OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Boston Celtics | January 2, 2024

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Boston Celtics | January 2, 2024

Sh you guys had to to make big free throws late dub hits that tough runner in the lane what are those moments uh feeling like for your group out there in a in a tight game like this yeah um they sharpen your blade um the highest level of basketball comes

Down to the end of the game execution um and uh winning plays um we did enough of them tonight to get a w um but it’s what you if what you want to accomplish you have to go through that you have to learn from it you have to go through it

You have to make mistakes um um yeah those moments are are what you live for your two five men Chad and Jay will gave you something different tonight Chad obviously kind of consistently throughout Jay will able to come in for a short spurt uh what did you think of

Of the way that those two guys were able to space off of uh the creators yeah um they were good they were themselves um they played to their strengths um both those guys can shoot really well obviously um and are easy to play with in space of floor um but yeah

They both are pros and every time they come in and step the floor we trust them um they do their job and do what’s ask to them so obviously we’ve seen you get downhill T and share with relative ease but to do it against you know revered

Defenders like Derek white and and Drew holl what did you see out there tonight that that made get into the rim as easy as it looked um I uh I work really hard um and when I work I work out like the best defender in the world is guarding me um

So that in moments like these um it’s it’s my comfort zone uh I I’m aware of of the league and teams and how good the players in the league are um and that’s why I work so hard so to me it’s not okay I have the

Best defender in the world on me tonight I work out like that every day in the offseason so it’s just another day for me yeah and before the game mark separated you guys into kind of classes of sorts he he called Chad a scientist and he called you and dub artist do you

Do you agree with that assessment um sure I don’t I’m I’m get like what he means by that but sure Shay in that fourth quarter they threw some different looks at you Tatum was on you quite a bit um just can you talk us through some of the reads you

Made when they were trying to to load up on you find a chat on that three just just your floor game in the fourth quarter um be aggressive make the right basketball play um Tatum did a good job um using his size he’s bigger um but

Yeah I just try to doesn’t really change anything for me I try to be aggressive make the right basketball play play in my strengths and then what is it maybe tell you about you know the guys around you they’re making that big run um you weren’t necessarily scoring from the

Floor in the fourth but those other guys are able to step up and do those things yeah um I trust trust them uh they work hard they trust their work um and we’re seeing the proof things kind of changed for you guys in the third quarter uh

What do you feel like the key was to put some distance between you and the Celtics um we played fast for sure um we strung together some stops we rebounded the basketball um yeah I would say those three things then more than his numbers being good Josh seems to be more

Decisive more confident have you seen a change in his game the last few weeks yeah um he’s he’s adjusting to the NBA adjusting to his style of play um said this many times I expected this from him he works hard he’s young I don’t know he’s like 21 22 um teams they

Scheme once you get to a certain level in NBA they scheme that’s what they’re doing they’re scheming against them um he’s working it out figuring out through it um and he’s attacking them really well as a play you guys have been stacking up really impr impressive wins and

Obviously when when you beat the Nuggets a couple times you beat Minnesota recently your team is getting circled now on another team’s schedule to be able to to beat a team like Boston uh what sort of what sort of statement does are you guys making you know how has

Maybe the the perception within of this team changed you know even since the beginning of the season um to be honest with you like none of that goes through our minds um every day we just like we come to work the same way um before games we have

Shoot arounds the same way uh we practice the same way we like we all I think we all stay in the moment and I think that’s why we’ve been able to get better um we just stay in a moment attack the day kind of attack the

Program in front of us um and then we just we all have the right intentions and want to win at the end of the day so we try our hardest every night um and it’s leading to W’s you guys make a big jump last year you’re you’re making

Another big jump now did you anticipate this kind of you know another huge step how how is kind of the way this season’s unfolding compared to your expectations as a leader of this team yeah um I think what I it’s going to sound repetitive but what I figured out in my

Career was um like throw out expectations um not out goals but like just focus on day in and day out and try to get better every day and then at the end of it you’ll look up and you’ll have 365 days getting better and you’ll be a

Better player a better team um and that’s how we we attack um that’s how we’ve attacked this like uh I guess last couple Seasons um and it’s it’s paying off um so hopefully we we stay with it and keep uh getting better Shay in your career you’ve

Already played in a lot of big games going back to your time with the clip in your rookie year to that year with CP in the bubble just getting other guys ready playing with a bunch of younger teammates what’s the process of that of just kind of like gearing them up from

