OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Miami Heat | January 10, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Miami Heat | January 10, 2024

Both teams really had their offense rolling throughout the night you guys went on that big run and in the fourth quarter there to really stretch the lead what what went into that run what did you feel after on the Flor um we were just getting stops uh played a little harder

Defensively a big emphasis for us is just kind of not come out flat that first half or I’m sorry second half um and try and play those first five minutes really hard and we were able to do that and they even they even got it

Back to one I didn’t think they took the lead after we had kind of built that Gap and I thought we just were able to kind of stick with it and get a couple crucial stops and I think that led to us being able to kind of win they there a

Lot of different looks at you guys defensively throughout the night as just what they do they scheme throughout the night just and you guys didn’t seem to have a hitch offensively what kind of went into that to make sure that you’re you were still getting good looks throughout the night um guys are

Comfortable playing different positions on our team so you know the same way that they’re scheming uh you know we’re trying to figure out different ways to attack that we’ve seen a lot of different looks this year a lot of that is us being unselfish and kind of

Willing to you know play through other people and you know I think we’re constantly doing that and trying to you know kind of flex that muscle and um yeah guys are just kind of trusting each other to make the right play which makes it easy for us to kind of get different

Looks y career high 12 assists tonight in DC we were talking about what goes into having a connection like you have with in that game just we check cuz we do know four LS just he caught off four of them I think so nice good for chat

Yeah he dump these three of them just what goes into you know learning what he likes doesn’t like what makes him tick you know the kind of things that build a connection like you had with him tonight um I think it goes back to the last question of just uh being comfortable

Playing with each other um you know they’re throwing a lot of different looks and switching and you know trying to um jump screens and stuff like that so it’s just good dialogue uh within the game um Chad Chad’s a really high IQ player too so we kind of are able to talk

Through some of the stuff he sees and what I’m seeing in the game uh we have a pretty open dialogue when it goes to that so I’m just finding him on stuff and he’s versatile so team’s worried about him popping and you know then he’s

Able to kind of quick roll and get out of there and take up space in the paint and finish so um he’s done a good job of that I’m just you know throwing it somewhat close to the rim and he’s been able to finish him there are so many deflections type

Hustle plays Shay had the big one at the end of the third quarter to set up uh your free throws you had the one that ends up with a mark challenge um are those plays resonating in in the flow of a game uh yeah for sure especially the

Challenge cuz we had to stop mark from challenging like six plays in the first head quarter so but um that that’s our biggest thing and uh you know the Heat play that way too just really hard so you know trying to match that and exceed that is something that we came into the

Game trying to do um but yeah just like hustle plays like you know when you have Shay the best player on on our team diving on the floor and doing stuff like that it kind of sets the tone for everybody to be wanting to do it and and uh you know

We’re a competitive group so everybody’s kind of willing to put their body on the line and and make those hustle plays that was something we talked about at halftime just trying to match the physicality and energy and uh we did a good job that anything else Cool yeah I just uh the second half defense we talked a little bit about you being part of fourth quarter start but just does it feel like that second half was more reminiscent of that the defense that’s been played for for much this year uh yeah um we’ve been you know the

Road trip’s long so and teams teams will hit shots that’s just how the NBA and basketball works but um I think we did a good job of having going into our game plan a little better and executing that um I think we forced a couple looks that

They didn’t want to shoot and we were able to kind of capitalize on that offensively which is how you’re able to stretch the lead out um and a lot of it just goes down to playing really hard you know making up for some of the mistakes we had and we had kind of

Gotten away from it a little bit just in this big stretch but um last two games have been kind of get able to get on track with that and you know kind of showed up a followup you mentioned just you know some the things about the trip

That out the way it feels like this would be one of the defining moments of the Season just in terms of learning the learning curve just how would you summarize this trip that over um I mean we we play like six hours so for us the Trip’s not even really done

But just learn about oursel playing on the road um you know we’ve been in a lot of tight situations up until this point too so just trying to understand that you know every any possession in the game can win or lose it so just trying to stack possessions um a lot of it’s

