OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Minnesota Timberwolves | January 29, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Minnesota Timberwolves | January 29, 2024

Nick Gallow KC Thunder uh Shay four time you guys have played them seemed like a a really highlevel intense matchup tonight uh how did it feel to just be kind of battling these guys again and um going back and forth all night yeah um

It’s why we play the game you play um to play the best teams in the league um you wake up for games like that uh you really get to test yourself and see where you are um and it was a dog fight tonight it seemed like made some more plays

During that 90 run uh late in the game anything that you noticed from a execution standpoint on either end um that made the difference down the stretch yeah we didn’t get the greatest shots down the stretch um they made a lot of shots down the stretch um their size rebounding down the

Stretch just to name a few off the top of my head you talk about you know maybe like Chad hesitating with like a pump fake on his three but it felt like down a stretch and I just chat it felt like different guys were were hesitating on certain

Shots and I imagine you could talk a lot of that up to to Minnesota’s presence but what did you see there did you sense any hesitation in those final few possessions final few minutes um N I didn’t really sense hesitation uh I don’t I don’t it’s hard when you’re

In like the the heat of it um to to Really assess um I I probably have a better answer for you uh in the D two but I didn’t I didn’t feel like there was any hesitation up there and Mark was just in here talking about you know he he put

You in in the fourth probably as early as he has all year he said it felt like it was just one of those games where before it got away from you guys like he just wanted to put you in there just when when something like that happens

Does it sit in the back of your mind do you does it affect your shot selection at all like do you take that with you as he puts you into almost like two minutes into the fourth no I just when he puts me in I’m ready to hoop

Um when I’m on the floor I try to do what’s best for myself and my teammates I don’t think about anything else sh you got a bunch of guys who haven’t been through a lot of NBA seasons and some guys who haven’t been through any how

Much of a fight is the fatigue for guys right now just just trying to get through it yeah it’s a challenge um and like you said when you haven’t done it um many times times they haven’t done it a lot it’s it’s hard and getting adjusting to um now with that being said

The NBA doesn’t care your opponents don’t care nobody cares um you got to fight through it and get it done seven assists in the first quarter then 14 after that um Mark at the ball could have moved a little bit more being out there what was it that made it a little

Bit more difficult to get the ball around um they’re a good defense they uh obviously have great room protection size good Defenders um uh and and when they uh when teams get solid defensively um it kind of forces you to kind of like have to break

The shell of the defense and try to play one-on-one um I think that’s where we were getting caught is it more challenging as they like change their coverages throughout the game like they have their bigs on guards and they’ll switch back to Zone like how how challenging is that like as

You go throughout the game um to me it’s every game I’m used to that now uh I’ve gotten to the point where my career I see different coverages um every night a lot of times every quarter um different Defenders different schemes uh I’ve seen it all anybody else go last one

Joel say as as ant was just coming down the hallway he just he mentioned that he couldn’t wait to see you guys again do you do you share that sentiment is there there something about this this series that you know brings something out of you guys um I mean

They’re one of the better teams in the league clearly um and we we’ve we we view oursel as that um and there’s no other way to really find out who you are um In the Heat of the Moment heat of the battle um when it matters most and playing against the

Best um so it’s not just them it’s all the other teams that are at the top of the league uh we wake up for those games and we love the challenge Nick Gallow casy Thunder uh Aaron great atmosphere in there tonight two teams really competing what did it

Feel like on the floor uh being In the Heat of the battle yeah it was fun those are the games you want to be a part of um atmosphere was great the crowd was loud um and you could feel that you know there’s you know a competitive nature on

The court that you’re playing for something so it was fun there were so many these like little mini runs throughout the game they had a 901 late anything you noticed execution wise either side down the stretch um I thought there was just you know throughout the whole game things that we

You know could have done a lot better um offensively executing you know playing a little bit faster um and then defensively just kind of being more on top of you know personnel and the way that we want to play those guys um but they play well late they had some guys

Hit some good shots uh in that fourth quarter um and you know we just came up short seven assists in the first quarter then 14 after that Mark mentioned how the ball could move a little bit better being out there what are some things that that you feel like that made it

