Not much was going right on Tuesday, including most of Jalen Williams’ shots. But with the game on the line late, OKC turned to the second-year wing.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Three-pointers misfired. Free throws didn’t connect. Layups went awry. 

A lot had to go wrong for the Thunder to find itself in a hard-fought game Tuesday against the Portland Trail Blazers, and a lot was going wrong. 

Including most of Jalen Williams’ shots. 

The Thunder forward had gotten to his spots on the floor in the fourth quarter. He’d had looks in his midrange sweet spots and around the rim in transition. And still he’d made 3 of his first 10 field-goal attempts in the final quarter of the Thunder’s game Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. 

And so he maybe wasn’t the most logical choice to shoot a potential game-winner. 

But when OKC coach Mark Daigneault drew it up that way, Williams wasn’t going to say no. 

“Shooters shoot,” he said. 

So Williams shot — and swished — the go-ahead 18-foot jumper with two seconds to play, and the Thunder beat the Blazers 111-109 in a game closer than most anyone had reason to believe it would be. 

Against a Blazers team that it had beaten this season by 43 and 62 points, the Thunder got off to a fast start in the first quarter then careened off course in the second, and it was a fight from there. 

For the Thunder, it came down to Williams’ big bucket, some timely stops and a fortunate officiating break. 

And there’s a whole host of reasons why it was so close: 

• The Thunder — the NBA’s second-leading 3-point shooting team at 39%this season — hit 7 of 23 from long range. Portland, which ranks 23rd in the league in 3-point percentage (35.6%) and 20th in makes (12.2 per game) hit 18 of 39.  The 18 makes were one fewer than the Blazers had combined to make in two previous games this season against OKC. 
• The Blazers turned 12 OKC turnovers into 20 points. It outscored the Thunder 15-13 in fast break points, in large part because the Thunder made 6 of 15 shots in fast break opportunities; the Blazers were 5 for 6. 
• The Thunder’s top three scorers this season — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Chet Holmgren — combined for 60 points on 19-of-50 shooting, including 1 for 8 from 3-point range. Gilgeous-Alexander was 10 of 24 from the floor, Williams 9 of 20. Holmgren made half his shots but only took six and missed both of his 3s. 
• OKC hit 18 of 28 free throws, a season high in misses and a season low in percentage (64.3%). That dropped the Thunder from first to second in the NBA in free-throw percentage at 85.5%. 

Thunder defense fueled by takeaways, making up for rebounding deficiencies, as the Minnesota game showed.

More from @BerryTramel on how turnovers are leveling the playing field for OKC:
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— Sellout Crowd (@selloutcrowd_) January 23, 2024

Given the miscues and missed shots — particularly the ones at the free throw line — it was reasonable to wonder if before the Thunder (30-13) locked in, it dozed off; if its attention was elsewhere given the lopsided results this season against the Blazers (12-31). 

Daigneault didn’t see it that way. 

He noted his team’s strong start — it led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter before being outscored 38-20 in the second — and said his players “didn’t come in expecting an easy game.” 

Instead, Daigneault said, he saw his team having a night where “everything’s seemingly going against you” and it found a way to win. 

But for all that didn’t go the Thunder’s way, the win wasn’t without its lucky breaks. 

With 15.6 seconds to play — just after Williams had made a 10-foot jumper to pull OKC within a point at 109-108 — Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander trapped Blazers guard Malcolm Brogdon on the sideline near midcourt. 

Blazers coach Chauncey Billups appeared to call for a timeout, but the official nearest the play didn’t see it. Brogdon double-dribbled in an attempt to split the double, and Billups erupted at the call. 

He was assessed two technical fouls and ejected. 

In a pool reporter interview after the game, crew chief Bill Kennedy said Billups got the first technical for making contact with an official. The second came because Billups “aggressively now tries to follow and pursue the official after the first technical foul was assessed.” 

“It was just a tough situation,” Billups said after the game. “We got timeouts. Referees usually are prepared for that, that instance, that situation. I’m at half court, trying to call a timeout. It’s just frustrating. My guys played too hard for that. It’s a frustrating play.” 

ESPN reported late Tuesday night that the Blazers are filing a protest with the NBA to challenge the result of the game based on Billups’ attempt to call a timeout that was not granted. 

“The referee in the slot position was refereeing the double team that was right in front of him, which makes it difficult for, number one to hear and number two to see a coach request a timeout behind him,” Kennedy said in the pool reporter interview. “He is taught to referee the play until completion, which a double dribble happens, and he correctly calls the double dribble and then pursuant (to that) the technical fouls come forward.” 

Gilgeous-Alexander made 1 of 2 technical free throws and on the ensuing possession, Williams hit the go-ahead bucket. 

Conventional wisdom might suggest the ball go to Gilgeous-Alexander in that situation. He’s been the Thunder’s go-to guy in tight spots before, including a late go-ahead jumper this season in a win at Denver. 

But “we don’t want to be a team that’s predictable,” Daigneault said. Williams noted that earlier this season, when the Thunder needed a 3-pointer to tie at Golden State, Daigneault went to Holmgren, who buried a contested shot to send the game into overtime. 

The coach likes mixing it up, no matter how reliable Gilgeous-Alexander has been. It gives defenses different looks, makes OKC harder to guard with the game on the line. 

He figured Gilgeous-Alexander would “draw a lot of attention on a false action,” and given that Williams had made the 10-footer with 25.7 seconds to play to cut Portland’s lead to one, Daigneault felt comfortable with the call. 

So did Gilgeous-Alexander, who’d go on to seal the game by stealing Portland’s inbound lob as time expired, his fifth steal of the game. 

“Obviously I have high gravity out there,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I just wanted to use it in that situation and try to confuse the switch, confuse the defense and get him a lot that he’s comfortable shooting.” 

Williams had been off for much of the game and “was really trying to work through it,” Daigneault said. Williams had come out of halftime and “flushed the first half,” Daigneault said, and was playing hard and competitively. 

“He was really engaged,” Daigneault said. “So when the guys hang in there, it’s easy to hang in there with them.”

Williams hung in. And on a night when Portland hung around, he repaid his coach’s confidence. 

“Coach had faith in me to kind of get to the spot I wanted to get to and make the shot,” Williams said. “I had gotten a lot of looks early that I liked in the game that just were short. So, tried to put a little extra legs in it.”