OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs New York Knicks | December 27, 2023

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs New York Knicks | December 27, 2023

G KC Thunder uh Mark before the game um or shame Mark said before the game that you guys needed to create your own energy on the second night of a back toback um how did you see that play out in tonight’s game seem like you guys

Kind of had to to prevent the New York from bogging you guys down yeah um we we had one of the emphasis tonight was being a tougher team um they’re known for that it’s their style of play um tibs is known for that um they’re very physical um they pack the paint they

They play fast and they play hard um and we just tried to to match that um if not exceed that energy um and be the aggressives in a more physical Team all night um now we had lapses where we weren’t obviously um they can’t kind of

Came back in the game a little bit um but we we turned it on enough tonight to to get a w as a guy who’s had to see and navigate so many different types of defenses what was your perspective of the way that jdub and Chad dealt with

Their switching uh in the fourth quarter before you checked in seemed like they were still able to get exactly what they wanted and not kind of get stalled in isolation yeah uh they were great um and both those guys are only getting better with the games um they play the right way make

The right plays and be aggressive um those are the main things with those guys and the proof is in the pting and they’re getting better Mark was just saying you know it’s nice in the fourth quarter to be able to go to some other guys so that you don’t have to carry

Everything because it one it can gas you and two it makes you harder to guard if there are more options how much does it help you when those guys are are taking some of that load yeah um it’s needed uh to win big in this league you need multiple options down the stretch

You need multiple weapons on the basketball court at all times um and we’re forming into that day by day and that that’s our goal just to um to to be a really good basketball team and to to win big in this league um so yeah we’re we’re heading the right

Direction for sure you talked about being the tougher team obviously they’re really physical they switch a lot when you play a team like that what kind of accomplishment is it you had you guys had four turnovers as a team the entire game oh wow I didn’t know that um that’s

That’s really good on any night obviously um but yeah it’s it’s it’s a testament to us being aggressive being assertive um and then making the right basketball play playing the right way and playing for each other earlier this season uh you talked about how you stay stay the course and

Not get out of character when guys are getting overly physical with you how tough is it to not get out of character and just continue on to just get to your spots and play your game um not tough at all um it’s it’s what makes me me and what

How I’ve been taught to play the game um always be composed um always think next play um and always always focus on winning um I try to just focus on those things and all the other stuff comes and goes Miss shots the Miss calls the the fans

Whether you’re on the road or whether you’re at home um I just try to focus on the next play and what’s in front of me and try to be present then with the gravity you’ve created this season it seems like your playmaking has taken a nice bump and how what what goes into

Getting the ball right where your your teammates wanted uh so they can get like they don’t have to move or anything like when four guys are on you or three guys are on you you get it in the exact spot where where they where they want it

Sorry no you’re good um yeah just uh making the right basketball play um playing for them um and knowing that like once I get off it and EST aish the guys around me as Weapons um teams are going to have to worry about them and then it leaves me

More space to play um so just just playing the game inside the game reading the game um and taking what the defense gives me even before he was drafted here dub would talk about you as a guy that he would pull things from what’s it been

Like to watch him evolve as a shot Creator and do you see any of your offensive gain in him I see a lot of it um dou works out with me all the time um none of it I’m Sur surprised by uh from day one he asked questions obviously

We’ve grown a lot closer since day one um but yeah he’s getting better every day he’s going to be a star in this league for a long time um as we can see in uh skot limit form him so on a on a similar notee I’m I’m curious because we saw him

In these situations last year where he kind of had to close a game or two here but just have you seen him maybe evolve as a closer type where he’s closing the game not just to start those those fourth quarters where you’re not in the game but maybe in those DND final

Minutes of the game yeah um he just gets more comfortable um every game every week um with his reps um the biggest thing with him was just him being aggressive early like early in his career um he’s starting to get around to that um and really just trust

His work um but yeah I’m glad when none of it surprises me from him Nick Gallow KY Thunder uh Jaylen even against a defense like that that’s that’s trying to get you guys to play in isolation you only had four turnovers as a team tonight wow yeah what was key to U

Getting a shot every trip down Court um even when you had to kind of play not exactly to your style with the movement and the passing that you want um I don’t know usually a really good game with turnover is what eight so um yeah credit

To us I didn’t know that um just trusting each other making the right read uh not trying to do too much um you know they’re a big team so they like to pack the paint and I thought we did a good job not really like driving

Into it and kind of just trusting our sprays and playing on the catch that way um but yeah so that was that was a big emphasis for us and then obviously the less turnovers you have means you’re getting a shot every play for the most part

