OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs LA Clippers | February 22, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs LA Clippers | February 22, 2024

Nick Al Casey Thunder uh dub all year you guys haven’t let age be an excuse to not win the physicality battle against a veteran pH physical team how do you guys think you did that tonight um a lot of it is having energy just having the

Break so um I don’t want to attribute at all to that but that definitely plays into it and um I think that was one of our like focal points going into the game was just you know trying to trying to kind of come out of the break and and

Just play really hard and I thought we were able to do that uh that’s kind of our identity to play hard and I think we were able to kind of mash out with some physicality too the physicality also then led to you guys being able to use

Your speed uh how do you feel like the game changed when you guys started to increase the tempo um yeah I think defensively we were able to kind of kind of play really hard and and physical you know we got a lot of our fouls were just

Physicality fouls uh you know which is stuff we can live with um and then you know I kind kind of just sparked the offense to be able to get out and transition and run and uh kind of play free that way you know they’re a really good defensive team where they can load

Up and you know kind of get their their length and you know they’re older veteran team too so they’re really smart so anytime we can kind of get numbers and play good defense I think that helps us out I think the the first time talked about letting you guys kind of decide

You know in real time situations certain coverages when a double I think that was back in like November uh the Phoenix game I know La is not as team that you can just throw the same look at you guys didn’t um so just since that day and in

In Phoenix just what’s changed about you know the way he got he he let got process things and I guess how’ that unfold tonight from from your point of view uh yeah I mean from his from his perspective you know nothing’s changed as far as like letting us actually go

Out there and just make real time decisions uh I think us just you know playing more games we played them a couple times I think it’s more on us us to kind of figure it out you know he kind of gives us the the blueprint and

Then we kind of go from there uh I thought we played really good individual one-on-one defense and then we were kind of able to if somebody did get beat I thought we rotated really well so there wasn’t really a lot of squeezing and doubles going on but um I think whenever

We’re able to just have the freedom to play sporadic like that and kind of leave it to just the Feld of the game I think that helps us it’s harder to you know kind of scout us offensively cuz we don’t really know what we’re doing either we’re just kind of going off fi

So I think our talk was really good you know to be able to do that I think we have to be able to communicate and I thought we were able to do that I know we’ve kind of we I don’t know that we’ve going into detail about

The difference in in jayen and dub I I I want to say that that last minute that the dunk after the last minute that was was probably dub just what what races through your mind when you’re in that mode in that version of yourself um just having fun

Uh I think a lot of it is just feel I don’t know i’ just be yelling I don’t even know my mom told me to stop cursing on text message so text yeah yeah she texted me right after the game so I I might curb that behavior a little bit

But I think it’s fun to be able to interact with the fan base and and do that whole thing no go ahead you want me to scoot to the right let me move let me move my fendy bag out the way hold on I got mine yeah did that answer your question

Mostly yeah I don’t know the difference between dub and and Jaylen I I kind of let everybody else do that um dub is just when playing basketball I don’t know Jay will told me to stop yelling so I don’t know oh no do-rags okay nicew like with the athletic uh Jaylen

You had a a play in the mid third quarter where you block zubot at the rim and then you pushed ahead to Isaiah Joe U can you walk me just through that play yeah I think all night we were just helping the helper uh I think I think

Chat went over to to um I forgot who passed it but C went yeah so cat went over to kind of challenge it at the rim and then that’s usually might sink down just kind of depend on where we’re at I was able to make a play on the ball and

Then like I said earlier you know whenever we’re able to get stops we can kind of push the pace and we do a good job of advancing and Z happened to be open when he got a dunk um Shay Mark during the season just talked about defense and just throwing

Out different coverages of stars that you have to switch it up how many different I guess schemes or looks do you feel like you get on an average night from opposing defenses um different looks uh switching blitzing showing um I’ve seen it all for a few years now um so I’m