Just been recovery you know it’s a lot of games in January so uh learning through that and uh we’re doing a good job of it just trying not to make the same mistakes we make each game and build on that than G casy Thunder uh Shay defensively second half you hold

Those guys at 33% shooting uh anything that you felt out there defensively that you guys are doing at a higher level maybe at the point of attack or or anywhere else um I think we just made them uh work offensively um and tried to make

Their main guys play in a crowd not play in space um and make them make multiple efforts offensively to try and score Shane Mar give you guys a lot of credit for you know really drumming up energy tonight on the road last game of a road

Trip just what goes into that for for you guys and just how important was that energy for you guys in this game um just us wanting to win um we didn’t start the RO the way we wanted to we knew that uh we just really wanted to win

This game and wanted to do whatever it took and another really high assist night 36 assists for you guys as a group just what does that say about the identity of of this team offensively um unselfish play together make the right B over du had a career high 12 assists

Tonight through the last two games he’s up to 22 assists I just wonder what you’ve seen from in the season in terms of making that le as a facil center um he’s just playing basketball make the right decisions um and being aggressive most importantly when he’s aggressive

Um really hard to guard um just another Dynamic ball handler who can make plays for himself and guys around him and Mark just mentioned that you see the big picture about as well as anybody at this juncture of your career I just wonder what’s helped you see the big picture

And just what’s giv you perspective um I watch a lot of basketball um and I pay attention to history um and I really want to win and I’ve lost a lot in my career I really want to win shade the zone that Miami threw out tonight just from my view looked a

Little different than some others that you see are there any is there anything unique about it and uh it just seems like you guys recognized um what you needed to do very quickly against it yeah um their zone is it’s different um they probably played the most in the league

Um and it stifled Us in the past um we knew that coming into the game and we had a a few plans of attack um vosa came in in the third quarter and had good minutes um kind of penetrating it but uh yeah we knew they

Were going to throw it at us they usually do every time we play them um we we were pretty good tonight against them you’re thir voting among guards for the outside game how many fool will be to be a starter this year for person um it

Would be honor um it would be fun um something you dream about as a kid anybody else we got we got two more two more one Mark also mentioned that you’re one of the most ambitious players you’ve seen but you don’t stifle your teammates use that word specifically you

Think that’s something in your personality or is that something you have to work at game in and game out that you have that balance on the court where you can do that um a little bit of my personality um I’m unselfish and I want my teammates to

Have fun out there as well um but I also know uh what it takes and I’ve seen what it takes to win and I know you need some really good teammates around you um no matter how good you are and how great you are so um I know if I don’t Empower

Them and get the best out of them then I won’t get to my ultimate goal a little bit selfish I guess but yeah say last one dra that is over I just wonder how you summarized this this coach trip and just what you think looking back down

Toward the end of the season what this trip might mean for this team success um I don’t know I don’t I don’t think it’ll I don’t think it’s determine anything or it I mean sure there’s a few games we wish we could get back um but

You learned lessons in those games and I think it’ll make us a better team in the future so we we started the road trip we didn’t start We Didn’t Start the road trip the way we wanted to but we Ed it um and kind of got the car back on the

Road uh to close out the road trip so uh we learned from our mistakes and move forward Nick Aly Thunder Mark in the second half I think you forced them to 35% shooting or so um how much of that was what you all were doing at point of

Attack and I remember you said recently how you start possessions uh often dictates how you end up yeah I thought uh the first half obviously we played really well offensively uh and found good shots against their defense uh which is hard to do but that kept us in

The game um I just didn’t think physically we’re very good especially at The Rim uh they were just kind of slicing through us getting wherever they wanted to go they were very comfortable there um and then in the second half we really tighten the screws there you I

Thought we were really alert um the group to start the second half uh was an 110 run I think uh and then it was 130 to start the fourth those two different groups were uh really really good and it was mostly our defense and that was uh the difference in the game I