So um yeah I thought we did a good job that Jay talk a little bit about your fourth quarter I mean you had 17 points on six I’m sorry no go crazy sorry dude I lost my train of thought talk about that fourth quarter uh 17 points six of

Seven shooting made eight straight after they’ drawn to within six I did oh okay um just shooting open shots um trying to uh pick my spots a little more carefully uh me and Chad had a really good like twom man kind of thing going on Twan

Action for a lot of those plays then he was making the right read on some of the sprays and uh you know the other guys on the floor as well were doing a good job playing off the catch and hitting shots as well uh which obviously frees me up

To be able to kind of have space and then the game’s easier when you make shots so I was able to kind of hit a couple and you know that allowed me to be able to drive and open up things for Chad to kind of have space to do his

Thing as well so kind of just a collective effort and then like I said just shooting open shots more say about you know maybe your Evolution as the kind of closer type closing games how you play the final mention your aggression um your comfortability just could you walk me

Through that Evolution and what you’ve maybe had in year or two that it wasn’t there in year one possibly um yeah I wouldn’t say it was there in year one I think it’s just more uh opportunity as far as having close games um the way our

Rotation is now with Chad I feel like I’m just in those situations more and more with our group and who we have on the floor uh you know we’re like a deep rotation team so it just ends up being my minutes there so I think I’ve just

Had more and more availability at the end of games and my team Trust trust me and make the right play in regards to that and I mean when you have like Shay and Sh and you know everybody else in the floor like it’s easy to kind of just

Play off of regardless of you know time and score I’m not really paying attention to that like if the shots open shoot it if not just kind of create action and do it that way but um yeah my team trusts me to make the right read

And play the right way uh I don’t really like forcing a bunch of stuff and you know I’m kind of just finding where I like to be at on the floor and uh yeah you talked about how much you like OKC I imagine it’s a lot of because of the

Situation you have here but when you have a fourth quarter like that with chat where you guys are kind of delivering plays back and forth just how much hope do you have for what you guys are building here um a lot uh we’re we’re growing as a team uh

Like like you said me and chat for example just being in those uh that kind of minutes together uh I don’t even remember what what time it is but having those minutes together getting those reps I think me and him are a lot more efficient uh we’re Trust each other a

Lot more than we had been earlier in the year so um you know he makes it easy to be able to kind of play off of him that way and I think everybody else in the rotation is just figuring out where they where they fit and everybody’s trying to

Do their role to the best of their ability so I think when you have that camaraderie and that kind of team thing I think it makes it easy for me to kind of go out there and just do what I do Mark talked to him about those minutes

Earlier in the season with you and Chad where you guys were losing those minutes what what has that process been of you guys getting that Comfort level um yeah just more reps you know not everything’s going to click right away and it’s a long season uh you know

Teams are going to guard us differently you know we’ve seen a lot more looks since then um but yeah just trusting each other I think the best thing about it was early on not winning those minutes but it wasn’t because of you know us being selfish it was just us figuring

Each other out you know some of the passes were late some of the roles and stuff we talked about so we’re just figuring out what I like to do what he likes to do uh like certain plays that we can kind of get into kind of get us

The best action and then you know everybody else on the floor as well kind of understands that and you know they’re kind of ready to make big plays uh you know like you get wigs or queso for example knocking out big shots Z who’s out there um so guys guys in that lineup

Are also making it easy uh you know spacing wise cutting uh making good reads setting good screens so just stuff like that you and Chad scored 25 of the first 27 in the fourth quarter what’s the value of that both in terms of just the way you make a defense have to guard

You when you got multiple options and then just taken some of the load off Shay on a night when you know the third quarter he really kind of carried the offense uh yeah uh answer the first the second part first I think taking the load off of Shay is a big thing just

Because you know he plays a lot of minutes so anytime you can have a an outburst like that as far as scoring G me and him you know allows him to you know catch a breather a little more I don’t know if he likes that you know

He’s one of those people that probably play All 48 if he could but um yeah it just gives him a break and takes the pressure off for him have to come in immediately and you know score right away so um we’re doing a good job of that and yeah we’re just we’re just

Figuring each other out I think we’re uh you know Chad’s able to space the floor and also he’s uh really Elite at The Rim so I think when you have that he’s mixing in pops and rolls really well so it’s allowed me to have space and kind

Of keep the defense honest uh it’s been forcing switches so he’s done a good job of that um Jaylen yesterday you were talking about just avoiding sort of The Temptations of heat checks where you didn’t take a three did you were you able to do that tonight as well yeah