Pretty comfortable it’s something that I expect going into games um and I have a plan of attack and then for dub uh you have the new PE coming out with hardens um how did that process I guess sort of come to fruition how long was the process I guess of just like customizing

The shoe for yourself um what month is it is February yeah I think like around like November uh Adidas had hit me up about it I’ve been doing like the mismatch shoes a lot you know for p about a year um Adidas just reached out and asked I

Own do a PE of the Harden uh me and Harden are cool um I think while my brother’s getting recruited actually they like went to a game as so um he’s been really cool throughout that process I know his rep um I think just showing love like

Wearing his shoes a lot I think that’s kind of been the most comfortable shoe to play in for me so uh they kind of brought that idea to me and then I just thought it would be cool to do like a PE of you know the team that drafted me uh

And things like that and then was kind of just able to add my own touch into a lot of the shoe and uh kind of went from there wanted to keep like the Mitch Match theme going uh I think it turned out pretty well at one point you had four blocks

You ended up with three they take blocks away sometimes oh man Shay you had a couple was there anything tonight about the guards contesting at The Rim anything special any reason why there were opportunities there or that it happened um no I just try to make plays

Uh a lot of times in that low man position um we like to say it’s a playmaking spot uh moment of truths get blocks steal strips um just try to do whatever it takes to get a stop put your body on the line it’s for either of you

Um when you’re out there Mark Mark talked about how when teams are packing the paint it’s important not to just take that first open jumper that you guys get and try try and really work the ball around but when you’re out there how tough is that to just keep in mind

Like I’m open but this might not be the best shot we can probably work around and get the get a better shot um let me tell you no go ahead yeah I think that’s something that um every good aspiring to be great basketball players to deal with um you you work on

Your game um it’s a shot you can make um it’s a shot that the defense is giving you um and there’s a balance to find and I think that’s like the the the trickiest thing in like a young upand cominging like Rising basketball player um it’s it’s figuring out that balance

And like there’s times in the game where it’s momentum it’s how they’re being guarded our last couple possessions where the shot is a good one to shoot and there’s times when we haven’t got anything I mean it’s not okay to shoot um but finding that balance is a learning experience uh and

And I think every every good player great player has to go through it and they go through it um but once you get that it it it’s pretty smooth sailing anybody else okay yeah Mark talked about uh what players most like you guys know when you’re coming in

Rotations that kind of stuff Mark also said he he kind of likes to try some different things like tonight Isa Joe came in the third quarter start the third quarter how how do you guys like you like to see something different you know just kind of keep things fresh

Different rotations things that nature you me um I got it yeah I I think yeah it’s strategic um keeps other team on on their heels um they could throw it like a curveball like they don’t know they they might have like an idea how we’re coming out

Um how they want to match up and then we switch on them and it could be to our advantage um so yeah it’s it’s good strategic uh I guess execution by coach what sh a lot of that momentum came end the third throughout the third between the rim protection and the

Steals just the the overall defense speeding them up um which is you know some would argue that doesn’t happen in the postseason and you’ve you’ve been there so for the people that would say stuff like that runs like that that you guys piled on can’t happen or at least

At the same frequency in the postseason just what would your response be your robotto in terms of what can maybe carry over for this team specifically in the postseason um it’s the same game it’s still basketball um it’s just everything’s intensified um you’re one step closer to your your

Your goal um each round and making the playoffs and everybody wants to win um and it’s just heightened everything’s just heightened and then team you play the same team possibly seven times in a row and they get to scheme they get to make adjustments you make adjustments so it’s

A little bit more difficult to just see a team on one night and then flip the page to the next um but at the end of the game at at the end of the day it’s still basketball and the same the same rules apply um and if

You do the right things that that are required every night y know most end of the time most of the time end up on the right and uh the Callum that was a banger was what’s what’s is that a TI so Shane Shane and Jay I’m going to let you guys talk about

