Nic Claxton | Post-Game Press Conference | Oklahoma City Thunder | 1.05.2024

Nic Claxton | Post-Game Press Conference | Oklahoma City Thunder | 1.05.2024

Nick how important was it tonight for this team to you know come together get a win on this home court in front of your home crowd it was extremely important man losing losing those five in a row we just needed to get that losing taste out of our mouth and uh we

Responded we responded tonight our fans were with us and you know we had a good performance um in the first and third quarters you played like 9 or 10 minutes before getting subbed out that hasn’t happened much this season what allowed you to play those long stretches while

Also really bringing a lot of energy offensive rebounding sprinting up and down um the whole time yeah I I’m in better I’m in better shape now I think than I was especially last year and like over that last Road STP Road stretch I was I was dealing with like a cold I

Wasn’t really feeling that good so tonight I was just feeling feeling more like myself and my energy was in the right place and the team needed it and I we rallied off of it Nick I guess what do you make of just how well you guys played in that first

Half and started the third quarter versus kind of what happened that last bit of stretch in that fourth quarter and when OKC made their run basketball is a game of runs like you said we play we played solid that that first through third but that’s going to be our

Challenge to put together 48 minutes of um just just being connected and everything but we we sustained it you know sometimes like like you said they went on a run they’re a really good team and we might we might have started playing a little bit tenative um there

Later in the game instead of just playing earlier in the clock but you know we won so that’s what matters at the end of the day and then what does it say that you guys only beat the team that beat you guys on Sunday but just beat the team that’s obviously had some

Success this year and you guys kind of struggled against you know teams like that for the most part I mean it’s a good win obviously they have one of the better records in the league they’ve got a young team they’ve been playing extremely well and you know they beat us

They beat us a few days ago so you know we watched the film we learned from it we our our energy has been really good and uh it was a really good win for us Nick what are your thoughts on cam Thomas and how he was able to rebound

Tonight from you know two poor performances by his standards cam Thomas is he’s young he’s he’s he’s figuring it out on the Fly defenses are guarding him differently they’re starting to pay a lot more attention to him so he’s he’s figuring it out he’s he’s finding his

Spots tonight he knocked down shots and you know when he’s playing well he he makes the game a lot easier for everybody and you know he’s he’s picking his spots better and you know it’s it’s good to see cam cam rolling and knocking his shots down when he made his first one after

Struggling for a couple in a row did you sense right away that’s all he needed and he will have a good game tonight yeah I did that’s just the type of player that he is especially once he sees those first one or two go in I feel

Like the rim just just gets a lot bigger for him and you know he was he was hitting hitting his threes three for five and like I said that’s when he’s when he’s clicking offensively that’s good for us Nick they went to the hacka clocks New Year’s Eve they went to it again

Tonight um and then you hit two big free throws under two minutes to go does that get under your skin because I did see a little bit of emotion when you hit those free throws n but obviously they need to try something else cuz it didn’t work

Tonight but it was a good win they was just trying to do anything at that point they were just desperate and I mean I was 7 for 10 for the um free throw line tonight that’s that’s pretty solid and I’ll keep I’ll keep improving and keep going up there

Trusting my process and knocking out my free throws uh Nick it looks like you guys tried out you know a bunch of different uh defensive coverages especially against SDA um specifically with the switching versus the drop have you decided which one you feel more comfortable in or is it just depending on the Matchup me personally you know I like to I like to guard I like to get down get stops guard one through five but I mean whatever the team needs if if I need to be in the drop then I’m going to do that to the best of my ability tonight was a night

Where you know we were able to switch switch some especially with cck want to play more on the perimeter but you know certain matchups where there’s a a big uh Center that’s posing more of a threat on the inside I may need to be in the drop so it’s just whatever whatever the

Team needs me to do Nick in case we don’t get to talk to you Sunday um how much are you looking forward to this Paris trip and just kind of what are you looking forward to besides just basketball CU obviously a lot of guys said they have never been

Before so what are you looking forward to I just went this summer really just I mean it’s going to be good for the group just the fashion the drip getting out there doing some some cool stuff with the team I know um the ownership and everything they have a lot of stuff cool

Stuff set up for us so just The Vibes man you know we get this win on Sunday two wins going into Paris I think it’ll just be good camarad camaraderie for us I mean since you’ve been I guess could you I guess Sherer like what what’s in

Store for these guys going to a a famous city like Paris and just what what was your experience like oh man I like I like Paris a lot just it’s just cool like it’s just cool being able to go to Europe being able to play being on this

Um on this stage just you know we can’t take these things for granted um you know we went to we went to China a few years back and I know I know this will be a really good experience for the team um so I’m excited you know we have some

Some a few practice days a few events so it it’ll be good for us

Nic Claxton spoke to the media following the Nets vs. Thunder on January 5, 2024