OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Dallas Mavericks | Playoffs | May 18, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game at Dallas Mavericks | Playoffs | May 18, 2024

competitive series um what was this like battling you know one last time this year with with your brothers there in that locker room yeah um it was fun uh it’s what you live for um it’s what you work all summer for it’s what you try to build habits for all season um moments and games like tonight um it doesn’t get much better what was your view on the on the foul late that kind of decided it um I shouldn’t have found him uh we talk about it all year the little things that go into winning games um and being disciplined and it sucks um obviously if I had the moment back I wouldn’t have fouled him um and just let him make or miss the shot uh but yeah yeah yeah basketball you win some you lose some you make mistakes have you seen the replay I can’t look at it but I they looked at it and I assume I F him they looked at it and still didn’t overturn it when you say you can’t look at it what do you mean I don’t want to look at it you think that’ll be permanent you just don’t want to look at it ever or just I just want look like I just I found him clearly because they reviewed it and I found him so there’s no need to look at it come Shay coming off of last game where you got so many good looks they didn’t go down tonight they did for you more I mean how did it I guess operate for you guys to just continue trusting what you would put together last game knowing that if you stuck with it you get different results to give yourself a chance on the road yeah um it’s basketball you make some you miss some uh you make the right play the wrong play um but as long as you have a the right intentions um and you’re doing the right things out there on the floor good things more often than not will happen to you um and happen for your team um and it’s been like that for us um and that’s why we had the the year we’ve had um that didn’t go our way some times throughout the the series but that’s what it’s about um getting better from those opportunities could have been the game winning bucket for you guys is lob to to chat from you obviously you guys all season long have worked on um some of these things and Rhythm plays uh what was it like you know getting to do that here tonight and it seemed like you guys were able to find ched over the top quite a bit yeah um yeah it definitely uh opened things up for us tonight um kind of chat being in that dunker making plays at The Rim uh obviously one of his many gifts um but we were definitely able to explo that tonight so just KN all it took tonight just to get to that point where you know the foul the L everything just what does it feel like knowing that the season ended on on free thr yeah it sucks um you you you wish you could take the moment back um but it’s not the way life works you can’t uh you just have to learn from it um and I will definitely learn from it for you personally just what do you feel you proved maybe to yourself in this series um nothing um my goal is to win the series didn’t win the series um and that’s that pretty much is it hard for you at this point to take a step back and think about how bright the future still does look or you know how do you kind of view what this season means for the long term um yeah we uh we we could we can we can feel it um we we definitely took a step in the right direction this year to say the least um now this moment stings you don’t ever want to lose but um there definitely some good things that come out of it um and moments like this is what makes you know the Champions guys get better wasn’t the most shots you taken in the game this series but did you come into this game with like empty the clip mindset um not not at all uh I just came into the game trying to play my game play the right way and play aggressive total points in this series despite the Lo the series loss was 636 636 you have any like Solace to knowing that y’all were right there in the series say again the total points in the series was 636 636 through all six games okay so did you have any Solace knowing that like you guys were right there despite losing 42 um n not really still stins Shay you were a young guy in your first year rookie season with the Clippers you played a lot of minutes you have two guys in Cas and Chad who play a lot of minutes for you in this series can you just talk me through evaluate how you think they did um amazing um they’ve been good all year um they haven’t felt like rookies with they’re playing on the court both those guys are so poised so mature um and obviously have done tremendous things for our group um we took a big leap this year and those two have a big hand in it seemed to be Mark’s opinion that this series was maybe lost like middle of the series offensively when you guys kind of struggle to to solve their defensive game what do you think you and this group kind of learned through those struggles offensively yeah um I guess how to like course correct um and like the best teams are able to like figure out the issue and fix the problem and uh really fast time and that’s what allows you to ultimately win Series and win games um whether it be in quarters or in games in the series um you see it all over the league like you just saw it with Denver um their ability to course correct and kind of get the car back on the road but um it’s a learning experience for all of us this is all of our first time being in a series together um so we’ll all learn from the experience and and get better Shay what was that feeling like just as you see the the last shot and miss and just kind of walking off the floor uh it sucked um and the way it ended um it kind of solely being my fault with the three uh it it it sucks um we my teammates did so much um throughout the night to get us in a position that we were um with that last position um and little details kind of nied me in the butt um but I I’ll learn from it Jay you seem like such a highly motivated person does this series any more motivation to you um absolutely um I’ve always found like the most motivation when I lose um you learn the most when you lose um so yeah for sure uh we lost four out