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Tim MacMahon
Multiple Authors
OKLAHOMA CITY — Thunder star forward Jalen Williams left Wednesday night’s 120-107 Game 2 win over the Phoenix Suns after suffering an apparent injury to his left hamstring in the third quarter and did not return.
“We think he aggravated his left hamstring,” head coach Mark Daigneault said. “We’ll take a look at it in the next couple of days, and we’ll update you guys appropriately.”
Williams grabbed his left leg and motioned toward the bench after missing a contested layup on a fast break with 6:26 remaining in the third quarter.
Williams appeared to mouth the words, “Left hammy.” He intentionally took a foul a couple of possessions later so he could exit the game and immediately headed to the locker room for further evaluation.
Williams did not speak to the media before leaving the Paycom Center.
Williams’ postseason was off to a spectacular start after injuries limited him to only 33 games during the regular season. He had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Thunder’s Game 1 blowout win and followed that up with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and four assists in 23 minutes in Game 2.
“Any assumption about time [missed] is just hypothetical at this point, so I’m not going to comment on that,” Daigneault said. “But I thought he was playing great obviously. He was on the gas. He had great force. He was hitting shots. Got really good shots for his teammates, especially early. So yeah, he was playing an outstanding game.”
Williams, a third-team All-NBA selection last season, played the entire playoffs last year with a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist, delaying an operation until after Oklahoma City’s championship run. He missed the first 19 games of the season while recovering from that surgery and twice missed extended stretches due to a right hamstring strain that he aggravated during a 28-point, 11-of-12 shooting performance in a Feb. 11 win over the Suns.
The Thunder took a 2-0 lead in the first-round series, with Game 3 on Saturday in Phoenix.
