like the Thunder.' The increased demand at The Jones Assembly and Fassler has driven the need for more inventory and staff. Mankin's team has called on employees from their other restaurants as they've staffed up The Jones. Nelson says Fassler has about three times its normal staff working on Finals game nights. The Jones features giant indoor and outdoor video walls, food and drink specials, competitions and themed giveaways. Its frozen drink is named after Lu Dort, the Thunder's tenacious defender. Advertisement Tyrese Haliburton injury update: Pacers PG likely game-time decision for NBA Finals Game 6 On game nights during the Finals, you don't have to scroll too far on social media to find photos or videos of the large gatherings. This is especially true when the Thunder is playing in Indianapolis. 'It's great for people that maybe didn't think of us as a place to come and watch the game,' Mankin said. 'We're cementing ourselves as a place to go. I don't think we're necessarily branded as a sports bar, but we have been that place during the playoffs, and we've loved that. The national attention, whenever you get that, it's great for our city.' The exciting possibility for fans — and local businesses featuring official watch parties — is that this could be just the beginning of this Thunder lineup's success. The youngest team in the NBA is led by 26-year-old MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander; 24-year-old Jalen Williams, who became the fifth-youngest player in NBA Finals history to score 40 points Monday night; and 23-year-old Chet Holmgren, who has played only one full season. Advertisement Mankin and Nelson envision droves of sports-crazed patrons pouring into their hotspots long after the Finals end. Fassler hopes to cement itself as the go-to destination during next summer's FIFA World Cup. 'We're grateful to be able to reconnect with that part of the business that used to be there pre-pandemic,' Nelson said. 'And then, hopefully, capitalize on it and become a gathering place for people going forward to watch sports with large groups of people.' Before the Professional Basketball Club LLC, a group of investors led by Clay Bennett, brought the Thunder to town, Oklahoma City was better known for its struggles than as a bustling sports town. Much less a possible title town. Advertisement One game from an NBA championship, the Thunder is rolling — and business is booming in Oklahoma City. 'If OU has a good run, not everybody's behind them,' Nelson said. 'Everybody being behind (the Thunder) and being in a better mood and having this super optimistic, exciting thing to talk about, lifts the spirits (of the city) overall.' Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@ or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder watch parties are galvanizing the city during NBA Finals
The Herald Scotland
23-06-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Pacers vs Thunder legacy impact: What NBA Finals Game 7 means
If it's the Thunder... Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will go down as having an all-time great season. He will have notched a regular season Most Valuable Player award -- and probable Finals MVP -- and will have led Oklahoma City, which tied for the fifth-most victories in a regular season (68), to its first NBA championship since moving to the city and the franchise's first since 1979, when it was the Seattle SuperSonics. Jalen Williams will emerge as a legitimate star whose Game 5 heroics in a 40-point masterpiece lifted the Thunder. And Mark Daigneault, 40, will reinforce his position as one of the premier coaches in the NBA, leading the second-youngest team to win a Finals in NBA history -- which implies OKC could be in position to repeat. If it's the Pacers... Point guard Tyrese Haliburton will obliterate the "overrated" narrative that has unfairly followed him since The Athletic published a player poll that labeled him the most overrated player in the league. He will wrap an unprecedented run of clutch postseason play with a title. Pascal Siakam will become a two-time champion and see his profile raised further. Rick Carlisle will become just the fourth coach -- joining Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Alex Hannum -- to win championships with two different teams. His status as an innovative and adaptable coach who entrusts his players will be unquestioned after leading the decided underdog Pacers to an NBA title, their first in franchise history. Game 7s in the Finals are special, with this marking just the 20th in history. Just the very nature of the games -- the magnified stakes, the drama -- can define legacies. "Respect isn't something that we can just talk about and receive -- it's an earned thing," Haliburton said in a Saturday, June 21 news conference. "No matter what happens, it's still probably not going to be where necessarily it 'should' be or what we think it should be. "It doesn't really matter, though. I think from our standpoint -- teams we compete against, they respect us. I think that's the most important thing. ... We are in a great, great point right now in our organization's history and for our team specifically. You've got to be really excited about the chance to compete in one game to win a championship." It becomes a very different story with a loss -- for both squads. The Thunder suddenly will be framed as front-runners and Gilgeous-Alexander's greatness and efficiency will likely be overshadowed. Detractors will get louder with their "foul merchant" critiques and almost certainly will say the Thunder got a favorable whistle and still couldn't do anything with it. Similarly, a defeat would likely only strengthen the barbs hurled at Haliburton. Indiana's up-tempo, free-flowing offense may be discounted as a gimmick and an operation -- despite Indy's success this postseason -- not suitable to win when it counts. Critics will likely say the Pacers still need a true star. The reality, however, is that it serves teams no use to consider narrative and legacy before a Game 7. While players and coaches certainly do reap future profits from championship runs, Game 7s are -- in their most distilled terms -- just another game. Forty-eight minutes for a team to top another. The glory cannot come without the actual victory. The secret to success, therefore, likely requires some willful ignorance, some intentional blocking out of the context of the game. "You try to make it as binary as possible," Thunder guard Alex Caruso, a champion with the 2020 Lakers, said Saturday. "You're either going to win or lose. That is literally what's going to happen. The season is going to be over and you're going to be champion, or you're going to lose and start from square one. You might as well go out and put your best forward and compete your (butt) off and play hard for your teammates and try and win."
Miami Herald
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
In 2024, game-winner. In 2025, 4 goals. Reinhart thrives again in Cup clincher
Sam Reinhart was the Florida Panthers' hero when they won their first Stanley Cup last year, scoring the game-winning goal in Game 7 against the Edmonton Oilers. So it was only natural that Reinhart would not only be the key player again this year but would find a way to up his performance to a level the Panthers have never seen in the playoffs. Reinhart scored four goals in Florida's 5-1 win over the Oilers in Game 6 of the Cup Final on Tuesday to secure their repeat championship. It was the first time a Panthers player had ever recorded a hat trick in a postseason game, let alone put together a four-goal effort. In fact, only three players in NHL history have had a four-goal game in a Cup Final: Maurice Richard in 1957 for the Montreal Canadiens, Ted Lindsay in 1955 for the Detroit Red Wings and Newsy Lalonde in 1919 for Montreal. Reinhart opened scoring 4:36 into regulation with a beaut of an individual effort. He stole the puck from Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard in the neutral zone, charged forward, beat Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm and let off a wrist shot as he was falling in the slot that beat Stuart Skinner. Reinhart then pushed Florida's lead to 3-0 with 2:29 left in the second period when he tipped in an Aleksander Barkov shot after an excellent shift in the offensive zone from Florida's top line overall. Reinhart then sealed his hat trick and four-goal effort — and the Panthers sealed the game — with a pair of empty-net goals. Reinhart's hat trick is the 36th in a Stanley Cup Final in NHL history but only the second this century. Mark Stone recorded a hat trick in the Vegas Golden Knights' Cup-clinching Game 5 win over the Panthers in 2023. And he did all this while playing through a Grade 2 MCL strain he sustained after taking a low hit by Sebastian Aho in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes that forced him to miss two games in that series. 'It took him a few games to get back to health,' Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. 'But if you're Sam Reinhart, who gets your story? Scored the game-winner in Game 7 [last year] and then you score four goals here. That's pretty good.'