Thought Mark Tim reyolds with the AP what is it about this team that a bunch of young guys come to Miami at the end of a trip not just have the legs to play 48th way you get have the maturity to go kind of the EPS in the flows it’s

It’s I I know you’re probably tired of the question but it’s a it’s an incredibly it looks like a very mature group or a very young group what is it about this group that makes it so growing up at this point in their careers yeah I think there is an

Uncommon maturity about them as I’ve said before um a lot of it’s who they are as people and I think uh a lot of them had that walking in the door uh and then it gains momentum when there’s like like-minded people uh together and they they uh they bounce off each other in

That way and I thought tonight uh it was the end of a trip uh we have not had our fast ball physically the last couple games I think I didn’t think we had it tonight uh but we drummed up the energy we had the mental toughness to to stay

In it and drum up the energy stay disciplined the game plan and I thought we got stronger as the game went on and I thought some of that was just the contagiousness of the group and um we’ve seen that time and time again we’re not perfect but um they have a pretty high

Baseline of of competitive maturity I would agree with that coach you mentioned the offense in the first half and really it was kind of huming throughout the the entire night what did you think of the group’s ability to generate good looks throughout the night given that Miami was throwing a lot of

Different schemes and yeah that was a great game for us because uh as I said before the game that’s a team that uh really keeps you off balance they have great uh game plans and and execution of those game plans they change defenses they change matchups they really keep

You on your toes and I thought uh the guys did a great job tonight of recognizing uh what we needed to do um their aggression on the ball and in the initial help is is you know really high and so you’ve got to have the Poise to

Just kind of play to the next action play to the second side and I thought on a lot of possessions we did that we moved the hell out of the ball uh on some possessions and really great shots even some of the ones that didn’t go in

Tonight so offensively you know like the last game I thought we had great attacks it was the defense that kind of was ebbing in and out uh but we found enough of it tonight to get the win and just one quick follow tonight 36 assists for you guys tonight that’s just a very

Common number it seems like at this point in the season just what do you think of the identity that you guys are building in terms of that aspect of the game yeah they you know we’re sharing the ball you know it’s impressive um they trust one another um and Trust what

We’re doing and uh you know at the end of the day good defenses make you do that and uh if you want to be a good team you have to um to do to react to that to read the defense and I thought the guys did a great job of that tonight

Like I said I thought uh we had great movement tonight both floor movement with our our off ball stuff and then um movement of the ball Mark we just talked about jayen as a facilitator in DC I just wonder what you saw for him tonight and specifically the connection between

Him and CH what ways you’ve seen that to have a night like tonight yeah I mean they’ve been great um we’ve obviously done a great job in those minutes lately I think it’s a great lesson of you know that was rough to start the year uh

Those units you know to start the second start the fourth we had a hard time finding our footing with those guys on the court um and they just work through it together you know at the end of the day and and you know the units have done

That it’s not just those two guys but those two guys in particular have worked through it together have taken ownership of that uh and have worked together to make that a good Tandem and and to make sure that they’re effective in their actions and that’s only grown uh in a short period

Of time and as long as they continue to work through it together like that it’s going to continue to grow follow up if I just what’s been most encouraging about you know jayen being the one who’s seemingly throwing chat the most lives and just the general connection just the

Willingness to work through it because you know I think it’s important to remember you know it didn’t start in this place you know you know we’ve um we’ve worked to this point and we need to be a team you know we’ve had some success and won some games but we need

To be a team that continuously improves you know in all different facets of the game you know as a team in in our actions together um with our details you know we have to continue to look at our experiences in a really non-emotional way and and just find ways to marginally

Improve with all these experiences all these games uh and that’s how you get stronger in the NBA and we want to be a team that gets stronger as the year goes on can you talk about how much that flows from Shay his ability to impact games when he’s not even scoring here

Tonight like in a certain quarter he might not be attacking the rim as much as a scor how how much of that unselfishness flows from him and your offense yeah he’s into the team you know for sure he’s he’s into the team he wants to win uh he sees the big picture

You know as about as well as anybody uh that is as ambitious as him this early in his career you know and he’s been like that from day one he’s always seen the big picture uh understands that you know the game in of us is important but

