OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Philadelphia 76ers | April 2, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Philadelphia 76ers | April 2, 2024

Yeah I mean it was it was a tough one you know even though we had some guys down you know we just we still came out here and and battle and play hard and that was the main thing for us uh it didn’t go our way but you know we we was

Competing in that game and you know we just got to learn from this one and Chad seems like you guys have really found something nice with that alignment where Jay will is maybe kind of the primary Defender on on some of these uh centers and you’re able to kind of roam and be

That uh threat behind him how is that interplay um continue to to gain more traction between the two of you on defense um I mean it’s just coming down to always trying to put our team in the best position to win basketball games no matter what’s asked of us on uh any

Given night and that’s what was asked of us tonight and uh you know he was huge for us tonight he made a lot of huge plays for us on both ends of the floor uh you know obviously taking that match up with embiid and um for you know

Pretty much the whole game and uh you know really containing him as much as anybody’s going to contain uh beid and uh on the other end of the floor really kind of quarterback in our offense you at some points you were kind of flying around the perimeter to get on get

Actions and drible handoffs and that kind of thing on the other end playing you know some for just maybe your reaction to your own versatility that you’ve been able to display as a rookie um yeah I think uh you know obviously it’s great to have teammates

And coaches that trust me to do a lot of things out there on the basketball court um again it’s just trying to do whatever puts our team in a position to win basketball games uh and you know that’s what was asked to me tonight to be out

There and uh be versatile on both ends of the floor and uh you know if that means I got to you know kind of handle uh in more actions and you know that’s what it’s going to be um you know I’m just frustrated that we lost the game

Obviously um you know as long as we’re winning I’m happy doing whatever out there so you guys got a few Great Looks toward the end there obviously down a couple of your better closers just what did you see in those final two minutes and then what did you see on that last

Possession and change um that we executed well um you know it was down three was trying to get a three off and then we got some good looks one of our best Shooters took two shots and which was was great looks for him that that didn’t go through which is is part of

Basketball but um you know even though the the the the rebound that we the second chance that we got at towards the end too how the guys was just fighting and and really trying to get to to dig this one but um you know at the end of

The day we got some good looks and then go through but you know we still battled check obviously didn’t close how you wanted to but it felt like there was pockets of offense through that game game that were encouraging despite being down know shade uh just you know casing

Handling in the first quarter your actions just what stood out to you through the course of the game in terms of creating offense without those guys um it was like a next guy up mentality uh you know uh ready when your names called type of night and uh you know I

Feel like we did a great job of that all the way down the roster everybody was ready to play everybody’s ready to go and uh you know I feel like it showed on both ends of the floor uh you know guys were flying around making big plays all night um

You know we just came up a couple plays short at the end uh you know obviously a lot that we can learn from and we’re going to do our best to do that and be ready for Boston tomorrow mention frustration when we talked the other night you you didn’t seem maybe not the

Other night maybe this morning but you didn’t seem happy or So Satisfied with the way the the ending of the next game went even though you guys won um just there was a point where you had those couple of turnovers you called a timeout looked like you were going to rip your

Jersey just just in that moment just what are you feeling um frustration with myself uh you know just cuz I got to be better uh you know I owe it to not only myself but you know my teammates and my coaches to be out there

Uh you know they put the trust in me to um you know make plays at certain points of the game so I got to I got to you know come through in those moments and you know I did tonight so I got to be better next time you know that that

Occasion arises and last one for me obviously we just talked about you know how maybe dissatisfied you were with the end of the next game but it felt like today you were kind of dishing back with what you were taking in terms of physicality and just stuff around the

Room just just walking through that part of the game and what you saw there um yeah just again trying to take every game for what it is and and learn from it and be better for the next game uh you know it’s not like a a constant upward trajectory um you know you’re

Going to be good at things one night and then the next night not maybe not be as good as you were the night before at that but you know if that happens you just got to you know be mentally tough and and figure it out so you can

Continue to be going in the right direction um and you know that’s what I Tred to do I feel like I wasn’t uh as physical as I needed to be um on both ends of the floor in the in the next game so I tried to come out and be ready

And I feel like I could still be better in that area and uh you know I’m going to try to be tomorrow Lou I wanted to ask you about Aaron and what you saw from him on the defensive end obviously he stepped into the starting lineup