Yeah I just try and shoot when I’m open um I didn’t really have a opport I don’t really think I had like a really like heat check moment today a lot of it just kind of came within the flow of the offense I got a couple when they doubled

Shay so I was open I got the triail three earlier so it’s not like a typical heat check but um yeah I’m just shooting when I’m open and I’m also shooting shots I work on so what of the proper number I guess for heat check shots where you make a certain number before

You start testing the waters depends on who you are some people one one shot but uh yeah it just kind of depends just yeah honestly the heat check could be your first shot so just depends on how you feel that day like see like you’re getting more comfortable

Getting to your spots and it seems like it’s getting easier do you feel like your comfortability Comfort comfortability level has risen uh yeah game starting to slow down a little bit um kind of understanding my team more and more that allows me to get to where

I want to be at uh yeah and guys are making it easy you know guys are making shots which space of the floor allows me to you know create for myself others and uh yeah everybody’s trusting each other so it’s really easy for me to kind of go

Out there and just make reads you got to get your hair Reb braided I do we had a water incident Nick Gallow KC Thunder uh Chad tell me about the the energy that you guys had tonight second night of a back toback and kind of mustering that creating that on your

Own um I feel like we all really fed off of each other and and found energy in each other out there and and um um the plays that everybody was making um you know everybody was was in it together we had an all five mentality and uh you

Know whether it was a back toback or not um you know that was huge for us they tried to bog things down and switch you guys in that fourth quarter and you and jdub kind of played that pick and pop game uh what was key in that in making

Sure that you know you guys got a shot a good clean shot each time down and um you know you guys only had four turnovers all night that’s impressive um just trusting each other uh and being aggressive at the same time uh you know you always want to

Be aggressive first um and the defense is going to give something up um either it’s going to be an initial point of attack which a lot of times teams in the NBA are not trying to do or it’s going to be a pass to somebody when the help

Comes and uh we we did a good job of reading the game tonight and understanding uh which Advantage we had and um uh that was working not only for me and dub but everybody else out there CH like we kind of talked about you you and dub going back and forth was was

Pretty key there in that fourth quarter I’m curious because Mark mentioned that you guys weren’t always winning those minutes with with you and dub on the floor together so just could you kind of walk me through the process of you know your your evolution of your your pairing

With him and what’s going into that um just building chemistry and and learning and talking to coach as well on on what we feel comfortable with uh he does a great job of trusting us within that and listening to us and um communicating and figuring out what’s going to work and

Then also he has a a great vision of um kind of development and those things you know not everything’s going to be perfect the first time we do it he hases a good job of uh he does a good job of uh allowing us room to grow as long as

He feels the intentions are right and um uh obviously that we can’t just lose those minutes um every time we go out there so uh we understood that we had to get better within it and um I feel like we’re doing that and uh we just got to

Continue to be even better going forward follow what’s it taken between you and dub specifically to make that work um I mean it’s great when dub doesn’t miss from three and he has 36 uh so if we can get that every night it’d be great um but uh as a realist

I um don’t believe that five from five for five from three or whatever is um possible over an 82 game stretch so um just building chemistry with him and and uh you know um having confidence in each other that um whatever play one another makes is going to be the right play uh

For the team out there and um we’re doing a good job of of building that and uh we got to keep doing it going forward CH Mark mentioned I wonder if you have an appreciation for what you guys what you and and dub were doing offensively tonight nights like this what it does

For Shay just in terms of not having to carry the load some getting a little bit of a breather and not having to worry about the offense when he’s out um I mean Shay’s Shay he’s going to do what he does every single night um but in the

NBA one man can’t win a basketball game so uh we know we have to step up uh and make game-winning plays on both ends of the floor whether it’s scoring or making plays on the defensive end whatever it might be uh you know all five guys out

There and uh all the coaches on the bench and the players on the bench as well have to be locked in and and ready to make plays throughout the game and um I feel like we did a great job of that Chad a few games ago I asked dub just

About comparing contrasting your game from a few years ago in college to now and he mentioned this the amount of Freedom that you have now just want to get your initial comments on that and just what are the biggest differences that you’ve noticed in Dub’s game going

Back to your college days to seeing him now um obviously he’s put on some weight um he’s gotten bigger uh he’s been able to play through physicality even better he was a great driver in college um and and he could shoot off the dribble as well uh which he still

Does now but um with that added strength um you know it’s really hard to just kind of push him off his line he kind of gets where where he wants to go and um i’ I’d say to his comment about the difference between college and now

