Jacque Vaughn | Post-Game Press Conference | Oklahoma City Thunder | 1.05.2024

Jacque Vaughn | Post-Game Press Conference | Oklahoma City Thunder | 1.05.2024

JV 75 points in that first half that’s a high for the season what what had you guys what made it possible for you guys to get off to that start what did you see positive for your team yeah I think there was a lot of things that uh went

Really well for us we were able to get stops and get out in transition uh I think we were able to get downhill uh Spencer turned the corner uh Nick’s ability to have an impact at The Rim uh at the end of the night I think we have

20 offensive rebounds so we we talked about that ability to uh crash offensively rebound the basketball but also Sprint back and keep them under control and transition we ever du both in that first half which was great and then some shots went in and so that always uh helps also ending the losing

Streak not only ending it but ending it against a team like this who’s second in the west coming in fourth best record in the league what does that mean for this club right now yeah it shows uh really who we are the the the no quit in us you

Know we talked about having faith and and tenacity the faith is going into the game believing that you were going to win the game and I really thought that we had that sense uh that we’re going to win the basketball game the preparation behind it and then the tenacity goes

Into the uh the ability to have urgency and to be able to hit people and understand your role and valuing each possession I’m going to keep preaching that to our group and uh as we continue to grow together uh but at the end of the day I think we really went into this

Game believing that we were going to win uh Lonnie’s first game since November 30th um was kind of Dennis’s first game back too although his absence wasn’t as long how would you assess how those two performed tonight I I think immediately you can see uh their impact

When they entered the game you know Lonnie’s ability to get a steal and push to the break for us uh I thought the looks that he had were you know really good he had good bounce to him uh I didn’t go back to him with his second

Stint just because that game started to get a little close on us uh and then Dennis his impact uh even to the end of the game where he end inbounds the ball short clock we miss it he gets an offensive rebound so his ability to to guard defensively uh make shots tonight

For us drive the basketball uh but overall this his spirit for our group it’s so huge it gives us a I don’t know a edge a swag about us that uh kind of goes through the group when he’s playing you had you had talked uh earlier about how the the way you guys

Were playing you were pleased with the process you guys just weren’t getting the results but do you get a sense of how important it was for this group to get a positive result for sure definitely uh at the end of the day these guys want to win and uh you want

To be rewarded for your work and uh you know I was really trying to strike a balance with this group of coaching them and letting them know like there’s some mistakes we’ve been making that we can cover up for you know last time we played this group we did some really

Good things well but the transition defense was not very good uh this time we were able to you know at least contain them in transition uh then our ability to play them in the half court uh we were you know pretty confident in uh switch coverages tonight which is

Great that’s something we’ve really been challenging our group with and I think that ability tonight really paid off for us speaking of switching coverages just in the first quarter I think you ran every type of pick and roll coverage there was to Ron at Shay what’s the

Process of that with the players is that an ongoing conversation in timeouts is it hey feel free to mix it up at your discretion like what goes into that yeah Lucas that is um you know really that’s a bubble experience for me in the bubble

When there was no fans and uh I could really bark orders from one end of the court to the other um you know I try to Envision the game as it’s happening for our group and I challenge them to like listen to me as the game is going

Along I give them complete credit for being able to change coverages on the Fly of seeing the situation seeing the threat and trying to eliminate the threat and so tonight like you said we literally threw everything at Shay uh to keep him off balance and uh really we

Talked about that in the huddles that we’re going to continue to do it and I gave them credit for being able to to execute it how’s Cam uh Johnson feeling after the game look like yeah CJ he’s got the hamstring uh cramping and so uh definitely being assess but uh uh the

First prognos was he was just Cramping Jack in that third quarter I think is when OKC’s rally started I guess as well as you guys played I guess how concerning was it some of those old habits started to come back and then OKC cut it down I believe the sixth and the fourth quarter yeah you know it’s it’s

Tough playing with a lead and uh I think uh they did a good job of just really first of all in the third quarter getting into the bonus extremely early I think we like N9 or 10 minutes on the on on the clock and so they were able to

Use that to slow down the game and shoot free throws so that’s probably the biggest mistake we made we had you know really got to the bonus uh uh they got to the bonus early that lesson we got to learn from that a team is just driving

The basketball we got to be able to contain the basketball without fouling uh besides that um I I think our execution down the stretch was you know par I was going to follow up on that by saying I guess with with the win do you take more from how well you guys played

In that first first half or is it more of take the win but also these reoccurring issues have kind of re reared their ugly head I guess in that second half and you’re want to make sure you take get those concerns too no it’s perfect for a coach You’ be able to give

Them some credit for getting the win doing what you did in the in the first half but that was a challenge we showed two clips at halftime how they were going to beat us they was going to beat us in transition and they was going to beat us driving the basketball so our

Ability contain the basketball is going to be huge for us uh and then our ability to get back in transition is going to be huge for us going forward so those are the challenges it gives me a chance to hit them again as we go into Portland

Game JV I asked Nick on the court about his confidence going into this game based on his performance on New Year’s Eve in Oklahoma City he said his confidence is always high no matter what the game is but that’s 38 and 29 in two games against these guys just what have

You seen in both of those games and his confidence lately I just think he’s playing really free and so whether that is him uh dribbling full court after getting the rebound and and going to dunk the basketball uh whether that is his ability to understand that he doesn’t always

Need to use his size to get offensive rebounds he can use his quickness and speed and he’s been doing that in his length at the same time so I think the game is just you know even Nick’s still a young player uh but he’s starting to grasp Concepts and how people are

Playing him and using that to his Advantage uh and I think just growing and and with growth comes uh the the ability to to feel good on the floor uh he knows his teammates need him that’s a good feeling and he’s delivering

Jacque Vaughn spoke to the media following the Nets vs. Thunder on January 5, 2023