Each other when you look at the other on the floor like what do you expect out of your teammate um defensively like each other yeah like jayen what do you expect out of Shay and then Shay what do you expect out of jayen uh I don’t know Shay like Shay plays

Really hard so I feel kind of just expect that on a nightly you know nightly basis I’m not ever going into games and wondering what he’s going to be on you know um so I think that is like a pretty good motivator for me to go out and play hard you know there’s

Going to be nights where you don’t shoot well and stuff like that so but defensively I don’t I don’t ever worry is he going to bring it defensively um and obviously offensively I feel like that regardless um but yeah I’m never like oh he’s going to get like six

Steals T night or you know blocks but I just know he’s going to be there make the right reads defensively and just kind of be in the right place and um you know compete and I think that’s all you can kind of ask for out of any of the

Guys I expect that from everybody uh and I think it happens every night um I expect uh Jaylen to guard the other team’s best player um and get stops and if he doesn’t do so I’m disappointed and he knows that um myself and I think as well as the rest

Of the group and Ki staff we have high expectations for him defensively because he’s so good um and we just that’s what we expect Nick Gallow Casey Thunder uh CH you held him under 50 points in the second half tonight it’s a potent offense what’ you make of the

Defense um I thought we were extremely connected we were communicating well and uh on top of that we had a lot of effort uh there were a lot of effort plays um especially close to the rim uh slapping the ball away uh stealing it when they brought it down block shots um

You know we were in there fighting it seemed like when you all changed the pace of the game and got it up and down that really changed the dynamic of this one uh how were you guys able to do that uh fresh legs We’re Young got a couple

Days off so that helped us uh get up and down um I know a few of us were definitely uh feeling a couple days off just in terms of our wind and everything but uh we didn’t want to let that slow the game down so we were trying to play

Hard and uh you know coach would give us one if if he felt we needed it CH I want to ask about the third quarter specifically uh defensively I I know you weren’t in for that last chunk of the quarter or whatever but you guys finished that quarter with nine blocks

Um just the the rim protection everything that went into that that mhm man the the rim protection that F play just from what you saw just what all went into that in that quarter uh it just came down to the dudes on the court just really wanted it um and they were

Out there to make plays uh you know they’ve done that all season and um sometimes especially a lot of those 50-50 plays don’t uh always go your way but uh you know we made we made a good uh like run at it tonight um to kind of

Swing those 50-50 balls in our favor uh and I definitely feel like we we won that especially in that stretch in the third uh you know those dudes great yeah and and Mark has talked about not just before today’s game but you know the last time the clips came to town you

Know prioritizing certain looks um defensively against this team um you know the last time I think Norman pal got off a few Corner threes which was not different from today but it felt like you guys kind of got mostly what you wanted when that second half started

Just um what goes into you know not just prioritizing certain looks but you know successfully you know seeing those looks kind of go your way uh um I mean they’re they’re a old team they’re a smart team so you don’t want to just kind of feed them the same

Thing all night long they get used to it they read and react and adjust so um one trying to disrupt them with our intensity and effort and I feel like we did a good job of that tonight but then also throwing different looks at them

And uh not letting them kind of catch on to uh exactly what we’re trying to do so you know they’re they’re figuring out in lifetime not knowing how it’s going to go uh I feel like we did a good job of that as well your first couple shots you

Uh no hesitation look like you were really ready to go I know you had Allstar Weekend a lot of stuff going on but I guess were you anxious to get this game underway um I mean I’m always anxious for the games to start uh you know I’m here like

3 hours before I have my whole game routine so by the time it actually starts I’m just like you know let’s let’s roll let’s play um but I definitely feel feel fresh coming out of All-Star break uh I got a chance to really uh you you know get in the film

Room and and work on some things too haven’t had a break even a couple days long uh you know since yeah so I had a chance to work on some things so I you know I felt confident and refreshed and uh you know I’m excited for this this stretch of the