Like development time to like these big time crunch games like you see Chad hit that big three at the end of the the game um we we have a a bunch of High character guys that really want to be really good and and win um so it’s a

Winning standard we hold each other too um and if I’ve in a situation and they don’t know and I can help I help um if they see something that they can help me they help me um it goes It goes both ways at the end of the day we all really

Really just want to win um and we try to do everything we can uh so age and I guess like V and Rook doesn’t really come into it just if you can help in that situation you help what you learned about yourself uh the team you were up

Big lost lead but then you close out able and it was different guys making big plays for you to close out anything you can take that you can learn from this going forward I me it wasn’t a playoff game but it it certainly felt like an important game

Um uh we we we knew they were going to throw a punch um once we went up big um obviously we we know who we’re playing against um best Recon in the league um they’ve won a lot of games got really far in the playoffs uh we just wanted

To win the game at the end of the night um so that’s what it was always about for us we go up go down we just try to attack the next possession win the next possession um and hopefully at the end of the night we win you also you picked

Up your fourth foul early in the third quarter you usually play the whole third any thought of coming out I know you probably didn’t want to but you didn’t look like you L up defensively you didn’t pick up another fou foul yeah yeah uh I try to just be smarter um not

Reach as much um play defense without fouling in in mentioning Boston late punch Mark kind of mentioned that there were some things he wished could have been cleaned up down the stretch while trying to close the game I’m just curious about your take on just how

Difficult it is to to hold big leads in this league and and what you saw that might have been able to clean up down the stretch um uh when you play really good teams they’re never going to lay down that’s why they’re really good um

So you and you go up the game’s not over so many possessions in a basketball game um teams shoot so well from the three like no game is out of hand um especially early in the fourth but um what was the second part of your question I forget it what you felt oh Um we were um I remember we were like late to uh like getting set for a play um and it resulted in a turnover um that’s all I really remember I’m sure there’s a lot more just being in the moment it’s hard to but that’s that’s

All I remember bar has one more last question it’s a great jacket was that is that in honor the Celtics been in town no I didn’t even realize till I came in the game they told Me Nick KC Thunder uh Chad just tell me about those moments late uh what it took to saave off a run by one of the best teams in the league um it’s kind of a theme with us but sticking together um every single night uh no matter what point it is in the

Game and we really uh kind of fell back on that uh especially late in the game um you know Shay found me for a couple threes dub hit big shots uh Shay hit big free throws and on the defensive end everybody out there was you know flying

Around trying to make stops happen um we had a few uh uh fouls that gave up some free throws uh and a couple transition threes but other than those um you know our half court stuff was um uh really solid towards the end um you know trying to key in on what they

Were trying to do and try to take that away so um you know there’s a lot we can learn from uh and next time we play them we’re going to have to be better than we were tonight um you know cuz they’re going to they’re going to learn from

This as well the threes that you hit late came off of kind of action with Shay they were real loaded up is that feel now at this point between you and Shay or are you thinking about all right I need to kind of relocate to this spot

Or I need to you know create an angle um when you’re relocating off of him uh yeah 100% uh whether it’s Shay or anybody else is just understanding like you said angles and and spacing uh where to be when to be there when to move um

And then just being ready to shoot um you know I knew I was going to shoot those one way one way or another um before it even came to me and uh you know big props of Shay for having the faith in me to to knock him down Chad

You guys beat the best team in the East tonight you’ve you beat the Nuggets twice in the last couple of weeks the Wolves Clippers like racked up some really impressive wins what do you think that says about where this team is now and um kind of the the level that you

Guys have reached this early in the season um I think it says that we’re um really playing together um and we’re prioritizing winning over anything else um but as far as as longterm uh you know it doesn’t really prove anything I guess you could say or let like it doesn’t kind of

Satisfy anybody you know we we know we have a long ways to go um we’re 32 31 games into the season um so you know we still have 50 games left uh we got a lot of lessons to to learn a lot of lessons we’ve already learned from that we got

To um you know kind of keep in the back of our mind um so when those situations arise again we’re ready for them J mentioned the Shay finding you on those threes they were pretty loaded up with they had Tatum giving him a little different look some length what’s it do

For you guys when your best player when they’re doing those kinds of things he’s making those plays he’s finding the open guy that sort of stuff yeah it makes the other team make a decision um and uh you know every no no team’s going to just let you do uh what you

