OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at San Antonio Spurs | January 24, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at San Antonio Spurs | January 24, 2024

Gallow Casey Thunder CH it seemed like offensively you guys got whatever you wanted from each possession down what did you like best about the the consistency of your your execution tonight team uh I really liked how much we trusted each other um you know that ball was really moving around um especially

Out there in that second unit uh you know everybody trusted that when they get off the ball is going to come right back um if they moved and got open and um trusted the offense and we did a great job of that for All 48 minutes um

Whoever was out there on the floor all Five Guys trusted each other’s value doesn’t always come from scoring the ball but when he does it in this type of efficiency like what kind of signal do that send to the rest of the group um man he’s just a dog uh

And it’s huge when Aaron brings that uh you know we got a lot of guys like that on the team who come in and make winning play plays and uh for him tonight that was scoring the basketball and and he did it at a high level uh efficiently uh

Hit some tough shots to um you know credit to him and uh you know I have faith that he’s going to continue to do that second night of a back toback for you guys but you came out of the gate super strong you finished the game

Strong just what went into that for you guys tonight to be able to sustain that energy for 4 G minutes um it just came down to us sticking to being us uh you know we’ve had some crazy circumstances throughout the year with travel and back toback and stuff

And I feel like we’re really learning how to um kind of stick to our stuff through those types of adversity and uh I think tonight was another one of those nights uh we really we really handled the situation great and uh keyed in on on being us I’m interested your

Perspective on this because San Antonio played with a lot lot of pace offensively looked like they try to get out of transition a lot U what was key for you guys to hand blink that especially on the defens uh you know it goes back to trusting each other on offense and

Getting really good looks um and that comes down to taking good shots making good shots not turning the ball over uh when we’re able to you know put the ball through the basket and they have to inbound it to get the break going it really slows

Them down it allows us to set our def Def and um you know we got really good Defenders on this team and and everybody’s locked in together so we’re we’re a really tough half court team to score on on the defensive end so just doing doing what we got to do on the

Offensive end to allow us to set our defense said finish more blocks something like that but just fact that you have to man at that side and still watch where where Victor is I just wonder could you describe the over all task and know anchoring when you’re

Playing a guy like that uh yeah it obviously you know all credit to to Vic obviously a great player um very very talented uh even at an early stage in his career um but I I can’t let that matchup I guess try and take away from

Uh you know what the job was tonight and and that was trying to win a basketball game Thunder versus Spurs um so obviously you have to have a little more alertness and and he has a little more gravity than um some other players uh that are

On other teams but at the end of the day um you know I still have to try and help anchor the defense um as I would normally do um and also really key in on that matchup as well um you know it’s kind of like a Nuance to it uh you got

To find the right balance um and I don’t think I was perfect with it tonight I don’t think I’ll ever be perfect uh but I think we did a good job with it tonight a new new also because because of him specifically or uh I mean yeah there’s different nuances with with

Every matchup uh understanding different players how they play what they do um what they do within the team and then kind of trying to calculate that on on how you’re going to play that specific player as well as the rest of the team um cuz you know I’m never guarding just

Just one person um you know like you said kind of anchoring the defense um making sure that uh you know I have our guys backs you know they trust me to be back there so um if they get beat and I’m not there um you know they’ll lose

That trust so I got to got to make sure I can kind of cover it all I’m curious because Mark has credit you with this sort of tunnel vision like whatever VI comes up because obviously that’s a thing um you just mentioned that that night’s match up or whatever

It else but you you reflected the time just you because we talked so much about your Competitive Edge at the same time it ever flip into your mind at all like I know like you kill that that that theme at all do it live at all and your

Mind at all uh I mean it’s obviously like human nature uh but you know to really be uncommon and not just do what everybody else does you have to kind of fight that um and obviously that’s the line that you guys have that’s what ESPN’s promoting that’s what