Tonight he had three steals you had two just what’s it like kind of sharing a back court with him defensively no it’s good I mean me and W are really close and we work out a lot together and uh you know I’m I’m I’m I’m happy to and

Glad and happy to see seeing doing some good stuff on the court uh you know he’s he’s a good player and he’s always going to be ready every time he get his his name call it don’t matter if the amount of minutes or whatever he’s always going

To compete and play hard and and then I always give that to him and you know tonight it came out big you know hit some big shot and then really amped up the the energy and then Chad um I know we talked about you and Jay will just

Kind of the defensive ined play between you guys but offensively found you for a couple of Threes as well he had 12 assists tonight just what’s it like playing with a guy who is as versatile as he is on the offensive Ben uh I mean

It just speaks to the kind of guy he is uh you know he’s an extremely unselfish guy it shows up in the way he plays on the court and it shows up the way he helps lead our team you know off the court and you know outside of games uh

Where it might not necessarily be seen um but it’s also great to have somebody who sees the court as well as he does it opens up a lot for uh you know everybody else on the floor and it makes us better so um you know huge credit to him uh you

Know the 12 assists didn’t show um there there were more plays than just the 12 assists that showed up on the stat sheet where he kind of quarterbacked our offense and got things flowing and made things easier for us so um you know huge credit to him Mark uh you guys um got

Some great physicality and passing out of Jay will tonight just the sheer number of assists and the assignment that you had um would you make of him rising to the challenge against ITB tonight yeah I thought he was outstanding you know great um effort you know great execution great intelligence

I thought he he executed the game plan to a t the team did a good job on embiid in terms of uh setting our double teams and then you know firing out of those and closing out it’s hard you that’s why they’re a good team that’s why he’s a

Great player but um Jay will was great both ends of the floor really really good then um late and he had three or four really good looks at at a three to potentially tie it um and what did you notice as some things maybe leading up

To that that could have helped you not be in that situation where you desperately kind of needed that shot yeah I mean I thought we in the floor game you know we gave ourselves a great chance to win on the road we gained control of the game before halftime and

Kind of neutralized the crowd and really had a grip on the game for much of it and then you know they obviously made a run early in the fourth we punched back uh and we’re able to G regain control of the game uh our execution in the fourth

You know could have been better on both ends you know they had 36 points some of that was our breakdowns uh we turned it over a little bit too much but in terms of the effort and the intent of the team yeah I thought we did everything um that

We could do tonight to try to win obviously came up a couple plays short the other night we came up one play ahead that’s what happens in these close games in that zone defense you had a couple of these like seem like interceptions you know coming across Lou

In particular had like two or three of them flying across the lane and they lead to these these uh live ball runouts what was key about the way that you guys executed when you went to Zone tonight um I mean a lot of it’s just you know handling the point of attack you

Know getting to our spots you know guarding inside out and making them make make multiple decisions hopefully on our terms you know and a lot of those were just out of double teams uh with embiid uh or when they drive the ball and we’re providing help so if we get to our spots

It it puts pressure on the defense it funnels the ball to certain areas of the floor um and it it allows us to be opportunistic about turning teams over but um I thought our discipline and our spots was what led to that without two of your better closers

Tonight and that you got three really good looks relatively good looks at the end just what’ you hope to see there what’ you hope to get there and what ended up unfolding in in your eyes yeah I mean the ones we got at the end really

Good execution down by three got us a crack really good offensive rebounding got us a second crack and then another offensive rebound gave us an under out and we got a third crack um so great job hitting the glass in those situations great job finding the open man I mean

That possession you can’t do anything about you know we we executed about as well as we could the you know execution coming down the stretch on both ends could have been better uh but again you know you really can’t fault the effort and the togetherness I thought we put

Ourselves in an unbelievable position to win the game just didn’t execute quite well enough to close it Chad after the New York win just based on those those final few moments then didn’t really seem super satisfied with the way that unfolded despite the win um tonight it

Felt like he was kind of giving back what he was taking just ter the physicality just just what did you see there from him specifically yeah I thought he really competed tonight tonight you know he did a great job around the rim uh obviously embiid with