Season and when you you guys said 12 blocks for the game and they weren’t all you when you see other guys getting involved does that kind of just charge the whole team up is that is that an aggressive mindset for the team or we we

Feed off each other um and I think we’re a team that where where it starts on defense you know everybody talks about our offense what we do on that end of the floor but uh you know our game really feeds off what we do on defense

And and the effort we have and we we did a good job of bringing it tonight and we just got to keep doing that going forward chat you’re obviously a very versatile offensive player and you could probably just live off of just playing on the perimeter but you seemingly don’t

Let guys get bailed out on the interior like you got a couple rebounds over Harden tonight you did a pound dribble and did a little baby hook over him is that a mentality you’ve always had of just not letting bailing smaller guys out or is that something newer uh I mean

I think it’s something I have to continue to do better with and uh I’m going to continue to get better at um but I also understand you know I am as tall as I am so uh that’s just part of trying to make winning plays even if I

Wasn’t as tall as I am you know I still got to go crash the O boards uh and and try to make winning plays so but I mean it helps when you’re taller too so and then going back to Allstar Weekend there was pictures of you and KD and I just

Wanted to ask are there any other Allstars or Hall of Famers legends that you got to interact with and anything else like that uh yeah I uh hung out with Shay a little bit um yeah it was cool uh saw a bunch of those dudes um between different events and

Appearances and at the arena in the locker room uh you know you kind of bump into everybody um so it’s cool to see them uh you know props to everybody who made the game uh you know welld deserved for everybody and um you know now it’s

Back to work Chad is a really physical game on both ends and you seem to really Embrace that can you tell me just about like how how it felt out there just like the physicality of the game tonight ah I mean it’s the NBA so that’s how it goes

Uh you know these are some of the best athletes in the world and uh everybody’s competitive you don’t make it here if you’re not competitive and physicality is just just a part of that you know that mesh of things I guess so uh it’s not just tonight it’s going to be every

Night and uh I got to make sure I bring it else we we last one I sh up pardon that you probably as been asked this question a bunch this year about your room protection like it’s your first year on the floor but you were with this team this program all

Of last year while you was rehabing the foot and I was curious as to how as a f as a player playing these NBA games for the first time in the season you’ve been so Adept at being in the right place even if you get the block or not

Obviously you got a lot of blocks tonight but there was a little in the rim whether you got blocks or not and that’s been the case for the defense most of this season how have you been able to lock in on that aspect of your position

I mean a huge part of it is just uh you know building that trust with the guys and um whether I get the block or not they have to trust that I’m going to be there so you know I make it a key for myself to to be there every time uh you

Know whether I get get dunked on somebody makes a layup uh you know if they make four in a row it doesn’t matter I got to be there on the fifth one and uh you know I feel like I’ve done a good job of that this season

Obviously I can continue to get better at um you know maybe blocking more shots or making them Miss more often or doing this better doing that better but um you know I I just really try to key in on uh building that trust with my teammates

And uh you know I feel like I’ve been doing a good job of that so far thank you CH yep Mark that’s a veteran physical team and not a lot of free throws tonight seemed like you guys you know won the physicality battle what did you notice

In that aspect of the game yeah I thought uh to start we weren’t as physical as we could have been and then uh we amped it up pretty good at the end of the first into the second uh and continued that in the second half so uh

I thought we were really good physically uh and played a good game defensively in that second half uh in addition to the physicality were there anything anything that you noticed about just the way that you all defended and and were able to wall off the paint um yeah I just

Thought you know we were we limited uh mistakes that yielded like great shots for them and they’re just too good of a team to give great shots to uh and I thought we were able to limit that in the second half we were really tough tight in our coverages and our rotations

Uh and then we’re physical and competitive and uh you add all that together and we forced a good team to earn what they got tonight kind of more specifically especially you think about the third quarter I know we talk pregame I mean kind of in the last time the

