OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Portland Trail Blazers | March 6, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Portland Trail Blazers | March 6, 2024

Seemed like they kept coming at you kept putting game pressure on you what did it take uh in that fourth to just finally put them away uh we got big stops down the stretch um I’m pretending to look uh we got big stops down the

Stretch uh kep them to one shot which is big I think they’re like fourth in the NBA on Second Chance point so I thought we did a good job down the stretch of getting boards um kind of keep them away from like crucial tip ends extra shots and

Then kind of bottled up from there hit some big shots too uh and kind of able to just separate from there you had the big three but it seemed like that the lob that we’ve been talking about a lot was actually maybe one of the most

Critical plays um 9 seconds on a shot clock tough place to inbound the ball and you guys execute that kind of take me through that play and how you were able to get that up to chit um well he’s tall so it’s hard to throw a bad one but

I think just knowing the play call that we had and then just kind of going through our progression um you know he made a really good catch but yeah just kind of being patient uh understanding time and time and score understanding the play call what we’re

Trying to get accomplished and he did a good job of kind of just running out not really screening confuse the the two guys on the ball and then I was just kind of able to float it up to him it seemed like the physicality of this game

Just continued to get amped up with with each quarter what did you guys feel out there in terms of terms of the physicality uh exactly that um I think just around the league they’re start letting a lot more stuff kind of go and let us play a little more so we kind of

Understand that and you know we’re still trying to feel it out and understand how physical we can be so we try and set the tone early with how physical we want to be and and kind of go from there why was it tough to separate from those guys

Every time you got a 14 or 15o lead they’d always answer right back until the very end this is the NBA um you know you don’t play A team’s record you just play you know the team and that’s a a well- coached team it’s a lot of players that are fighting for

Spots and in minutes and you know those are probably some of the most dangerous teams cuz you know everybody’s playing with extreme confidence uh you know hats off to them they play extremely hard the whole game uh they don’t have let UPS where they’re not playing hard uh so you

Know you got to kind of tip your hat to how hard they’re playing and it kind of just goes down to us being able to execute and you know matching that or exceeding how hard they’re playing and I thought we were able to do that Gordon

Had one of those two-way impact plays he makes the steel off top got three and then yeah and he didn’t even like kind of look either direction on that three he just went and shot it how great was that for you to see just the confidence

Kind of brimming off him in that moment uh we tell him to shoot the ball and you know kind of just play his game like I said uh earlier when he first got here it’s hard to just plug into a team after not playing and then being on a

Different team in our situation so he’s doing a really good job of it and you know we try and just give him confidence to shoot the ball and and play aggressive uh you know that’s stuff we like to see from him he’s a really good Defender

Uh and he could score the ball too so yeah I’m happy that he got to see that one go down and you know he’s playing with more and more Comfort um with our lineups and starting to get acclimated to our offense more anybody else just hold them off

After they just seemed like they kept throwing punches throughout the whole night yeah um I mean they did uh we started strong um thought we took that foot off the gas a little bit early but um you know credit to them they they had an underman team they they fought all

The way through 48 minutes and um put up a real fight and I think it just speaks um you know to show that you can’t take any team lightly no matter who they’ve got on the floor and um credit to pul and they fought hard tonight and um I

Thought we executed the the way we needed to down the stretch and uh closed out that game how how big was the defensive effort down the stretch as well especially Simon got hot late as well and just what what did it take defensively kind of the closest one out

Yeah I mean players like that are going to get you know try to get their team going um down the stretch and and he did that um you know was him and Grant they made two guys I thought for the most part of the night we did a good job on

Them made them take you know and make some tough shots um D Belo did a good job and um you know it takes a collective effort with guys like that and obviously when they get hot they start to feel good about themselves then you got to try to slow them down so um

Yeah as I said they fought hard they made plays down the stretch but um I thought you know the last few minutes we executed the way we needed to and um and and you know managed to hold them off you had that out of bounds pass from

Like the corner which is a really hard place to inbound it and that initi that lob from from dub to Chet uh how massive do you feel like that play was as you just continue to try to like hold those guys off yeah that was big I mean just

Kind of killed the momentum a little bit that they obviously got going there and were feeling good and I thought that kind of took the crowd out of the out of the game a little bit um with a big play and um you know dub and Chad have had

You know great chemistry on those LS and they he made the right read and and Chad went to finished but you know bigger than you know coach kind of speaks about bigger than two points I thought that play in particular kind of um killed that momentum that they had going and uh

We were able to kind of get the game back on out terms a little bit another one that did Gordon had a steal out top and then dribbled into a three in transition and it just seemed like maybe a different you know uh energy from him

Than we’ve seen did that feel like a a really good play to to get him into Rhythm tonight definitely I mean you know he he hadn’t played for a long time prior to you know get into atin um it’s going to take him you know naturally bit

Of time to get his legs under him but um you know we’ve seen what he’s capable of he he’s you know been an allar before so he’s obviously a very talented player um he’s going to you know bring a lot to this team and um you know no one was

Ever worried he has a couple you know tough games you know shots don’t fall whatever he he’s a he’s a professional he knows how to play and um you know he’s going to get trusted in big moments and I thought tonight was a you know really good step in the right direction

For him in terms of um getting back to how he plays and um I think when he hits that you know in full stride it’s just going to you know help our team you know undo another layer you had a key you had a key tip in

There late with the game on the line but the starting five I think as a whole down the stretch was the Difference Maker with the game on the line don’t you think yeah I agree um I mean you know guys made big plays Shay made a lot you know especially in that third

Quarter shade was huge kind of getting us back on track and then um I thought dub was really big in that fourth making plays and we were just taking what that were giving us you know um he was getting down you know down to the rim

