Thunder co-stars first teammates to reach NBA Finals feat

Furthermore, Williams and SGA became the third pair of teammates to register a 40-point game and a 30-point, 10-assist game, respectively, in the NBA Finals, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West (1970 NBA Finals) and James and Kyrie Irving (2017 NBA Finals). 

According to ESPN Research, Williams and SGA (291 points) have the fourth-most points among teammates through five games of the NBA Finals, trailing only Jordan and Pippen (1993), James and Irving (2017) and Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry (2017). 

The two star guards have shared the workload through the five games of the NBA Finals, with Williams often assuming ball-handling duties, especially when Indiana's swarming defense has blitzed SGA.

Further to that point, Williams' USG% (32.8) has been higher than SGA's (31.7) over the last two games after it was significantly lower (24.1) through the first three rounds. In the Finals, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has asked Williams to bring the ball up the floor, freeing up SGA and allowing him to catch the ball in half-court sets.

The strategy once again paid off on Monday as Williams (33.7%) led players across both teams in usage while committing just one turnover. Daigneault praised his young star for playing with "force" on Monday. 

"When he's at his best, he's playing with that type of force," he said, via ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "That was an unbelievable performance by him, just throughout the whole game. He really was on the gas the entire night. Applied a ton of pressure. Thought he made a lot of the right plays. We're going to need a similar type of approach in Game 6 from him."

Any doubts about Williams being a legitimate co-star to SGA have been more than answered.