OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Dallas Mavericks | February 10, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Dallas Mavericks | February 10, 2024

Landed that first punch uh what did you notice in terms of their energy and execution early um H they were just the better team tonight start to finish um just chock it up to that they played better played harder more sense of urgency um they deserve the win it was a pretty uncharacteristic

Dynamic of just the paint scoring particularly in that first half what did you guys try to resolve over the course of the game able to get to the rim more often um compared to like the first quarter um I don’t know uh I don’t know I’m not too

Sure that wasn’t one like a focus of ours um coming out of halftime um we tried to play the right way um tried to get stops try to get on on the Break um we just didn’t do any we just didn’t didn’t have it tonight I don’t think um when

You don’t have juice against a team obviously as talented as them uh it doesn’t matter what you try to do it’s not going to work and we saw it tonight so being asked about Josh do left three obviously that’s not something new for you guys that’s the things been happen all year

But Mark just said that Beyond just him that that strategy was effective for for more reason than just Josh missing shots I just wonder what you guys feel you know on the ball away from Josh can be being done to maybe make him more effective J the cas

Um I think uh coach put him in like some picking roles um he was setting and rolling when they were like doubling and he was getting in the pocket making plays um yeah it’s obviously teams have thrown different things at us all year um tonight I

Mean he had some open looks missed some made some uh the game of basketball they go in sometimes they don’t um Josh was left open against Toronto played his balls off um didn’t have his best game tonight but all you can do is be aggressive and and work hard and he does

Both so he’ll be all right we’ll figure it out and shade um obviously you’re a fashion guy um you have any uh aspirations to uh start your own clothing mind um I thought I did when I was younger but I realized it’s too much work so no and then obviously Chris Paul’s been

A um mour treat for you uh while you were here at OKC while he was here in OKC with you um do you have any his M to on the business side of things life after basketball things of that uh he hasn’t um but I’ll get there at some point

Um yeah on to to tail end of my career I’ll have plenty of questions for for sure this is it’s weird you talk about juice you guys have had a couple of games like this with afternoon starts the yeah it’s definitely yeah for sure do you think there’s anything to that

It’s it’s there’s so few but it’s been pretty consistent yeah I try to tell myself no but it’s it’s hard to deny the facts um tomorrow we’re definitely going to try to make it a sense of urgency to kind of start the game the way we want

To but yeah I we’ve had three morning games and all three of them we lost by double digits um um it’s it’s the facts and we got to kind of hit it on the nose is it nice sh with how competitive this group is that you get a chance to turn

Around and play another rou tee tomorrow afterno yeah absolutely um yeah especially the way tonight went being able to kind of redeem myself tomorrow um we’ll be good how much specifically is your routine and kind of just rhythms thrown off in an afternoon game from

Just the way you prepare for a game um me I I don’t I don’t I don’t honestly I don’t mind them uh I I kind of like them get the rest of your day after the game um and it didn’t off my routine uh and I don’t like haven’t like

The result that we’ve got from them so far um but yeah I don’t mind them we need to talk to you yesterday what was your reaction to the Gordon H TR if you got to meet him that yeah um he’s been around the league for a long time really good player um really

Good basketball player really skilled um great size um yeah he’s he’s a guy that will help any team he go to and for sure will help us um and then from my encounter he been a really good guy I’m excited to get to get to work with him for sure sh talk to

Doc Rivers about you recently going back to to when you were traded he said you’re respectful about it but he sensed there was some kind of like I don’t know Edge or chip on your shoulder about you know being traded um what what was your reaction of that even though obviously

It was for a proving start at the time um it was uh I didn’t see it coming um now like you said it was a proven star um I had just got on my rookie year maybe averaging eight points like it I’m not like why would you do that like it

Makes sense um I think Paul just came off like a MVP caliber year he was playing really well um but uh I I I I guess I used it a little bit as motivation um just to to get better uh and really turn myself into I guess that caliber of

Player sh you’ve been through the trade deadline now multiple years what are the emotions of that like whenever you see someone like you know of course TR is a big part of what you guys do just see those kind of exits and also got BR your back like just

Emotionally yeah um it’s a lot um it’s pretty disruptive um like both ways like someone coming out someone going in in the middle of a season um especially if you have families involved Trey just had a kid like it’s a lot um it’s part of the business um but yeah

It’s it’s for sure it’s it’s a lot Trey’s going to start tonight for Charlotte yeah you’re going to watch that game oh my God I didn’t know that anything that you kind think about his game now he has a chance to kind of play more yeah um he should be really good

What time do they start about 6 o’ okay yeah I’m going watch I’m be recording the whole thing I can’t wait so you seem like a very dude uh the MVP discussion tends to get you a lot of energy in in the NBA World obviously you’re right you think of that

At this point what do you think of that whole discussion and kind of the way that that’s shapen up two3 in the season yeah it’s cool um but I really just focus on winning games um nothing comes if you don’t win games no award or Accolade so that’s

What all I try to focus on and from there hopefully things fall where I want them to thank you their energy to start this game um they came out ready to play uh and firing out the gates um uh Luca hit a few big step back

