Rome, 30 May (LaPresse) – Jalen Williams gave it a go, but had to throw in the towel. The Oklahoma City Thunder have announced that the team’s second-best player will not feature in Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs — tonight at 2.00 am live on Sky Sport Basket and streaming on NOW — due to the left hamstring injury that has plagued his play-offs. Williams had aggravated the injury he sustained in the first-round series against Phoenix, sitting out Game 2 of the conference finals and missing the following three games. However, his attempt to return to the court in Game 6 as a substitute proved unsuccessful; he played for just 10 minutes but appeared far from the standard required to compete at this stage of the playoffs, finishing with one point, one assist, two turnovers and a -18 plus-minus. “Obviously he’s not 100 per cent,” said coach Mark Daignault. “Neither he nor I knew what to expect. We tried to put him on the court in a clearly defined role to see what he could offer us, because he is, after all, an All-Star and an All-NBA player. He hadn’t completed the return-to-play protocol as he would have in the regular season, but he still wanted to contribute in the best way possible. We have to give him credit for taking to the court: he gave it his all; he certainly wasn’t the reason we lost.”
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