The NBA is promoting um and rightfully so uh you know Vic’s a great player um you know I think I have a long way to go in this league but you know I plan to be a great player um you know and play a long time uh but that that doesn’t take

Away from what the focus is and the focus is thunder vers Spurs we got to win a basketball game um so you got to make sure you go out compete at a high level but do the right right things um you know kind of falling bait to the

Matchup I guess uh can lead you to make some not winning plays and and hurt the team and you know I never want to be that guy last thing I didn’t we didn’t get to ask you the other night with the group interview thing because it SCS

Like you kind of started that by bringing guys into your interview like how how did this whole group intervie interview thing Post in kind of start um I mean yeah I I never want to go up there by myself um just cuz you know want to get everybody some some TV

Time let them let them show their face uh and uh you know get them some Pub I guess um and then they just started doing it on their own like I wasn’t even a part of it when it started this time or last time I kind of just joined late

Um and they were just over there doing their thing so uh you know props to them uh everybody wants to see each other succeed and do it together so um you know that’s kind of the headline of the team uh you know we’re we’re all really in it

Together defensively uh it seemed like you guys were really able to to grind them down into more of a half court game in that second half what was different coming out of a lot through the half time um I think just kind of keying in

To some of the things that uh you know would help us on the defensive end um after makes or misses just kind of getting back getting matched up correctly um you know not allowing some of those easy scoring chances where they you know find their Shooters in

Transition or you know they’re able to get out and kind of find advantages with Victor uh in transition and uh and I thought it just did a good job understanding what we had to do to make sure that we put ourselves in a position to win the game

So Isaiah was talked about actually practicing in the summer coming off a bench cold and having to get high sh3 you only take about 1 three a game but yet you’ve been above 50% pretty much the whole year is there anything that you do to prep for these opportunities

Specifically that you get you’re not getting a lot of shots uh I don’t know how to prepare in the offseason for that I don’t know I don’t have anything for that um but I mean just mental for me it’s just more mental um when I’m on the

Bench you know making sure that I’m staying loose um I have the massage gun sometimes and I’ll be massaging my calves and my my uh quads just to kind of you know when I when it’s time for me to go I have my legs under me and I feel

Good um but I’m going to ask zve what he does cuz I’m really curious to know now um but I don’t have anything like that it’s just mental is in here he said word for word if you’re as good as a system player as they have I just wonder what’s going

Into that process is perfect what’s uh I just want to win so like like knowing that you know in order for me to you know play and in order for me to you know be in a position where my team’s winning games um I got to do

Whatever is needed for my team so um just kind of going out there and playing hard playing the win uh you find yourself doing whatever the team needs and you find yourself you know in different positions every night but um winning games is what matters at the end

Of the day so and because I I imagine you never have been in this position in your basketball career where you had this fluctuating world like this and you kind of have be ready when the name is called I just wonder if you remember the beginning

Stages of it and that felt like how far you prob rir um I mean my rookie year coming in on a two-way um knowing that I had to kind of build a case for myself to uh you know earn minutes and to earn a reputation in the league um so I think

Knowing that just kind of helped me to understand you know what it would take for me especially from the standpoint that I was in to kind of you know succeed and have a career um so still building on that and uh I mean coming in I wasn’t wasn’t thinking

Like oh you’re just going to have to be a guy that you know turns into like a glue guy or somebody who like you know does a lot of little things um but at the end of the day I want to win games

So I mean I want to be a part of a team that wins so it’s all I’m here for a follow on there you said we want taking about being a guy what were you I mean just the same game that I’ve always had you know play play comfortably play play

Confident and uh you know take what the defense kind of gives you um and uh I mean nothing about that’s changed just you know a little bit more knowledgeable and understanding of you know the NBA um and and what it takes to succeed so back to that question about being a

Really good system player Mark also said that you do a great job leveraging the system kind of to your benefit what goes into that for you personally is it just cutting spacing as a chemistry with your teammates what do you kind of attribute that to I mean like I said understanding