of six games I don’t know if we’ve done that all season um didn’t feel good but um yeah I’m definitely motivated we’ll learn from the experience for sure so the the the lob to chat with 20 seconds left I imagine that’ll probably get swept under the rug hisory eyes now but when it happened like what was going through your head in that moment in that sequence get a stop um that was it get a stop whatever it takes did it feel like that was like a heavy blow to to to the game to the game’s just flow no the the the L just him finishing the live him catching with one hand just everything in that moment um yeah it felt good but I was so like on to the next like just get a stop um I didn’t really get to soak it up but big time catch and finish by chish last one go ahead this is last one for sh felt like every shot was extra heavy uh down the stretch did it feel like that for for you guys out there or where you just have that mindset of shot goes in get a stop yeah um when you’re in yeah when you’re in the moment it doesn’t feel as heavy um you’re on to the next thing to try to win the next possession and ultimately win the game um but yeah things are are obviously heightened in in games like this Chad obviously not the result that you wanted but um to give yourselves a chance here on the road tough game six fighting out there with your guys what’s that feel like and how proud are you of what this team was able to do this season um obviously it doesn’t feel great right now uh losing the game you never want to do that um uh but that’s all you can ask for a basketball game extremely competitive and um you know both play both teams making plays throwing punches um you know it’s great and obviously um it stings a lot right now but um you know there’s definitely a sense of um you know being proud for uh all the guys around me and what they’ve been able to accomplish this season you guys have talked all postseason about getting better through a series um offensively it seemed like the last couple games you guys did take steps towards you really capitalize on Aly oops is that um something you guys can walk away you know feeling uh momentum for heading into next year um again it really stings right now it’s kind of tough to be thinking about carryover and um momentum going into anything right now but um you know the season is over sounds weird saying that but um you know like that doesn’t mean like we’re done um we know we have a long ways to go so uh I think everybody’s going to get get their stuff together um in the near future and then um you know get right back to work uh preparing for next season with everything that led to those final 20ish seconds you know the lobs the constant runs back and forth Just for for the season to end on free throws just how are you processing that um I mean again we can always look at the last play of a game and uh overreact to that but we had plenty of opportunity throughout the whole game and down the stretch um on on other plays uh you know specifically I remember ones that uh are at fault of mine where I could have been better and um you know those plays didn’t go our way obviously and and it led us to be in a position where that last play uh had the significance that it did but you know we can’t look at a single play and and try and say that’s the reason that the whole game went the way it did so just a l with with 20 seconds Shay throwing it C you throwing it down with one hand just I I know that play now history might sweep that under the rug but in the moment like what what did that feel like um you know there wasn’t a lot of emotion in it it was mostly just trying to finish the play and put our team in a position to win the game uh you know I think that gave us a one-point lead um uh which you know I I like that position for us uh you know in any game down the stretch uh you know credit to to the Mavs on uh you know making a play shade took ownership for that P at the end was hard on himself but can can you just sort of put into words how he led you guys not only in this game but this series uh I don’t I don’t know Fords kind of do that Justice um you know I feel like everybody’s seen what he did not only in this series this game but throughout the whole season um and like I said you know the significance of one play uh you know is kind of put under a microscope because it decided the game but you know without him we’re not even up one with 12 seconds left so um again you know I’m looking at myself all the plays down the stretch where you know I was either half second late or didn’t make this play or you know didn’t do that so you know I put that one on me um you know I’mma uh hold myself accountable and um you know again you know hell of a season by Shay uh and you know the rest of the guys in the locker room too you know everybody stepped up and and played a huge role and what we were able to accomplish and uh you know we got a long ways to go what do you think will be your kind of lessons learned from from these playoffs um I mean there’s a lot uh you know I just I said this morning I shoot around that nothing’s guaranteed so you just got to go out there and uh lay it all on the line and then you know you just got to live with the results um you know as as simple as that sounds you just you know you don’t want to have any any regret on you know why an outcome came out the way it did you guys went double big down the stretch which you didn’t do a ton in the series but did kind of seem to work at times um you like that look um yeah like you said it worked at times for us and um you know we went that to that down in stretch I’m assuming uh for rebounding purposes and um you know again credit to the Mavs they were able to still make plays uh and uh you know Come Away with the win Chad how much will you remember this moment you know for the rest of your career maybe you know just kind of as a driving force you know to keep pushing forward um you I’m definitely going to remember it uh always uh you know you it’s hard to tell what you remember more the wins or the losses uh you know but this definitely stings uh it doesn’t feel great so um you know it’s definitely kind of a driving force to not want to feel it feeling again so um and nobody wins 12 straight championships