That the game in front of us fits into a larger picture uh and that we have to have an Investor’s mindset you know if we want to um reap returns like an investor and and he’s always had that Spirit uh continues to have that spirit I think uh it’s evidenced by seeing how

Uh these other guys grow around him you know he’s he can be an elite player but he doesn’t stifle the guys around him that’s one of the most impressive things you alluded to it a second ago but how do you keep this team 25 111 half game

Out in the west we thinking hey we’re we’re there we we we’ve done something already where where does that growth mindset come in when they look stands and say it’s going well um it’s just having an understanding of what’s put us in this position you know we’ve what’s

Put us in this position is we’ve improve continuously we prepare for the next game we execute as best we can we do our best we compete together in the games we understand it’s not perfect and then we learn from The Good The Bad uh and we

Just rinse and repeat you know 82 times and if you do that uh and you stack that up you know you’re going to become the best team you can be whatever that is and we have to be okay with wherever that lands us uh but when we’ve had some

Success we have to understand that that process has landed us there and if we want to continue to grow then we need to continue to invest in that process but this is a team that um you know I I think at least to this point they’ve been very naturally aligned with that

Coach talking about the rankings how important is for you and for the guys that’s that position on the the Western confence not really that important right now we’re just trying to be the best team we can be and and like I said let that win

The day you know if if you commit to a process and you just do your best and and be the best team you can be then wherever you end up is where you’re supposed to be and you can rest your head on the pillow at night knowing that

Um that’s you know you’ve maxed out and I I think this team we’re not perfect every night it’s the NBA it’s really hard to be perfect um but you know I I think we do a good job of maxing that out and we’re content with wherever that lands

Us you guys took about 60% of your Shots tonight in the midrange and converted about 69% of them if I remember correctly what does it say about being able to do that at such a high volume at a high rate in the modern NBA make that

Be an efficient part of the office was it just a thing tonight of like reacting to the way the heat helped or how do you feel about the way that that played out tonight yeah I mean we’re like League average or a little below maybe in terms of distribution there we actually we

Shoot it really well from those spots Bots um I think the the mid-range uh stuff not all shots are created equally um some of those are open most of them are open most of them are good looks for us but they’re created by RIM pressure and they’re created by our willingness

To throw it to the perimeter you know so if teams are going to sell out to take away the rim or to take away the perimeter on a given possession and that’s the best shot available usually it’s a pretty good one uh but we have to

Be a team that’s willing to explore more efficient shots on a given possession uh and then be willing to take that if that’s the best thing available but certainly that’s not something we’re hunting coach uh people say around the league uh OKC is just Shay Josh or Chad

But today uh Shay just scored one point in the second quarter but between Joe uh Dort and Williams they scored 22 points in that quarter how good is this for the team and as a team and we want to be a team where the hole is better than the

Some of the parts you know know and and we’ve got some good parts and we got some really talented players but uh we have to play together uh and activate one another if we want the hole to be better than our talent and like I said before about Shay and really about our

Whole team you know they’re a team that understands that and are willing to invest in that and willing to you know sacrifice uh maybe a couple more touches or points or shots uh in pursuit of that and I think to this point that’s why um we’ve maximized ourselves as a team last

Question now that this this trip is over you’ve been been Tred time and again it feels like how would you summarize this trip and just know how has it played out in your eyes I mean just we’ve learned from some games here you know um I

Thought you know we didn’t have our fast ball from an energy standpoint on this trip we had a lot of late arrivals a lot of travel um a lot of you know built-in excuses scheduling excuses that every team goes through and we happen to be going through it on this one

Um and I thought tonight and in Washington we did a good job of uh drumming up energy in those games and getting back to our attention to detail getting back to our defense and physicality um and we’re going to need that you know we have a couple here at

Home and then we turn right around and have a similar similar Run next week

Hear from Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 128 – 120 win over the Heat.

0:00 Jalen Williams
5:04 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
9:39 Coach Daigneault

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