Difficult for you guys to move the ball um yeah I mean just kind of spacing um playing you know trying to get out more in transition just a number things I thought we could have had you know more opportunities to create advantages on the offensive end um and we just you know

Weren’t uh just weren’t kind of locked into the idea of you know playing a little bit faster having better spacing and you know creating those opportunities you mentioned the space and and I I imagine some of that is more challenging when you know they’re sticking Rudy on Josh and Cat is on

D like just how much more challenging is that I mean obviously there’s going to be different things that you know teams throw at you that are going to be challenging but uh you know we’re we’re we’ve done a good job throughout this season just kind of adapting to uh you

Know different looks that we’ve seen on the defensive end and uh we were just kind of slow to react today um just didn’t pick up on certain you know opportunities to create you know more advantages based off the way they were playing us so in your two wins against Minnesota

You’re able to get them turn the ball over 21 times in both of those games only 13 tonight is there any difference that you see in the way that maybe they took care of the ball or maybe like defensive intensity or anything like that uh I mean that I feel like just

Comes down to you know certain opportunities on the defensive end um I wouldn’t say there’s anything different in the games that we did drastically to cause you know a difference in those turnovers um but I mean it’s just opportunities that our guys typically see um we might not have had them

Tonight do these games feel different to you I mean you you’ve been here for a few years and like you guys are playing for first place in the western cops these games start to feel different um I mean you could feel a different atmosphere um I wouldn’t say the feeling

Of playing the game is any different though um we all have the same approach and all want to win so uh you know the game kind of feels the same but um the atmosphere you know definitely uplifts uplifts the game so the crowd in particular the crowd uh yeah I mean

There’s there’s a number of things just in terms of you know once you get on the court the competitive nature of everything um but you know it’s basketball at the end of the day so we I think for the most part most guys probably feel the same about every game

Nick Gallow KC Thunder uh kenri what did you make of Just The Possession by possession uh intensity of this game and and uh despite the result what it might do for you guys moving forward uh yeah it was a very intense game very physical game uh they’re a great team very good team

In this league got to tip your hat to them um they were the better team tonight uh I think this gonna just kind of make us a better team and all like I said before uh the losses that we took uh especially yesterday uh and today are

Going to make us a better team in the long run it’s kind of been every time you guys have played this team it’s been a bit of a tug OFW between like whether you guys are are getting this nice stretch of being able to score in the paint against them versus them really

Being able to wall things off have you noticed any uh commonalities during the times that you guys have been able to to get there versus uh when they’ve done a good job well they do a good job of uh kind of clogging the paint uh with uh with

Gober down there uh you know he’s a presence down there he got some big guys down there uh so just kind of being able to mix mixing in uh not getting too kind of jump shot heavy but also U mixing in and and getting to the rim as well um

And on defense you know they they hit some some Big Shots tonight uh they play well so you just got to tip your head to them you mentioned go be’s presence I’m curious what what do you see from him in that fourth quarter specifically in terms of just the intimidation Factor

The deterrence and just how do you see guys maybe approaching at the ring yeah I mean he’s a force down there uh you got to tip your hat to him as well um he’s very big so it’s like you got to pick and choose kind of try to get

Angles on him uh and I mean he’s effective down there uh he’s probably one of the best in the league uh so uh just learn from it and watch the film and get better and as young as this team is I think a lot of people have lauded

This team because it hasn’t looked that young often right um I guess as those fourth quarter as the fourth quarter was ding them down and those those final few final few minutes what you see in terms of execution and just did you sense any level of hesitation from guys

Offensively no not necessarily man just uh I think we played well we played well uh you know at times we were trying to uh Force things uh I know I was myself but uh uh this is something you you learned from to be honest with you

Brother uh you watch film on it well I’m pretty sure the coaches have set film up for us especially uh there down the stretch and uh and just just something that we can learn from uh just kind of executing down the stretch when the game gets tight like