Um I guess you could say some of his freedom but I’m also a way better player than I was in college um just with the amount of work that I’ve put in um and kind of what I put into my game um I wasn’t able to do a lot of the stuff

That I’m doing now in college so uh and hopefully each year I’m able to look back and say I’m better than I was last year uh but you know credit to my teammates uh for putting me in positions to be able to use my skill set and and

The coaches for having the freedom and Trust uh in me to go out there and do that it’s been a lot of Buzz around you as potential Rookie of the Year potential Allstar do you hear that do you see that and if so how do you tune

That out or or keep your head down uh before the game I was focused on playing the Knicks tonight and uh now that the game’s over I’m focused on playing Denver um in two days so that’s where my head’s at and uh you know I’m focused on

On the Thunder and helping us win games Gravity that Shay has created this this year has seemed to increase and I know you don’t have anything to compare it to but what goes into creating that onc Court chemistry to where you know when he drives and there’s four guys on

There you know where exactly where to be because it seems to be exactly on point when he gets it to you guys four guys on him yeah I mean it does happen he’s great player um uh I don’t think team’s game plan to put four guys on him but it definitely

Happens um I mean it just comes down to reps and um you know he’s been a really good player for some time now so he’s seen at all so it’s it’s kind of um not just on him to figure it out but it’s also on all the other guys on the

Floor to figure it out and and kind of know how to play off that and as well as as well as him um obviously uh there’s a lot of great players on this team um so he’s he’s also um building chemistry playing without the ball as well

Um and you know it shows out there there’s a lot of players making really good plays and um you know he’s playing off the catch he’s running in transition and we’re finding him so it’s it’s and it’s even harder to load up on somebody um off the ball you know you’re not

Going to double him off the ball um in the NBA uh you know dudes are just too good at this level to do that so um you know when he’s able to play off the catch and off the ball and it really opens things up for him and then you

Know you guys know what he does when he has the ball in his hands um you know night in and night out uh you know he can light it up so it’s a team effort to figure it out Nick alow KY Thunder uh Mark you said your team was going to

Need to create its own energy tonight uh in what facets of the game uh did you notice that happening uh to allow you guys to get this win well I thought a lot of the first half uh we did a great job there you can’t underestimate the

Importance of a good start and I thought we got off to a good start built a nice lead um and then I thought you know they they really punched Us in the third quarter uh and with five and a half to go I think it was tied or they were up

By two or we were up by two and um there’s a group in there it was I Joe Wiggins Shay Cas K Rich uh and we were getting punked and those guys really stood up you know they strung together really important stops and kind of gave

Us a little more breathing room we held them to eight points I think in the last five and a half minutes there and that was a huge stretch of the game because we really had to stall their momentum and I thought we did it with you know

Standing up physically uh a lot of Pride with that group and we did it with defense it was impressive they tried to stall your offensive moment momentum by switching everything you guys kind of countered that with pick and Pops between jdub and and Chad can you just

Tell me about how those kind of manifested and how you were able to not get bogged down against the switching yeah um we were just trying to mix looks you know against a team like that that um is pretty disciplined in their stuff they’re hard to crack for that reason

You know they’re they’re not going to mess up many coverages very very disciplined team uh and so you know we try to mix the looks against teams like that and uh I thought we did a good job of that I thought we get some good cracks there mark in that fourth quarter

Especially at the start D and chat really carried you offensively just what did you see from those two guys I just thought the execution for most of the night you know across the board was really really good I thought we played a really clean offensive game got good

Shots for the majority of the night uh executed our stuff you know were able to counter what they were doing and uh go to a lot of different things very quickly and I thought the guys were very adaptive and focused on the second night of a back toback I thought that was

Across the board tonight it feels like through three quarters it was a lot of sh and and fourth kind of like Brett mentioned lot of I’m curious through many games um just what you thought of those two’s connection and how they maybe fed off each other uh chat and dub

I give them credit because uh there was a stretch of games there where we were losing a lot of those minutes you know start the fourth quarter start the second quarter we had tried a lot of different things they were the two common denominators in there um and

They’ve done a great job of just kind of communicating through that building a Synergy together um and incorporating the other guys it’s not a two-man game but um I think they’ve really owned that uh in a way that is a good example of like things aren’t always going to be

Perfect uh there’s going to be struggles throughout the course of the season and we want to be solution oriented and I think uh they’ve done a great job of that and have built a nice chemistry yeah I know sophomore it felt like he’s putting a lot of those Crim late game