Clippers came to town just about uh prioritization and prioritizing certain looks um and despite you know Norman pal you know getting some threes off it felt like you guys got almost anything you wanted just how do you see the the prioritization of certain looks evolve

Maybe as the game went on and just on defense yes and and just especially in that third quarter um yeah I mean they’re just they’re a hard team to prepare for you can’t take everything away um we wanted to make them uncomfortable with some double teams and

With pressure uh and when you do that you know you’re going to stretch out your help and you’re going to end up giving up longer rotations you know and that’s just a natural tradeoff of playing like that but it’s one that we’re willing to accept against this

Particular team yeah and and I know you don’t like ranking things I won’t add ask you to to rank where that quarter Falls in terms of defensive quarters this season but I’m just the the the rim protection everything that win into that quarter just your overall evaluation of

Of the third quarter yeah I mean this is this this game there’s a lot of Randomness coming out of the All-Star Break um so I thought it was great mental toughness by us um starting with practice yesterday and shoot around today I thought we did a great job

Coming out of the break and readying ourselves for competition uh and diving in but uh I don’t think we saw the best version of them tonight uh and so I wouldn’t read too much into the game outside of just a good mental test for our team that uh we

Passed kawhai got off to a great start and then didn’t get a lot of shots down the stretch you kawhai did you guys Chang I think he was eight for n and ended up about 9 for 12 did you guys change anything was there anything you were doing differently there to take

Anything away you know he’s he’s such a um he hits singles with his passing out of double teams he doesn’t really turn it over he doesn’t get Hasty with his passes he just he throws the ball where it should go um and so if you’re not

Sharp when you double him uh or if you give him a steady dose of double teams a predictable dose he can really pick you apart and they can finish plays and uh you know we just amped up the pressure cuz obviously he got it going he was a

Little bit comfortable early he was getting to his spots and then we we started sending multiple people to him just to try to throw it off Rhythm a little bit uh and we had to tighten our rotations some of the pile threes in the first half were you know lateness on our

Part there was one George one that was late um but we tightened that in the second half and and did a good job then what did you think of Gordon just in the minutes he was out there what did you like would you try to to get out of it

Uh anytime a guy hasn’t played in in seven weeks and he’s transitioning to a new team new city he’s probably FaceTiming with his kids right now you know this is hard adjustment so um I’m just happy for him you know I’m happy that he’s part of the team he’s one of

The guys um you know he seems to be happy here the team is happy he’s here um and you know I’m happy when a guy goes through an injury and gets himself back on the court those are dark days uh for any player in any circumstance as we

Know and so um more that than anything in terms of um huge conclusions to draw after one game seemed like you guys were trying to beat their defense up the floor um how much of a emphasis was it to kind of speed up that pace and not

Let them pack the paint especially after the last time you guys played them yeah I just you know we want to be a team that’s fast you know up the floor and then fast more importantly fast in our actions in the half and um you know that’s really important every night it’s

Kind of a a fundamental skill that we have to have to execute our system uh as well as we can but it’s also an essential skill against good defenses and switchable defenses uh in multi-positional Defenders like this team has and so it’s kind of life or

Death against this team and um I thought we did a nice job of that tonight we had a couple possessions where we get stalled but otherwise we were pretty good then when teams trying to pack the paint does it just come down to you guys hitting those those open threes or does

It come down to just more than that is it more complex than than just hitting shots uh more complex you know we don’t want to resign ourselves to threes you know there’s there’s better stuff out there for you you know we’d like to get

To the rim we’d like to get to the line we’d like to beat teams up the floor um and then if in exploring those things we don’t have a crack um and they take everything away those Inside Out threes typically are catch and shoot and they’re typically more open um and as a

Team we’ve generated a lot of open threes to year and so those are the ones we want to take uh and you’re more likely to make them you know and so I thought we did a good job of of making those plays and finishing those plays tonight inter like with the athletic