You know what it takes to win but at the same time uh just keeping it simple for myself um cutting getting offensive rebounds works you know it works for me individually and it works for our team so I mean just staying you know at understanding that that Baseline you

Know works and if I’m always doing that you know other things will work this work itself out so uh just kind of understanding that you know what works works stick with it and uh you know you build on it so that’s all it is Mark

Also said that he’s you know glad to see you shooting more threes because you you shot him so efficiently has that been a conversation for you guys kind of amongst you cook St uh I mean small talk here and there um you know I try to find

More opportunities there but um at the same time it’s all within the Rhythm and the flow of the game so um you know never trying to go out there and you know Force bad shots or anything but you know kind of find myself an opportunity to take good ones and find more so

Yeah I feel like last year um guys OPP made to play in no one really knew what to expect from this team this year um I don’t even know if you guys really mean what to expect have you guys gotten to a point where like in your minds are kind

Of like we make the finals we get to the Western Conference Finals like is that kind of your new expectation nah I don’t think I don’t think we have as a team have looked past where we are today cuz uh I’m not sure what the standing is in

Terms of Records but I mean the NBA is so like drastic any night anything can happen so um I think we understand that you know the position we’re in um you know maybe top sea the West right now could change in a week so uh I mean

We’re we’re staying right where we’re at just kind of taking it one game at a time and understanding that um it’s a really long season so a lot can change last one sorry last one you’re mostly uh on catching shs 23 and then at The Rim we’ also got this little I know

Mid post turn around fade away and it seems like your teammates obviously love that um what’s that I guess what’s been the development of that move and uh which of your teammates has seen that the most in practice oh uh I’m not sure how to answer

That um I don’t know it’s just you know touch work on that shot cuz uh you know it’s something that um you know being able to score at all levels my favorite player growing up was Kobe so all of that mid-range stuff was like you know something I always like you know

Admired especially because of Kobe um but I mean it’s it’s it’s a part of the game to a certain degree whether it’s an efficient shot or not it’s it’s somewhat a part of the game so just understanding there’s good ones to take and there’s ones that you know you you got to pass

Up so uh I don’t know guys love it I love it Shay seemed like offensively you guys just got where wanted spot you wanted possession after possession is there a level of focus that um you know maybe above and beyond tonight in terms of just executing kind

Of having tevision and getting shot want each time down yeah um we wanted to really uh work possessions um and get Best Shot possible a lot of times down the floor um and I thought we did a good job with that tonight uh we uh last game didn’t have our like

Our best offensive outing and didn’t really we weren’t really satisfied with the way we played offensively um we wanted to come out here and correct it and I think we did a good job in it been a long run you guys physically energy wise friend are able

To overwhelm to get one of the best second Ed backto back teams uh what do you attribute that to what what do you think that um a little bit of both of those uh we have a lot of guys ready to go and then we are young um and are in really

Good shape uh but we uh don’t make excuses for ourselves um we try to compete every night and we know the team across us is not going to care or feel sorry for us that we we played last night um we want to win us just as bad as they

Can like honestly I think a lot of they can contribute to you just playing the VOC of third qu but I wonder because you you have tonight you had 16 in third you have mostly fruitful third like what are you reading in these first halfes what you picking at what’s developing from

Your point of view that allows you to maybe run um I think so I do play the whole third um and then a lot of the times like I’m feeling out throughout the game I’m feeling out like how they’re attacking and how they’re defending um and usually

Like to start the game you’re like feeling stuff out and like the first couple minutes takes time to do that but um coming out of halftime I usually know like what they’re trying to do what they’re trying to get into the game and then then how to attack it um and I try

To do so the third you’ve been a a pretty good health defense this year I know you chat play different roles as help Defenders especially on the night night tonight but just what you see from him in terms of how much of the task he has anchor in his defense especially

Having a long one year around how much more task that think yeah um it’s a big one for sure um but um we give him that responsibility because we know how good he is especially on that end of the floor um and like you said he’s our

