Jalen Williams flips page to 2026 NBA playoffs: 'Totally new year'

"My mindset is just a totally new year. My Year 4 is done. Playoffs are a totally different year in my mind. So that's how I approach it, so I don't think about it anymore," Williams said. "I also pushed a point that while I was injured, to not even think about it anymore. That's how I approach it."

Hoping to find a scoring rhythm, Williams was in his bag. He bullied his way to the rim for driving layups. When that didn't happen, he pulled up at his favorite mid-range spots. He even knocked down a couple of outside jumpers — the scoring level that has been his top nemesis this year.

Williams had 11 points in the first half. Usually in a Robin role, he had no problem cosplaying as Darkwing. He continued with a score-first mentality in the second half. Against the Suns' small frontcourt, they had no hope of slowing him from going downhill.

An awesome start to Williams' third playoff run. He usually experiences some rollercoaster-esque ups and downs. We'll see if that continues this year. But he was superb in the first of many playoff games for the Thunder. Safe to say they'll need this version of him more often than not.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander summed it up best — the Thunder are going to need Williams to play at his All-NBA level if they want to go back-to-back. They managed without him for most of the regular season, but the playoffs are a different beast. The halfcourt offense suddenly sees its difficulty level uptick from rookie to Hall of Fame mode. You need your top scorers to go out there and put up buckets on purely talent. He can do that.

"He's playing really well. He's just taking what the game gives him. He's just playing to his strengths and he looks very comfortable out there," Gilgeous-Alexander said about Williams. "We're the best versions of ourselves when he's the best version of himself. We gotta make sure he stays there."

Throughout the game, you felt a little deja vu from last year's historic Game 1 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. A year ago, the Thunder opened up their championship run with a jaw-dropping 51-point win over the eighth seed. While not the same, they led by as many as 39 points in this one. Williams hopes to have the same ending of hoisting up a Larry O'Brien trophy.

"We're not going into Game 1s thinking like, 'Let's just blow them out.' It's just more about how hard we can play to set the tone for that for us," Williams said. "Not even for the Suns. Let's set the tone of what's expected from the first guy to the 15th man. How hard can we play for Game 1? And know what's expected for Game 2, 3, 4, 5. How hard can we play for Game 2? That's how we think about it that way. So it's more important for us to set the tone that way, rather than, 'Let's try and beat them by 20 or 30, or let's try with this game by five.' We're going to play really hard in this game. Try to execute as well as we can."

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Jalen Williams flips page to 2026 NBA playoffs: 'Totally new year'