Running the floor, Jalen Williams capped off the sequence of the night. He tag-teamed with fellow All-NBA talent in Chet Holmgren for an awesome two-play sequence. Jumping off the hardwood, Cason Wallace threw up a pass in stride. The 25-year-old caught it for a vicious alley-oop.
The Oklahoma City Thunder got over an ugly start on their way to a 96-84 win over the Denver Nuggets. Quite the way to start the 2026-27 regular season with two convincing wins over your assumed top threats in the West.
Williams finished with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, five rebounds and three assists. He shot 2-of-6 from 3 and went 5-of-6 on free throws.
Speaking of another season-defining guy, Williams has answered all doubts. The All-NBA talent has returned to his previous level of play. As the rest of the Thunder needed a half to wake up, he was one of their best players throughout the evening. He had 10 points in the first quarter alone.
The energy is just different for the Thunder when Williams is around. Sure, it's an intangible that's immeasurable, but the 25-year-old has been OKC's sparkplug for years now. When everybody else was trying to wake up after a sleepy first half, he kept them within striking distance.
Heck, Williams' energy is contagious throughout the arena and on TV screens. After Christian Braun tripped him in a transition, he playfully rolled over to near the baseline like a tumbleweed in an old-school western movie. He admitted afterward that he created his first meme of the season for the jokes.
“I think everybody in the arena, when I fell, everybody gasped. Because obviously I'd been hurt, so everybody was holding their breath," Williams said. "So I thought that was a nice way to ease the tension there."
It was back to the formula for Williams. Most of his buckets happened at the rim. And in transition, too. Once he gets going, he's unstoppable like a locomotive. Especially with Denver's slow and old frontcourt. This is what he looks like at the peak of his powers as a scorer. Sure, he can hit some highly-difficult jumpers, but he's at his best when he's running to the rim and receiving dunks.
On defense, Williams has helped the Thunder return to their turnover-creation machine. That was an element the Thunder missed last season. Even with their league-best defense. But now that he's back, that has returned. It has fueled several second-half runs over the years. You can add this game to the collection. Once OKC is on a roll like that, they swarm the ball like a bunch of six-foot-plus magnets. They forced the Nuggets into 22 eye-popping turnovers.
"I watched my highlights yesterday to remind myself of what I do. But yeah, I think just defensive energy helped. I think being at home helped and just like I said, I haven't really played basketball in a while," Williams said. "So it's just good to kinda get some kinda rhythm going. And looking at the San Antonio game, I got a lot of shots I like. So just kinda sticking with it through the whole season."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Jalen Williams fuels Thunder to home-opening win over Nuggets with two-end play