Jay will on embiid it put him in some different spots that’s something that um we’ve wanted to take a look at but we don’t want to force it you know we you really can’t evaluate it unless it’s against um you know a real matchup like

This and and so we got a great look at that tonight on both ends of the floor that’s something we could end up needing as we move forward and so I thought he really competed I thought he did well you know shifting around his role a

Little bit too more than 20 points for him um but there was those two turnovers he had down the stretch I imagine he won’t be happy again tonight just if it felt like after the first one it would looked like he was ready to rip his kind

Of Jersey I know youve talked about his competitive fire but just down the stretch of a game like this just how do you see that unfold yeah I mean he he knows the value of the ball you know so I’m glad he cares that much you know I

Thought he played a really good game though I thought he really competed he didn’t have his fast ball against the Knicks and uh you know he turned around got himself really ready to play tonight you know competed you know gave us a huge lift he had some big plays Aaron

Steps into the starting role again tonight and it just feel like he was all over the floor with you know his steals blocks but it also has 15 points what’ you make of his night tonight yeah more of the same you know you can expand his

Role and you know he doesn’t play out of character you know he does a really good job of um playing to his role and you know executing the system on both ends of the floor really competing making the right plays I thought he did that much

Of the night and then just over the course of the last you know few stretch of games here you played Without Shay tonight you’re without Shay and dub but you have 37 bench points Five Guys in double figures how encouraged are you by the fact that this group stays to their

Identity regardless of it seems who’s out there on the floor yeah that’s the challenge you know we definitely want to be a team that plays to that you know ruthlessly regardless of the circumstances we don’t want to be dependent uh on individual guys in terms of system stuff um and I thought that

Showed up tonight I thought the guys were ready to play it’s a great opportunity when we can stretch a little bit you obviously we want those guys back as soon as possible but um it is an opportunity when they’re out to stretch guys minutes stretch guys role a little

Bit we learn a lot about our team in these situations and um you know we’ll learn from this one I don’t I don’t think we ever ask you but but Shay and dub what’s their their status moving forward yeah quad contusion for Shay um that’s just you know it’s the same

Injury it’s nothing different um he felt good enough to go against New York didn’t feel as good today um we’ll continue to you know rehab it and see how he feels and then Dub’s ankle sprain um you know he just stepped on a foot in the game uh so it’s a classic ankle

Sprint it’s hard to predict the timetable on those but you know we’ll get them treatment and hopefully get them back as soon as possible I think this was the Phoenix game you kind of mentioned this when you were talking about why you had your starters the way you did um I think you

Said you didn’t want to front load Y caseing and but they if they played a decent bit together tonight just what was your your thought process there yeah we would have staggered him more if Max Max played you know to make sure that one of them was on Maxi cuz Maxi plays

40 plus minutes and we probably weren’t going to do that with Lou um you know so just went with Wiggins because of the Jay will Chad we just thought he was a better fit with that lineup with Jay will and Chad out there are there any difficulties trying to balance out

Keeping your star players healthy and getting ready for the playoffs but also keeping that winning momentum you almost had it tonight but is there any challenges with that um you know it’s less about momentum it’s more about habit building and we can do that regardless of circumstances um you know we’re always

Going to be conservative with our guys um not going to put them out there if there’s any harm but we also want them to play I mean the playoffs are a while away you know we’ve got still seven more regular season games we’ve got a week

Pretty much in between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs so um we want them out there but not at the expense of any sort of risk and so that’s how we’ll proceed but it’s less about winning and it’s more about habit building and tonight you

Know I thought we built some really good habits um and took a step forward in a lot of areas um and certainly things we can work on we’ll address them and we’ll keep them moving tomorrow last thing for me Mark there was a kind of like a weird

Pregame situation just with the Sixers kind of like constantly updating their yeah their injury report just what’ you make it at and how it maybe change your your preparation well it changes the preparation whether or not Max’s in or out and whether or not embiid’s in or

Out but you know we’re worried about us for the most part I mean we’ll we’ll change the game plan as appropriate but we weren’t doing anything new tonight I thought we executed as about as well as we could uh in our schemes tonight so the timetable didn’t bother us

Hear from Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault postgame after the Thunder fall 109 – 105 in Philadelphia.

0:00 Lu Dort and Chet Holmgren
6:58 Coach Daigneault

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