Anchor he holds us down on a lot of plays saves us a lot of plays um he does he does his job at a very high level um to do it at that high of a level just early in his career special we don’t take it for granted sh want to ask you

About Aaron obviously a big offensive night for him but he’s such a good system player he never seems to force anything what do you see from him offensively and kind of how he’s able to find his his looks on that end of the floor yeah he

Um is like a Swiss army knife like he could throw him in any situation and he has something for it um if we need energy he comes in um offensive rebounds runs the floor if we need defense he comes in and we’ll defend if we need spot shooting he’ll

Come in and make some threes like he he’s always ready to play and does whatever it takes um and whatever the team needs and he uh he understands his job and his role and he he’s a a star in his role for sure yeah one one back last one so you

Say you’re feeling feeling out the game early on what did you see specifically tonight that allowed you to exploit their defensive schemes yeah um they uh like early in the game there were their weak side was like um collapsing on like every drive and like just randomly like it wasn’t like a

Rotation um especially uh I don’t want to butcher his name uh Victor like he just come in on every drive to try to block it um and we I think we got caught a couple times early in the game and then once we start like not taking the

Bait and moving it they were spread out and then we were able to get layoffs later in the game AC Thunder uh Mark your offense just seemed so had great tunnel vision tonight in terms of um just not taking a bait on anything attacking uh each possession uh

Determination what did you see on that uh yeah I thought it was a really good offensive night for us we obviously shot the ball very well from three which always makes it look a little better but the attacks were pretty sound um played on the second side mov the ball um found

The best shot on a lot of possessions I just thought we stayed in a very um a team Rhythm tonight which was great then defensively in the first half they they got a few run outs and it seemed like you guys really shut that off in the

Second half was it as simple as just retreating and getting back or or was there anything else that you guys did defensively yeah I thought um they’re obviously fast and they’re willing to shoot quickly in the shot clock so it makes it hard you know they attack you

On made baskets as well as misses so requires a lot of focus because they played with a great pace through the 48 minutes but um I just thought our team tonight had a very surgical approach we won every quarter on a second night of a back toback on the road um settled into

The game really well you know and and really strung together a 48 minute effort it was really really impressive Mark there’s a good bit of what Oney does is just inevitable Wonder because he fin with TR for Instinct shots what you like about game plan execution defending him what

What didn’t you like and I guess what was just you know what could your attribut just him being being talented yeah I mean it just like any other talented player they’re going to get their stuff into the game but thought we did a good job of being physical with

Him we put him in a crowd we turned him over a couple times uh I thought that we made the game difficult he didn’t really operate in free space a ton uh and that was key because they were really trying to pump the ball to him and play through

Him so uh just like any other player where teams do that we want to do it with five and I thought we did a nice job of that yeah we talked a bunch about some of the back do has had to De I know tonight he’s he’s getting some away

Getting some checks like the back with do assign how he has that was one interesting ter of the vast range of assigns he yeah I mean that’s the thing I always drive to uh on him that’s so impressive is just defensively his versatility uh his mentality going

Against uh the range of players and the quality of players that he goes against uh as well as Lou I mean Lou’s taking the the main guy uh every night on the perimeter so those two guys just lean into really really hard matchups night after night uh and in a month like this

Where you know the schedule’s like a machine gun uh it’s you know really impressive that they drum it up every single night tonight was it 26 game I believe two and above 50% for the flest Le theba what is it about this group what is it about what you’ve seen so far

That makes that become normally ter uh I think it’s just a willingness to stay inside the team um and when we’re not inside the team on a possession or a stretch or even a game we we jump back into the team pretty quickly and uh we really didn’t have

Great offensive Rhythm the last two games for a myriad of factors but I thought tonight we really tapped into it and leaned on one another and solved problems together it’s the type of team we want to be and I think the the guys naturally gravitate to that even when we’re a little off

