Jalen Williams Has Immense Belief in OKC Thunder Head Coach

The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. The Thunder and Pacers will be part of history, just the 20th time such game has occured. This is the first NBA Finals game to be pushed the distance since 2016, when the iconic LeBron James block was born as the Cavs upset the historic 73-9 Warriors.

This game is being played between two young rosters and a pair of franchises that has never been this close to a championship. The experience edge on the sidelines is distinctly with Pacers bench boss Rick Carlisle who was the head coach of the 2011 Dallas Mavericks which pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NBA history over the Miami Heat led by James, Dwanye Wade and Chris Bosh.

At practice on Saturday ahead of Game 7, Thunder All-star Jalen Williams was asked about his confidence level in his young head coach as Mark Daigneault is involved in his first NBA Finals compared to Carlisle who has been in this setting six other times in some capacity.

"I have very mixed thoughts about this question. I don't ever worry about Mark not being prepared for a moment. The way he attacks basketball from a coaching standpoint is the same way I approach basketball, which is why we have a lot of respect for each other. I'm not too worried about the experience there. Obviously Rick is another great, probably Hall of Fame coach. I think Mark is also getting better coaching against him, the same way we would as we get deeper into this run. I feel like just from the playoffs, lack of deep Finals experience, we're probably about as deep into the Finals as you can get, a Game 7," Williams said. "I'm never worried about Mark and what's going on with him. At the end of the day, Mark is not going to have to make shots on Sunday. It's more about how we can carry out his game plan and do that."

Daigneault has been under the microscope this Finals run, starting 30 minutes before tip-off of Game 1 when he elected to change the Thunder's starting lineup for the first time all postseason. Still, he has the full confidence of his squad, for good reason.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have one game to save its perception of this historically great 68 win season that saw the Thunder go wire-to-wire as the best team in the league with the best defense ever put on the hardwood. A failure to show up on Sunday taints a memorable season.