OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Utah Jazz | February 6, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Utah Jazz | February 6, 2024

Yeah um they out remounted us um they won the paint battle uh losing those two things and the margins we lost them in it’s going to be hard to win basketball game now we’re in a position with the game could have gone either way down the stretch luckily but um there’s things to

Fix before shot making at the shot making obviously had a factor late in the game I think it’s because of the other things you guys finished the first and second quarters really strong they fli that script in the second half anything execution wise in those uh that

Was different in those stretches um The Zone jumbled us up took us out of our Rhythm and I think late in the fourth they just made shots first back after what did you see from him out there yeah he was good um looked in Rhythm looked healthy didn’t look a step

Slow he look good and you guys have been just going you know really hard since the start of January how valuable will the next three days be for you guys as a yeah really good um give us time to rest a little bit um just got to make sure we

Stay stay sharp and finish the last stretch before all sub is it weird say like you guys knocked down 19 threes just couldn’t get that three to go and late in the game but had 19 threes and still lose is it kind of weird um I

Didn’t know we had that many um but n it felt like it felt like we had some big that we could have tooken care of that we didn’t so we didn’t feel like we should have won the game L has made some plays over the last few games that are

Just way more physical no in in the fight that he was doing last year are you guys noticing those types of things those moments yeah um who is so young um it’s going to get so much better as he plays as he develops um yeah he’s becoming more physical for

Sure what will three days off feel like um it’ll feel a little bit bit weird don’t get too many of them during the season it’ll feel good anybody else uh yeah like you said you know they hit big shots um and we did our best to make those shots tough but um those

Shots aren’t what beat us that’s not what won them the game um credit to them they put together a lot of great defensive stretches um in that fourth quarter and uh you know we just got get back to practice and get in the film room and um figure out how to uh play

Against those situations better and um also uh be more physical um out there and uh limit Second Chance points and and win all the 50-50 balls we did a good job of getting to those tonight but uh um you know still got to improve um with uh giving up Second Chance points

This defensive situation you were talking about was different the end of the third quarter and end of the fourth compared to you guys were great um they’re definitely different um they weren’t just doing the same thing uh and allowing us to do what we had done um and kind of adjusted to throughout

The game uh they did a good job of throwing different looks at us and making us adjust to those as well and uh that’s what they did down the stet and uh you know we just have to be better for the next time man it’s big for us he does a lot

Of things um not only on the offensive end but on defense as well uh you know it seems like he’s everywhere sometimes um you know he runs hard in transition and uh uh you know he does a great job of uh facilitating uh setting up the offense um especially when uh he’s the

Primary ball handler out there and uh you you know we’re glad to have them back and uh you know hopefully um that’s a consistent thing um it’ll be very valuable because it gives us time to work on what we need to work on and that’s exactly what we’re

Going to do you tell inside game tonight was it any different than first Mee um more aggressive Maybe uh yes they they definitely threw some different looks at us uh but we saw a lot of similar things uh uh you know they played a lot of Zone

Kept Kesler at the at the rim and uh uh really made it tough for us in the paint um and kind of uh slowed down our uh movement on offense um but we saw that in the first game as well and um uh you know it’s always great to have Isaiah

Joe out there against his own so uh we’re definitely missing that tonight but uh you know we got a lot of great players who make shots on this team so um you know we still just got to be better for next time talk about soling together being fun like over the

Course of the off season you get different stuff like do you do you relish this as you guys get different challenges dra your way and being able to work it out together 100% um you know we got a lot of winners in the locker room and everybody’s bought into trying to figure

Out how to win but uh you know other teams aren’t going to just let you win and um you got to kind of take it as a compliment when teams are throwing different things at you and and other teams are doing stuff that they’re not used to to try and slow you down

Um you got to take it as a compliment but then you also have to kind of keep that that same eagerness to uh to kind of attack what whatever they’re doing um you know if if you’re seeing the same looks every night that means you’re not not beating

Anybody so um you know it’s it’s kind of like a compliment to some of what we’ve accomplished so far but we have a long ways to go and um you know teams are going to keep throwing different things at us and um when one thing works for

The other team we’re going to see it until we figure it out so you know we understand we have to figure everything out Clos were first and second quarter is really strong and they seem to be able to F that switch in the second half uh what from an execution standpoint did

You notice as the difference in those stretches um I thought you know we did a great job of gaining control of the game you know that’s how you want to start off on the road you know take a lead to halftime I thought we you know had a

Pretty steady first half uh and I give Utah Credit they showed great resolve um I thought they played with great effort and physicality uh and we were able to uh get the game I thought you know the glass was a huge issue um and I thought

The paint was a huge issue I thought the physicality they showed um in the paint you know 60 to 36 or whatever it was in the paint is very uncharacteristic for us on both ends uh and really didn’t give us a lot of margin um so I credit them they played really

Well to that point they also made some very high degre shots late you feel like those were contested looks or the things that you all could have done uh no I mean those are tough shots you know credit Markin in and George the shots they made I thought Dunn made some big

Ones um you know the shot making part of it you know goes in and out that’s why uh the rebounding the uh paint defense the physicality that’s why those plays are so critical because that’s a bit more controllable on our end but um I thought you know we shot the ball well

Tonight too so you know we had uh the benefit of that but I thought they just got the more uh stable sources of offense tonight I thought he was really good good most of the night you know um thought he really competed uh defensively especially in the second

Half uh and offensively you know seemed like he didn’t drop off in terms of Rhythm he was pretty spry and uh had a nice blend again tonight so happy to have him back certainly in that first half especially what did you see he was good you know he

Made those two shots and um you know I thought he was in the mix defensively that whole group you know really stretched the lead in the first quarter a little bit for us and and got us off to a nice start so so um all the guys

Were ready to play you know I thought the way we started the game uh was the way you want to start you know and I just thought you know Utah had good persistence in the game and uh their effort stayed up throughout uh they didn’t quit and they went and got that

Game I give them a lot of credit did you like your shot selection late um yeah I mean I thought we got some decent ones late um you know there’s going to be an element of variance obviously I think that’s why you know I’m harping on the controlable

Stuff especially like the paint you know um 60 in the paint against us is uncharacteristic we’re probably around 40 to 45 on average night tonight so that’s you know 15 more points than than what we normally give up there and then 36 is low for us because we probably are

Around 50 uh night tonight so that’s what I was most disappointed in but you know obviously shots go in and out they made some late credit them how much stress did Chris def put on especially um I think it was Collective you know I thought they threw bodies at

Him as the game went on uh especially in the third quarter um so I thought it was it was schematic as much as it was a matchup he’s a really you know obviously a good individual Defender that we respect but um Shay’s a great player and

To stop him and slow him down you got to put multiple guys on them I thought that’s what they did yeah great you know the day off tomorrow is huge uh and we’ll be able to fill the tank a little bit and you know catch our breath and also sharpen up a

Couple things in practice uh and try to close you know the last three games before Allstar break well

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 117-124 loss to the Jazz.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
2:07 Chet Holmgren
6:25 Head Coach Mark Daigneault

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