And um guys were knocking down shots so uh I thought for a lot of the time down the stretch we made the right plays and um you know you live and die by them if you know those shots go in great if they don’t you know you can hang your hat on

Knowing you’ve took the right ones you’ve done the right things but um till tonight we executed well and um yeah I mean a lot of guys made a lot of plays down the stretch and we closed it out could you feel that Portland was getting confidence as the game went on and made

It tougher on you guys definitely especially when you know Simons went on that run by himself and was hitting them threes and he started hitting them deep as well and that’s kind of when you know players get confidence and um we had to you know call a timeout to kind of slow

That down and uh once we did we got the game back on our terms and um you know I thought as I said I thought you know once they once they got got that momentum going we found a way to kill it early um and get get the game back you

Know the way we wanted to play it and um and executed the right way down the stretch and um and closed it out but you know any team when they’re confident like that they they could start making shots from anywhere and and he’s a tough

Player he can make a lot uh make deep threes and he was doing that tonight so you got to be able to kill the confidence and um I thought we did that you know towards the end seemed like a number of your scoring opportunities tonight came with like you on the move

Or you able to you know catch and immediately attack did it feel was there anything different about um maybe the way that you were receiving the ball uh tonight that helps you you know get angles and and get to the get all the way to the rim or get to your spots yeah

I mean a lot of us just reading um other guys and you know if my guy is in a you know more of a help position I’m trying to cut behind him and whether that gets me a layup or it attracts other Defenders and you know they can spray

The ball out for threes um it’s kind of what we work on and um you know those little things that you know don’t show up on the stat sheet but you know generate um offense for our team is is something we kind of popped on and um

Yeah I mean just just trying to be active trying to keep moving around and finding different ways to impact the game and and even if you cut you don’t get the ball you’re there for offensive rebound so um just trying to be active and and you know stay in the play as

Much as I can Mark they they just kept the pressure on you all night do you feel like having this experience uh kind of helps your team maybe take a step forward in some certain aspects of the game and and maybe uh being able to come away with a hard fought Victory like

This kind of helps you guys take a step forward yeah they kept um game pressure on us you know we got off to a good start opened up an early lead extended the lead a couple different times uh to as much as 15 I think in the second half

And give them a lot of credit I thought they really fought tonight uh which they’ve been doing lately they’ve got the fifth best defense uh in the league in the last 10 games and uh their competitiveness and physicality definitely showed up tonight so uh it

Was a good test for us you know great execution down the stretch it was 112 110 uh and then we open the game back up with good execution on both ends and then uh you got seemed like maybe a nice step forward for Gordon tonight not just

Cuz the ball went in the basket but um what did you see from just his activity maybe some of the timing and anticipation stuff yeah he looked a little more uh comfortable out there he did a nice job you know he’s you know coming off of a long time off uh from a

Physical standpoint and then he’s you know entering a new team and getting used to that we’re still learning uh how to best optimize him of how to use him and who to put him out there with and I thought tonight he he looked like he was

In a good Groove and Rhythm and I thought that started at the end of the game the night against the Lakers what did you see from Portland’s offense kind of throughout the night it seemed like they were playing just with a lot of pace on that end of the floor what did

You see that kind of allowed them to get a a group there yeah I mean like I said they they’re it’s a young team uh they had a tough season uh heading into like allar break and coming out of the break they’ve played really really well you know they’ve played very competitively

Um they’ve really fought us the last two times we’ve played him uh Simons obviously got it going there in the second half did a great job so I came away very impressed with their team happy we won but they did a great job tonight did you like the matchup your

Starting five also finished the game in in in clutch time against the Blazers did you like the matchups just side way he kept the five the same yeah I mean it’s different every night obviously we’re doing what we think uh gives us the best chance to win but um those guys

Played really well tonight you know like got us off to good starts in both halves uh obviously closed the game very very well uh I thought Josh in particular had a great night was really really efficient had a good floor game competed on defense helped us on the glass he was

Really good yeah he had another one of those nights with at least five rebounds at least five assists uh more than half of his career games he’s done that what do you make of just the way he can continue to you know be productive in those areas and and kind of find the

Gaps and in what your team needs each night yeah he’s got great size and he’s got great instincts you know and I think the size helps him on the glass and the instincts help him with the passing you know like I said I thought he played a

Great floor game tonight uh and really connected that group uh and that group did a really good job I thought they together start the game start the third end the game end of the second I thought they did a really good job it you had you know Jay dub obviously had a strong

Fourth quarter then you had Shay in the third Chad in the second just that balance and scoring just how how valuable is that to to have out there on the floor uh it’s great you know it’s obviously multiple threats but uh we have to to optimize that we have to uh

Play off each other play together uh put each other in advantages uh and you know when you put talented players in an advantage it’s hard to stop you know and so we’ve got to be committed to that I thought we did that on a lot of possessions tonight you that’s why we

Scored the ball so well um you know so I thought tonight was a step forward do you have a update on bismack uh yep he’s fine yeah he just um fainted basically uh but he was in the locker room at halftime laughing and joking he stayed back there but he’s doing fine yeah

Thank you what’s it feel like to know you have four straight at home finally uh well it’s always good to go home I mean it’s uh they tests though you know there we got four tough games um you know and this is tough travel you know

We get back late tonight uh going back to time zones uh it’s always kind of a fog coming out of this so we’ve got an off day tomorrow we got to get some rest uh cuz Miami is going to come in ready to play on Friday

Hear from Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 128-120 win over the Trail Blazers.

0:00 Jalen Williams
3:17 Josh Giddey
8:14 Coach Mark Daigneault

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