Positions last year I’m just curious what you thought of dub as maybe that kind of closer type you how he’s maybe evolved in their Ro yeah I mean we don’t um I don’t like to call them closers I mean that that we did a lot of different

Things uh I thought one of the biggest plays was Dort got an advantage uh in a pick and pop we threw it to him they fully rotated off ched he made a great extra pass ched hit a three in the left corner um and so we try to like I said

Keep it pretty fresh especially against a disciplined team like that we try to give them a lot of different look so that they can’t get into a rhythm defensively um but it’s nice to have guys that you can go to uh outside of just Shay all the time because number

One it gasses him and number two you become a one- trick pony uh and the late game game plan comes down to just guarding one guy and we don’t want to be that type of team we want to be a team that’s Dynamic and uh can beat you a lot

Of different ways uh and we’re developing that it’s not perfect but um you know certainly you know we took a step forward we played a really clean last five minutes tonight on offense you guys go small when teams go big what goes into the decision to not try and

Get close to that size that other teams are have on the floor uh it’s not it’s not a rule you know we’ll we’ll look at everything we went big with Jay will and Chad uh in the second quarter tonight you know so um that’s certainly on the

Table uh we want to be a team that has a range of of possibilities so that we can you know draw different Tools in different situations but uh we’re not afraid to go small I think we’ve got really competitive guys you know it’s we

Got uh first of all we get size at at other positions we’re not small across the board we’re small at the five in those situations but we’ve got tough guys you know competitive guys the group I just mentioned uh in the third quarter that you know kind of stood up and I

Thought they changed the game uh after we took that punch uh and those guys are just they’re Scrappy you know they’re just tough tough competitors um and it allows you to kind of play a smaller unit and trust that you’re still going to be able to move the scoreboard in the

Right direction and then how do you feel about the physicality uh for you guys tonight I thought you know we played a really physical team you know I thought um that was a good lesson for us I thought a lot of plays they kind of took

Us out of our initial stuff because of how they pick the ball up and how you know they touch you up every possession they set a very physical tone in the game uh and they made it a brawl um and that’s what they do that’s why they’re a

Really good defense um and I thought we we had good patience and Poise uh to get to secondary actions and to work possessions uh when we didn’t get initial advantages and then I thought you know we we got to a point in the game where we we started to get some

Cracks in our initial stuff as well uh and that’s part of the physicality I was mentioning when we kind of like stood up there Midway through the third Mark last year you mentioned that there’s sort of a spectrum for how aggressive guys are you have on one end Lou Who you have to

Kind of rain in a little bit more and then dub who you kind of have to push to take a few more shots it seems like those guys have settled in more more into those roles this season what sort of goes into that is that more on them

Or is it like a coaching conversation with them um well first of all I think it’s important to acknowledge how hard it is because you’re talking about two things that are like paradoxal paradoxical par are Paradox you know like they pull a what is it what is it well you’re you’re a

Journalist yeah uh paradoxical okay they they pull against each other um you know it’s confidence and and you know functionality you’re not necessarily like married together and so um and and usually guys have a nature you know Lou has a very aggressive nature that’s why he’s a very

Good player um you know and so finding that balance is a process it’s hard you know it’s like probably the hardest thing I think for a player um no matter which direction they need to move um and we just kind of walk with them in that

You know it’s not like a coach down to Player thing um you can’t really get anything done if the player isn’t committed to it you know like compliance only gets you so far and we try to be in it with our players in all facets of their growth not just uh their shot

Selection you know their bodies their minds their um the way that they approach the weight room what weight they want to play at I mean we don’t dictate that stuff we work with them we we talked pregame about this team not having really played many backto backs so far I’m just

Curious generating that type of fourth quarter that type of game Flow the second out of a back toback does that surprise you at all from the team no I mean I’m never surprised by the anything competitive with these guys you know they’ve really set a great tone of that

But um I thought we really got into our depth in the first half I mean we were able to keep the minutes under control and still have control of the game uh we played a lot of different guys um and we had a very balanced rotation minutes

Wise in the first half which you know allows you to kind of hit the gas in the second half with some of the guy the higher minute guys without it turning into a 40-minute night for a bunch of guys and um so I I thought they had gas

In the tank for that reason and it had gas in the tank we did the same thing last night we were able to keep minutes under control in that game as well so um I think that’s a one through 15 you know endeavor

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 129 – 120 win over the Knicks.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
5:29 Jalen Williams
12:42 Chet Holmgren
19:57 Coach Daigneault

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