That intersect with the athletic just from your Vantage Point how difficult does it make things when they put their bigs on guys like Lou and and Josh and kind of like change up their coverages for you guys yeah I think uh it’s it’s it’s not difficult but it’s more of a a

Different look for us uh it’s a different look than than it’s been um um you know traditionally uh guards match up with the guards and The Bigs match up with the bigs and uh it’s just something that we kind of got to just get better at to be honest with

You uh continue to to move the ball like we always do continue to play the right way and just trust the game and then your thoughts on I mean the January schedule’s been obviously a topic of conversation recently but just thoughts on that effect on maybe particular

Players tonight uh man you know this month was a was a was a a brutal month like like you said man uh but you know we’re a team full of No Excuses uh we have no excuses to make um as a team and uh every night you got to come out and

Perform uh no matter how tired you are or how many games we played and uh it’s a part of the league it’s a part of kind of uh growing into a league as a young team and uh and uh like I said man you learn from from stuff like this you

Learn from a month like this and uh you just keep getting better you guys have had your three three lowest points in the paint output against them um are there things that you can learn that from them that that you can apply to other teams I mean they’re the only team

That one of the only teams that plays that big the whole game so are there just some some things that you can just try and apply to other teams that don’t play as big uh yeah uh but you know they’re they’re a different team you know like I

Said they got they got a a couple seven-footers down there uh they got a big lineup um so they make it tough for you uh just just to get to the rim and kind of finish um but you know yeah you do learn from this um it’s not necessarily you’re

Learning from from this and and taking it to another game or a different team but you learn from this and and uh watch F and move on man Nick Al KC Thunder uh Mark just some great intensity from both sides tonight um what did you think of of the game

Play and and the way that this when float uh I mean that was obviously an elevated game I thought uh both teams played really hard uh thought the way we defended rebounded uh competed on the glass really gave us a great chance throughout the game even when uh we went

Through some offensive uh droughts which obviously happened in the game uh the defense kept it in a in a manageable place and we were able to put some runs together and put some pressure on them but credit them I thought they outplayed Us in the fourth uh made some timely

Plays uh but you know you know we weren’t short on effort or energy tonight you kind of mentioned The Possession game uh in the last few minutes they went on that 90 run anything execution wise that you noticed on either side of the ball um I mean I

Thought we could have you know I thought they just generated better shots in that part of the game than we did uh so again credit them uh but I just thought we competed really hard tonight especially on the defensive end I thought we were really physical um did the job on that

End gave ourselves a really good chance obviously 107 points or whatever is is enough to win on most nights for us uh offensively we just weren’t as good as we could be Mark you mentioned just the way things kind of unravel during the fourth and it felt like I mean we we’ve

Talked about Chet’s hesitation on spot of three some but it felt like a lot of those guys were just hesitating some did you did you send some of that late um I don’t know I mean I think we can you know learn from the game I mean we got

To stay aggressive in a game like that I did think um you know in the first half and coming out of halftime um we didn’t embrace the imperfection of the game you know it’s not going to be easy when it’s two good teams going against each other

In a battle like that and then I thought you know we started to solve problems together uh and got a little juice going you know in the third so you know it was an uncomfortable game I think for both teams uh and we got to embrace the

Discomfort of the game uh in a high level game like that when you say you guys didn’t embrace the imperfection of the game what do you mean in what way this it’s going to be hard you know against a good team when two good teams are going at it like that possession

Game It’s a Grind offense isn’t coming easy to either team it’s a very physical game um that’s what kind of elevated games like that feel like and um we’ve been great this season at kind of grinding through that you know the last time we played them was a great example

I thought it tonight it took us a while to get to that and when we did in the third uh we were obviously really good we were able to take a lead um into the fourth quarter so it’s no secret sorry it’s no secret the kind of season Rudy’s

Had on the defensive end I just wonder what you saw from him in that final quarter specifically to you know create separation yeah he did a really good job I mean their whole defense tonight was really good I thought uh top to bottom they really competed I thought they did

A good job of changing defenses in the first half uh and keeping us off balance uh I thought they competed on that end of the floor I thought we did too was two uh really team really competitive teams uh competing hard in the game uh and they obviously made a few more plays