Threes to get it going and then they really fed off that from there um we were able to slow him down a good bit in the second quarter but uh we just didn’t um come out the gates and then come out in the second half with what we

Needed to do to win and they when you guys were on offense they prented you guys from getting into the pain early on um what was key over the course of the game to try to correct that um just continue to trust each other um you know they’re throwing different

Things at us to take away the drives and um really uh clog up the pain on us uh but you know we we continue to trust each other uh um to hit outside shots and um you know tonight a lot of them didn’t go in and uh we’re we’re just

Going to have to be better for the next one CH being more specific obviously Luka Luka but last time they have Gafford he did have Liv but they they kind of they do some similar things I just wonder as the game went on what became so tough and kind of despite put

Him in the crowd the live the back side yeah um you know he’s a really good player so uh he’s not just going to make the same mistakes uh throughout an entire game he’s going to adjust and he’s going to uh kind of figure out defenses which is part of

What makes him such a good player obviously he has um skills on top of that uh that allow him to do a lot of things out there but um you know once once you throw a coverage at him or a scheme at him uh you know even if it messes him up

Initially uh you know he’s going to learn from it and figure out how to beat it uh you know sure at this point in his career he’s kind of seen uh a lot of everything that uh different teams have tried to throw at him so um you know

He’s good at adjusting and uh we got to kind of um continue to trust it as well as kind of adjusting with them I guess yeah sorry even like on the other end of that the guys have to finish right it hasn’t really been a thing this year despite

Any people play like you haven’t really been outscored by 20 30 at The Rim tell this year just what was it you know from then that you saw that that led to them SC you got at The Rim by 30 um one they really packed the paint and

Uh you know weren’t going to allow us to beat them at The Rim um and then on the other end uh a lot of the uh spacing that they had um and and especially making shots early I feel like Drew us out and then and um

They were able to kind of play at The Rim more from there whether it was in closeout situations or just in the scheme of their offense with us being more spaced out I guess um and then uh yeah teams are they’re doing different things but the consistent

Thing is they don’t the guys obviously scoring in pain so good at it you mentioned trusting each other to make shots when shots aren’t falling in the paint is that crowded what’s the IM what what can you guys do to counter those two things uh play harder on defense um a lot of

Times I personally feel like it’s been a theme this this this season when um when we’ve been struggling on offense the times when we’ve really been able to ignite it and get it going throughout a game is started with defense and then being able to get out in transition and

Uh not play against a set defense um and then you know when we’re playing out in transition and we’re scoring in transition then the other team has to to play against the set defense and you know um just kind of trying to fight the tie of that if if we’re playing against

Transition on defense all game long and we’re playing against a set defense on the other side it’s going to be really tough so we got to kind of flip that and and kind of start our offense with our defense um and we’ve been really good with that a lot of times uh throughout

The season um I feel like in the second quarter we did a good job of that uh we just we just didn’t have enough of it tonight obviously and um you know we we just have to continue to get better with it um and uh and we’re going to do

That CH after a game like this how I knowing that you get a chance to get right back after tomorrow I mean that’s the NBA whether you like it or not um you know these these games are just going to keep coming one after another and um you know

We learned about it in January but nobody feels bad for you nobody cares what your schedule’s like cuz everybody has a tough schedule everybody has to play a lot of games and um you know we understand that and we got to prepare and get ready for the game tomorrow win

Or loss tonight we’d have the same mentality it’s weird and it might be coincidental but you guys have played some of your work games in after off after what afternoon games like early games yeah um I don’t know man I don’t want to dive too deep into that that wormhole on that one

I I just I just think we whatever time we play at we have to be ready from the jump U come out to to win the game um if how many early games have we play we play so far three what Denver early Detroit Detroit well I can see why you think

That uh we got a not only be better in early games I guess but be better every single game we got to you know come out do what we need to do the win games on early games specifically how much of your routine or rhythm is kind of just thrown off just

Starting so much uh I mean obviously it’s different um you you don’t have the full day for your normal routine it’s a little off uh you know um shoot around times film times are might be different or we might not have shoot around because of it but

I mean that’s that’s no excuse we have to have the same preparation mindset coming into every single game no matter what time it’s at where it is whatever factors are going on uh whatever’s happening in the world we got to be ready to play so this was your first

Time going up against Kyrie and Luke at the same time how much stress they put on you guys today um a lot they’re two really good players and um they’re really figuring out how to play off each other well and um you know they’re they’re getting all the other dudes on

The floor to play at a high level as well and um you know we got to get in the film room and watch them and uh you you know figure out what we need to do to to be able to win a game win win the game when we play them again playing

From behind throughout that first quarter what did it take to try to turn some around and dig yourself out of that hole um just getting stops and bring more energy um that’s something we talked about after the game we had to fight harder than we had well we needed

To fight harder than we have been doing like in the past game so that was a point of emphasis and what was it about them and and the way that they played today they just made it so hard to like kind of get the traction that you needed

To um they started off making a lot of shots we couldn’t we couldn’t get the stops um then throughout the whole game I feel like it just didn’t carry over um we didn’t we didn’t guard to the best of our abilities kallas didn’t shoot the most free throws you guys have seen but