Jaylen didn’t have a ton of points until really that flurry at the end but was really contributing at a high level almost everywhere else and especially defensively what what did you see from him like in the maybe in like the smaller things offensively and then in just defensively against the slippers

Team yeah I mean what makes him unique is is is uh potent as he is is a Creator he’s as good of a system player you know he’s got great system skills on both ends of the floor uh and so offensively he moves you know he cuts he moves the

Ball um I thought you know he found some great passes tonight both for assists and and just you know transfer passes and then defensively you know great intensity great skills uh and against a team like that that’s got so many heads of the snake you know that you need

Matchups for you know he’s guarding a a maybe you future of Famer you know basically in every one of his minutes and so uh we never take for granted how hard he competes uh even on the nights where he might not have the huge scoring numbers which isn’t going to be every

Night yeah and then I I feel like I saw the same thing from Cas Wallace especially in the first half like what what did you like from him tonight yeah building on our conversation before you know he’s this is his third time playing against this team it’s his third time

With exposure to harden was his main matchup he had George a little bit but um you know he’s learning and he’s a guy that is a quick study you know you know so it incentivizes us to continue to try to put him in situations um where he can

Continue to grow cuz he competes and and holds water out there but he also uh he grows and he learns and uh he’s got good days ahead of him this isn’t the player that we want him to be but he’s certainly uh the player that he is right

Now is helping our team anybody else go yeah um you want small Russ comes in they go on a 10 run then you go small then you go on a run the lead what what did you see that that work there yeah I mean we wanted to take a look at that

Tonight you know I would the thing I’d say is in the first part of the Season uh we did a lot of good things one of the things I reflected on an All-Star break was um not allowing the fact that we had a good record in the first part

Of the Season or the fact that we had some early success get in the way of continuing to have a very aggressive exploratory mindset with the team and with lineups and with tactics we have to keep pushing to get better and stretching ourselves and that starts

With me and so um I’m going to continue to be aggressive about you know Finding what’s best for our team there’s going to be failure uh along the way in doing that but I think that’s the the only way to uncover the best version of your team

And going small was one of those things tonight and uh obviously it was effective when we used it um and you know tomorrow night it’ll be something different and the next night it’ll be something different but we have to keep pushing and stretching it’s too early in

The season to just um you know lock into the team that we are you know we have to continue to grow is that the same thing with Isa Joe in the third quarter everything you know everything we’re doing right now is is um pushing ourselves to grow and figure out you

Know as we want to learn as much as we can from these 82 games we want our players to be put in as many different situations in these 82 games so that they can be adaptive and flexible mentally tough um and so you know that’s a huge point of emphasis coming out of

Allstar break and that starts with me I have to model that um and I’m going to stay aggressive in terms what we’re looking at so Mark I I know I asked you before the game about the Steals and the blocks I mean that’s 20 plays where the ball is

Not going where they wanted to go based off of your Defenders what we didn’t talk about was how that Sparks how your team plays in transition like how do you coach that like how do you prepare your guys to make these big plays on defense

But also be prepared to keep the ball in play and just be so effective turning the game in that way yeah I think you know like I said before you know I thought once we amped up the physicality and the intensity you know in the game that stuff is Downstream of that you

Know and so I thought when we had those plays tonight it was just because we were really competing you know physically um against a team that you have to do that against you know it’s just they’re a team that requires Great energy in order to beat them um and then

To answer your question on the offense we have instinctive players that are unselfish and so uh transition’s a natural habitat for players like that and so um we when we get misses and we get turnovers we we just cut them loose and we encourage them to be um who they are

Which is instinctive unselfish players and they do a great job of that although we got to work on the lobs we had that stretch in the uh when was that the second quarter yeah we’re going to do lob drills you know with Gordon we to get his ass in here thank you yep

Thanks

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 129-107 victory over the Clippers.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams
11:43 Chet Holmgren
19:18 Head Coach Mark Daigneault

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