Than we did Mar I know everybody’s pretty tired at this time of year every every team and especially you talked about with January but ched has played every game and he’s played all 16 in this month and that’s you know that’s two College months I just wonder if

You’re if you see any any particular signs with him of any of that wearing on him I don’t know I mean you can ask him but um he’s a competitor you know I he obviously didn’t have his best game tonight but um yeah I’d never make assumptions about something like that

Season low 34 points in the paint tonight uh was that more good job on them or do you feel like you guys could have did a better job in getting there a little bit of both I think uh a lot of it’s them and you got to have a

Relentlessness about you against that team you know it’s very difficult to get them kind of on the first crack and I thought we left something to be desired there in the first half um in terms of our our willingness to grind possessions and and find a crack against them but

That’s why they’re a good defense they’re the best defense in the NBA and then seven assists in the first quarter and then 14 from they on out again was that feel like that was him or did you feel like you guys settled a little bit more could have moved the ball is how

They were guarding us you know they were switching a lot of our stuff and that bogs you down a little bit um so some of it’s that but obviously could have played better offensively all the way around we played a pretty clean game you know we didn’t turn over very much um

But certainly you know to your point could have been better in terms of our attacks um movement on some plays Andrew like with the athletic JB seemed pretty uncomfortable at the end of the game as there an update on no update on him or Isaiah Isaiah was out

Uh with whatever happened to him as well and we’ll check those guys out in the morning but both those guys were ruled out for the rest of the game anybody else Mark there weren’t like big numbers for Jay will but it just seemed like energy wise that group

With him in there changed the game a little bit in the third quarter just wondered what you thought of what he gave you and and that group together yeah I thought you know that group he went in there with uh KAS and K rich and

Those guys um plus Shay and dub put a really good run on them and um you know just got energy going you know and intensity gener their own energy and intensity Jay will does that on a regular basis K Rich does that on a regular basis um and they brought that

To that part of the game I think we went down 10 and ended up taking a lead um and so credit them I mean they were ready to play and you know we’re going to need different guys on different nights uh and they definitely brought us

A spark in that part of the game Michael Martin Sol crowd you mentioned Jay will sort of the spark he brought Off the Bench he’s already this season total more blocks than he did last season he’s mostly known as a charge guy is that anything tactically you guys are asking

Him to do differently or is this more on him to just go after more shots in the air yeah I think it’s the latter you know and he’s he’s done a good job committing to that he’s obviously a great charge taker but especially in pick and roles um it’s difficult to take

Charges you know with guards attacking you downhill and so he’s learned how to play two a little bit better and use his length uh to contest at the rim and and save the charges for um when he’s kind of a weak side Defender you know which is lower to charge numbers but uh

Increased his impact at The Rim you know in totality so he’s done a really good job of evolving in that way Mar it it felt like Shay to start that fourth came in as early as he’s maybe came into the fourth all year just what did you hope

To see from that and from him and what you see as the for unwinded from him yeah it just felt like one of those games that was a possession game and um you know I just you know I I try to be wise in terms of uh how I man manage

Everybody’s minutes throughout the course of a season and it gives you the space to hit the gas on certain nights and I decided to hit the gas tonight three your games points in the paint came against the Wolves what makes what makes them different they’re not the only

Team is that it is there something different about a lot of it’s go bear you know he’s he’s just um there’s a reason why his teams are consistently uh winning teams and consistently really good defensive teams so um he’s got great Rim protection back there he’s

Very difficult to move around they do a good job of of keeping him in situations where he doesn’t have to move around they they do a good job of covering for him there um and so they’re tough to crack as a result of that but there’s possessions where you can and you know

We’ve had stints of games against them where we’ve done a really good job of attacking them um that we you know obviously have to learn from when we play them we’re done with them right now but um you know he’s certainly got a lot to do with that he’s he’s a force back

There give him a lot of credit anybody else

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s loss to the Timberwolves.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
4:48 Aaron Wiggins
8:15 Kenrich Williams
13:19 Head Coach Mark Daigneault

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