so like you know the chances that I’m going to feel this at some point again uh you know is is uh definitely there but um you know I’m going to do everything in my power to you know avoid this feeling again congrats at Dallas um coach kid his staff I thought they did a great job players did a great job we have all the respect in the world for how they competed in the series um I thought they were the better team over the course of the series uh tonight I thought you know it could have gone either way obviously you know we were right there uh and I’ll played him for much of the 48 made a lot of progress but obviously they were U one point better so uh but again congrats to Dallas you know all due respect to them offense that you guys had talked about coming out of game five seemed to get rewarded more with shot making uh for most of this game how did you feel about that aspect coming through for you guys and giving yourselves a chance here in a really tough environment on the road yeah I know I sounded crazy after game five cuz we had 92 points and I was very optimistic about our attacks but um that’s what I was talking about you know I thought our attacks in game five were good um we obviously didn’t complete the plays uh that we did tonight I thought our attacks again tonight were good you know we forced them to Zone us we forced them uh kind of to plan B and so uh we put a lot of pressure on them with our offense tonight and made a lot of progress there mark the the foul on shade just what’ you make it at the end um I don’t have as good of a replay as there was on TV so um you know I just you know he got ball you know and then obviously got arm as well you know I thought he might have gotten the ball first uh and just in that situation you know even without leaving myself a timeout I thought any chance that we could take points off the board uh and reverse that call would be worth uh the risk so that’s why I went and got it you went double big late kind of with the season on the line I guess what motivated you to do that uh trying to help out on the on the glass specifically I just thought um even not just on the glass you know they were finding the bigs on some of the dump Downs um and just trying to get more like cumulative size on the floor um and then at the end of the game you know the defenses tighten up anyways and so offensively I knew we’d be able to get some decent looks regardless of lineup so it was kind of a defense uh and physicality decision I know it’s kind of too early to take two steps back and look that you know you look towards the future but do you feel like that you know it’s something that maybe the roster kind of beef no I’m not going to make commentary on the roster I mean clearly our roster was good enough this year to win a lot of games and be the one seed in this in a really tough conference um and we had everything we needed you know obviously um tonight and in this series they were better um but I wouldn’t look at that as an indictment uh on anything other than you know it’s a it’s painful obviously you know we thought we had the chance to accomplish special but um you know we can turn this pain into growth and and use this as an investment as we continue to move forward are are you just satisfied with the way you guys Force you know players like like DK Jones and PJ Watson to just beat you over the course of the series um yeah I think you know that’s why they’re here you know is they have a good team they have players that put a lot of pressure on you we have respect for those players obviously but um we just thought in the series um you know forcing d and Irving into crowds and uh forcing other guys to have to make plays was the best course uh and I thought we executed that I thought defensively um we played a series that was uh worthy of winning it um I thought in games two through four offensively that’s where we struggled but I thought the team did a really good job I mean you have to grow inside these series you know because the other team is you know stress testing you and vice versa um and I thought our guys did a really really good job Within the series of making the necessary adjustments to how we needed to attack and obviously made progress on that end of the floor in games five and six uh but it just wasn’t enough Mark Shay was tremendous all night obviously the blasting moment kind of ending in a cruel way with that foul but what how do you just kind of put his KN in perspective and what he did for you guys this series yeah I mean I thought he obviously he’s a big- time player um that hasn’t gotten to prove that on this stage yet and I thought that was loud and clear uh over the course of the postseason um and then tonight I thought he played very well you know obviously got to his spots I thought the pace of the offense really helped him out helped the whole team out uh he made big shots three hit to cut into the lead late was Big Time shot uh and found his teammates again you know I mentioned that the last time we were in this room at the end of game four he found guys um and they hit tonight he trusted those plays uh throughout the night you know so um obviously nothing positive nothing but positive things to say sorry uh even in the loss were you impressed by how you guys were able to sort of sustain throughout their repeated runs and crowd got into it and everything like that yeah I mean we’ve done that all year you know this is kind of you know you don’t accomplish you know what we accomplished we didn’t accomplish everything obviously but you don’t accomplish what we accomplished without tremendous resilience and the ability to throw punches um with our talent with the way we play and then take punches and tonight we had to take a lot of punches and we did and and gave our I mean we took a lead into the last you know 20 seconds of that game you mentioned taking points off the board with that challenge how close were you to not challenging it considering if you if they if this excuse me if it’s not overturned you only have 2.5 seconds left to go fully of the Court yeah I mean if it was like a a clear as day foul I obviously wouldn’t have challenged it and held the timeout uh but I just think again and that’s situation with two even if