The Boston Celtics host the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night in what has the potential to be an NBA Finals preview. Boston is the defending champion, and OKC has — far and away — been the best team in the Western Conference this season. On paper, Wednesday’s game should be one of the best games of the regular season, and while it very well could reach that level, it also has the potential of being somewhat of a watered down matchup given the guys who could be missing on both sides.
The Celtics could be without Kristaps Porzingis for the sixth consecutive game due to what he revealed is a viral illness. Porzingis is listed as questionable for the game, and was seen at shootaround, but it sounds as though he may be a game-time decision.
Porzingis’ status is up in the air, but the Thunder will for sure be without All-Star guard Jalen Williams, who picked up a hip strain in OKC’s loss to the Denver Nuggets on March 10. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said at shootaround Wednesday morning that Williams didn’t make the trip with the team to Boston, and that there is no current timeline for a return.
The “no timeline” aspect of Daigneault’s response does raise some eyebrows, as it makes it sound as though Williams could be sidelined longer than just a game or two. If that’s the case, it could be a big blow for the Thunder.
Williams is averaging career highs across the board, and earned his first All-Star appearance. He’s proven to be the ideal secondary creator behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and is instrumental in keeping the Thunder afloat when SGA goes to the bench. With Williams sidelined, the Thunder not only lose their second-leading scorer, but also one of their best perimeter defenders. If Luguentz Dort is tasked with the toughest defensive assignment, Williams gets the second toughest, and while SGA is no slouch on the defensive side of the ball either with his long wingspan, OKC’s defense greatly benefits from having all three of those guys out there at the same time.
In a matchup like the one against the Celtics Wednesday night, Williams would’ve been tasked with guarding either one of Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, whichever one Dort doesn’t defend. And now with him out for the game, Daigneault will have to look to someone else to pick up one of those two scoring giants. Cason Wallace could be the answer, though he gives up size to both Tatum and Brown, but is a pesky perimeter defender. And as good as Wallace is as a defender, it still leaves you without another 20+ scorer on the other end of the floor.
Williams just does so much on both ends of the floor for OKC, that if he misses extended time, it’s going to require some other guys to step up because there isn’t much more SGA can do to lead this team. He’s already leading the league in scoring at 32.7 a night, is locked in on the defensive end and gets his teammates great looks. Williams is a pressure reliever for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder as they know he can go get a bucket himself whenever SGA is being hounded by defenders. Without his presence there, it’s going to make things a bit more difficult for the Thunder. Which is what happened on Monday against the Nuggets who were able to come away with a 140-127 win after Williams played just 14 minutes.
In the short term, there shouldn’t be too much concern about Williams missing some time as the Thunder have all but officially locked up the top seed in the West. But if he is going to be out several weeks, which could bleed into the start of the playoffs, there should be some level of concern for OKC. Even with all the depth the Thunder possess, they don’t have anyone who can easily replace Williams’ production on both sides of the ball.
We’ll have to wait and see for a more official update on Williams’ status, because if we’re talking a couple weeks of missed time, it will be pushing it real close to the postseason. That’s certainly not an ideal place to be when a fully healthy Thunder team is equipped to win a championship this season.