Track um Aaron had 13 last night comes in obviously has 22 tonight offensively what did you see in terms of his floor game and the r significant his looks tonight yeah it’s just impressive you know how he’s learned to leverage the system to his benefit and to his strengths because we’re not running

Plays for him you know he’s uh and I say that respectfully you know he just has really learned how to space how to cut how to to move how to screen how to roll I mean he’s just a as good of a system player as we have and um you know now

He’s he’s getting some cracks I like that he’s shooting more threes I mean somebody that shoots the the ball as well as he does uh to drive up his efficiency and our efficiency he should be taking those uh and he took him tonight he found good ones and uh the

Guys did a good job of finding him and just second item back to back you guys have come out of the gates really strong at 30-point first quarter and finish with a 40 Point fourth quarter just with with that sort of effort and do you like the identity that you guys are building

As a group when you’re faced with these sort of challenges and adversities second that don’t activ long stretch in January how you guys responding so far yeah I mean every game’s A new challenge and you got to you know get yourself back to the bottom of the mountain you

Know again in New Orleans for us in the next game but great job answering the Bell tonight by the team you know just great mental toughness great discipline great togetherness and we’re able to sustain that I thought we had great endurance tonight we sustained that throughout

Uh the 48 I thought the bench was engaged from the start they stared with JW with the pair of Threes there in the first half much needed yeah I thought you know that group uh you know whatever the the score was the last like four or five minutes of the first quarter last

Four or five minutes of the third quarter that group was Shay Jay will uh Cas Wallace K rich I Joe you know was was potent tonight um those guys really came in elevated the game that’s what good benches do you know is they cut into leads they extend leads tonight

That team extended the lead uh in both of those stretches and I thought the group to start the second and fourth did the same and so we were 48 minute team tonight the guys do a great job and anytime you can give say a full quarter off that’s got to be beneficial yeah

Especially in a month like this you know like we I’ve really tried to be cognizant of not only his minutes but everybody else’s um and making sure that we’re able to put our best foot forward in every single game and um and that’s why it’s so important that group to

Start the fourth did a great job tonight of of you know grabbing that game you know right off the bat and um you know guys everybody did a great job tonight obviously a trivial relatively trivial part of the game but caseing in at the

End that just to to get him more on ball creation r or um well we don’t we have a lot of guys with the blue right now so we didn’t have uh the full uh group of of bench guys tonight but um you know one of the things that I’m really you know

Conscious of with him is he’s he’s really playing a a role very very well for us but he’s also 19 or 20 years old and he’s got a lot of upside as a player and we have to U be able to balance him playing his role really well with him

Growing and developing you know we don’t want the clay to dry uh on his game this early and so he’s got to push forward a lot of that’s going to happen with a summer um at the end of the season but anytime we can put him in situations

Where he can create a little bit and feel a different um developmental environment where we’re going to do that cuz we have great belief in his ability to get himself on the court so now it’s a matter of him expanding his game but that over time you know not Thursday or

Whatever and you I guess today point is that like the next necessary step for his game just having a that level of creation where it’s like becomes more and just attack and the ball the shot clock no you know it’s more giving them the wall in those situations so that he can be

Better at attacking close outs I think the next layer for him is secondary playmaking so you know when he’s on the perimeter um kind of the Wiggins diet you know that what I just talked about with Aaron Aaron’s been in the program for three years now so you you’re seeing

A more complete version of a system player but um someone that understands when to move understands when to cut and then can make really good plays off the catch he’s obviously found the catch and shoot so now it’s a matter of being a secondary guy not getting stuck with the

Ball um if he does that well he’s going to be a pretty Dynamic player with the way that he defends shoots does everything else anybody else thank you coach all right guys

Hear from Chet Holmgren, Aaron Wiggins, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 140 – 114 win over the Spurs.

0:00 Chet Holmgren
7:01 Aaron Wiggins
13:40 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
18:08 Coach Daigneault

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