you advance the ball with 2.5 seconds at a deficit your chances of scoring are very low um and so given that probability and then the probability of the challenge in that situation protecting a lead you know I just I thought it was too tempting not to get if there was any chance uh that we could have wiped that off I thought it was worth it the Chad Lou both have five fouls just contining to trust them what you think about the way I despite the loss the way that they were able to not to pick up their six foul yeah I mean they continue to compete you know we’ve done that all year you know these guys um understand the philosophy there they understand they have to keep competing I thought those guys did we were able to squeeze all the minutes uh out of the game for those guys and they played well when they were out there you mentioned kind of maybe losing this series offensively in kind of the middle part but you know learning through it what do you feel like you know are the the offensive lessons that that you learned from this series it’s just like different attacks and there’s only so many ways you can get played you know there’s not a million ways that you can get played there’s um a limited number of them uh and we’ve seen them all this year you know and as time goes on you get more and more comfortable attacking them um and obviously in a playoff series they all get thrown at you you know whatever vulnerabilities you have the other team’s going to try to expose and we try to do that to Dallas and New Orleans they try to do it to us and that’s how you learn you know as a team is it’s painful obviously to lose a series but um that’s how you learn as a team as you go through the things and you’ve seen it now you know we go back we start to develop those attacks the players have a better understanding we as a coaching staff have a better understanding um and then as you see them more and more um you solve the the problems quicker and I think if you look at the teams that have had long runs of success and a lot of continuity you know they’re really hard to trick you know and and that’s a process and we have to you know embark on that process I know it’s a minor thing in hindsight but what went into the changing up a substitution patter in there in that first um just trying to maximize his minutes um we had they had kind of loaded the start of the second quarter they and they actually changed tonight too so they didn’t do what we were anticipating but um they had put donic and Irving in to start the second with a pretty potent lineup um and you know just the idea of getting him out there during that time so we can continue to have a guy that can really move the scoreboard um that was the idea Mark you mentioned lessons just as far as far as this team you’ve been with all of them through 82 games you like the first play well did you design the one with dub getting the tap out yeah yeah that was trick play very good yeah thanks but uh yeah uh with yeah the whole season you threw me off um 82 games seeing these guys in a different context did you learn anything about them being in these high leverage environments like games like this I me we learned a ton about our team you know it’s it sucks losing you know the last game of the season and for me personally coaching this team I’ve said all year has been a total pleasure um and it’s really sad for that to finish for me you know I just I love coaching this team I’d love nothing more than just to go to practice tomorrow with them they’re an absolute pleasure but um what was your question um just about what you learned about the Sor I just I had to get that in there um I think if you it’s painful right now but if you zoom out um and you just look at like year-over-year progress progress from the beginning of the season to till now progress from the beginning of the playoffs till now you know we’re just a a more seasoned more matured U more connected better tougher smarter you know we’re everything you know through the course of the Season we talk a lot about growing through experiences I thought we did that you know to the highest degree uh and it yielded obviously a very successful season um despite not you know having a little more success in winning this series despite losing the series 4-2 total points was 63 6 636 does hearing that does like give you any Solace that you guys were just like right there yeah I mean I thought you know when I credit Dallas and I say you know they were the better team in the series that was marginal you know I didn’t think that was uh Domination by any stretch the imagination so I’m tipping my hat to them um and they deserve it but yeah we were right there and you know I think again that type of that yields a lot of pain when you go through that and you’re that close um but we have to know turn that into you got to reinvest that into Improvement you know individually collectively um and that’s if you look at any great team any great player that’s what happens over time you know they stumble in these situations it’s very painful uh but they learn they re-evaluate they grow uh and they get stronger through these experiences and that’s our challenge now Mark I’m just curious with such a young team how do you think they’re handling this kind of you know defeat and knowing the season’s over at this point yeah I think the the age of the team is so tangible um you know so people drive to that a lot but they’re handling it like any team would I mean this is an ambitious team and it’s a competitive team and it’s a connected team regardless of age um you know this team has qualities of great teams uh and one of those qualities is you know very pain you know a lot of pain when you lose so um that’s a locker room that’s feeling it right now you know as as it should be because we laid it all out there in the series and in the game tonight um but that has nothing to do with age that’s just these guys are competitors and they’ve competed together all year they competed together a night

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 116 – 117 loss in Game 6 against the Mavericks.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
8:06 Chet Holmgren
14:20 Coach Daigneault

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