It felt like they use certain stretches get into the line to to kind of stretch out that lead just what what do you feel like they did and and what is it about this team did they kind of just you guys seem to valid time um they were just

More aggressive than we were um that pretty much sums up this game they were they were more aggressive than us you mentioned their shot making tonight how much of it was you had to tip their C tip your cap to just the shots that they made how much of it you

Like you guys could um it was 50-50 they definitely made some some tough shots and um I feel like we closed out to a lot of shots with a high hand and they just made them so I mean give them credit but we still got to do better and then just knowing how

Competitive this group is how nice is it that after a game like this you have another opportunity tomorrow to to get after it again uh we we uh bounced back pretty well so I feel like we’ll come out with even more energy tomorrow and we’ll uh show better

Play mark it uh it seemed like they really delivered the first punch uh today what did you notice about the way that Dallas came out um obviously with a lot of energy uh on both ends of the floor way more than we had uh which obviously dug us a hole

So they were they shot it well early um but that’s where some of the like transition like straight out fast break plays really hurt you CU when you’re giving up the easy ones and they’re making shots then that’s how you know 40 seven can happen in the first quarter so

We’re able to fight back in it you know gave ourselves a little bit of life in the second quarter but they were clearly the better team today they were able to keep you out of the paint for quite a while in that first half uh how did you

Guys try to solve that and maybe do a better job as the game on getting down low yeah they were loaded um quite a bit obviously which you know we’ve seen uh multiple times this year that’s nothing new you know we drive the ball we hit

The paint teams know that and so uh a lot of teams sell out you know and try to take that away uh that was obviously the case today so I credit them they did a good job Mark imagine you’re you’re tired of being asked about how teams

Treat Josh but start the game they leaving him probably as open as any team has to start the third especially a lot of those possessions to spot him so I’m not going to act like guys aren’t trying different things with him you know short row pass there back backside cutter

There but when when teams are treating him that way feel like you’re you’re kind of low on on options as as they’re kind of settling for looks no I mean we’ve seen it all year you know so it’s nothing new for us um we want to have a

Diversity of attacks against it uh which includes the cutting and includes using him as a screener depending on who the five is we thought that was effective today um and then you know he’s got to shoot his confidence when he when he has the open shots and so um you know it was

Effective today for a number of reasons uh outside of just him you know we’ve seen it a lot we’ve attacked it well in the past so uh we got to keep learning from it growing yeah work does it feel like teams because you guys have been so

Good at a lot of things it feel like that’s a formula they’re kind of settling on now uh with the cross matching uh not necessarily I mean Utah zoned us you know the entire game um Toronto played their five on Chad they were loaded on Shay and and had two on

The ball and that’s that’s our last three games so we’ve had basically three different uh schemes in the last three games so um it’s not necessarily the it’s not what they’re settling on but teams are settling on um Alternate coverages which again you know is good for us because

We’re seeing kind of the kitchen sink and we’re learning uh what we have to do in order to crack it I don’t know if you can make anything of this is it coincidence that you guys have played a few of your absolute worst games in the

Afternoon uh I don’t know you know it it might be um it’s afternoon games for the opponent too so you know when the ball goes up in the air we got to be ready to play so we certainly haven’t played well uh in those games but I’m not sure if

It’s it’s correlated to the time of the game with how Dallas was shooting the ball tonight what did you see in terms of was it the looks that they were getting or did you just feel like they were able to kind of get early RH in

This uh a little bit of both you know like obviously great offensive team uh with a lot of shot making and so some of them you know they just rise up and make a shot um but you know that’s why you got to take out the easy stuff you know

And I thought uh they were able to get a lot of easy stuff especially early uh and that compounds you know when you have that plus a really good shot making team but credit them they were sharp today they moved the ball um they played with great juice and energy they were

Clearly the more um ready team to play and and deserve to win you guys have been good on the ball point of attack it’s been a strength that didn’t look to be a strength today was there anything you guys weren’t doing there just what what they were um I don’t yeah I agree

With you um you know I I just think it was uh they were more they just had a little more juice today which has been uncharacteristic for us you know we’ve been you know over 50 games in here and we’ve had only a handful of games where

Um you could say that about us so um you know we can’t overreact to it you know we certainly have to learn from it you know we don’t want to be happy with it or content with it um or numb to it either but we also need to be able to

Put it in perspective and get ready for tomorrow and get ready to compete for 48 minutes is Luca soly just for read everything he does challenge guys were putting him in crowd still but I wonder because they didn’t have gaffer who had a good game they didn’t have PJ last

Time like what difference they made him being able to get out of those crowds and make some yeah I mean he was obviously really good again today you know I think Gafford opens up some vertical rolling for them which is always been effective with donic um they’ve got shooting around him they

Also move the ball play the right way so um you know really good team today defensively they were disruptive to us um and made it hard on us so again you know they outplayed us they deserve to win

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 111-146 loss to the Mavericks.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
7:02 Chet Holmgren
14:04 Cason Wallace
15:56 Coach Daigneault

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