Want um and so they’re going to have to give something else up um they were basically saying we want you to pass the ball and and he was willing to do that and uh you know he trusted me to make those shots um so yeah and then if they

Don’t want to give up uh a three to me they’re going to say go ahead and drive the ball and that’s what he’s going to do so it’s one or the other you talk about how you have a long way to go uh in your career but the way

You make adjustments in game uh from game to game has been really impressive um tonight was another example of that what all goes into being able to adjust on the fly like that to like I mean poring has had it going tonight and and not just on him just defensively as a

Whole uh yeah it comes down to uh preparation um just preparing for all scenarios and then once you see a scenario changing being able to adapt with that um so yeah i’ tell it comes down to preparation and then Josh more than his numbers is being good uh his

Confidence and his decisiveness seems to have changed over the last couple of weeks have you seen a change in his his demeanor his game and then what does that do do for you guys when he plays this way man it’s huge uh you know I definitely feel like our team is a team

Where every single night you know a different guy could just have a night where you’re like man it’s really going for him and uh tonight was one of those games for G you know he works extra extremely hard at his game and um you know you guys are seeing that

Out there um you know I think they should add a zero after the three on his jersey after tonight bad joke Maybe over their head I don’t know um second youngest roster in the league obviously there’s only a few guys on this team that have any NBA playoff

Experience but you know like Joe said you guys are beating elite team after elite team after elite team is it reasonable for for this team to have Ambitions of being a contender this season to have expectations of a deep playoff run um I mean like I said earlier we

Have over 50 games of the regular season left to to play so us worrying about playing in the NBA Finals when it’s January to second when it’s January 2nd um you know we’re going to miss out on so many opportunities that are right here in front of us to get better so

We’re focused on where we are right now we just played Boston we got Atlanta tomorrow so we’re focused on Atlanta y experience was late in the game is they’re making that big run and kind of what it take what it took to uh hold them off um just taking it one play

At a time regardless of what was going on uh you know they’re the number one team for a reason so um they’re going to make runs and they did a good job you know executing down the stretch too um yeah and so did we we kind of

Were able to hold the lead that we had and I thought we made some big plays down the stretch even though it got a little sloppy for us and uh we were kind of able to just kind of buckle down and kind of move on to the next play I think

Shay gave you a screen on that Big Shot laid over Tatum just tell me about those actions and have a guy MVP candidate who’s making those types of plays for your team uh he understands that uh by him screening and him kind of being in the action sometime as as false stuff

Opens up the floor um you know we’ve kind of seen the way we play even if I can’t get a shot off it just gives him more space to kind of maneuver around and uh I think we’ve all kind of done a good job of that and

He understands you know kind of giving himself up to get a better shot and uh you know just kind of way we play like the ball kind of finds him regardless and he understands that so um yeah just able to make a play for me and I was

Able to kind of repay the favor J think thinking back to the last week and change you you started some fourth quarters relatively well I wonder if there’s something that’s maybe helped you in a change in comfortability or just what’s went well for you to start fourth quarters recently uh guys are

Hitting shots um I’m finding them uh I think we’re doing a good job of getting stops too and I feel like that’s kind of fueling our offense for me to kind kind of get out and transition and kind of keep them on their toes that way but um

Defensively I thought we done a really good job coming out in the fourth uh kind of treating it like that first five minutes of the first quarter too uh but yeah we’re playing really unselfish in that in that group as well we kind of understand that SS to tone for kind of

The rest of the game how it’ll be so we’ve we’ve definitely had those like first five minutes in each quarter kind of the back of our head is something that we want to attack and I thought we done a really good job of that Jay you mentioned Shay and some of those reads

What’s it maybe say about where you guys are they throw Tatum on him it disrupted things a little bit he only gets he doesn’t make a shot in the fourth and you guys are able to kind of withstand that run because other guys are making

Plays um yeah like I said you know he’s willing to give himself up for us to get a good shot um you know we’ve had a multitude of guys hit big shots down the stretch Lou got a tip in uh gets free throws uh Chad hit a three and I think

Shay actually passed it to him so just him being in the action you know draws a lot of attention and uh he’s making the right read regardless if it’s him shooting it or him kind of getting off the ball um he’s had a really good steady dose of that and you know the

Shots he shoots were were pretty comfortable with him shooting them because you know he averages a lot of points so just mentioned attacking the first five minutes of each quarter uh third quarter guys really put some distance between you guys and them uh what do you feel like was the one of the

Main reasons for that uh stops and rebounding I thought that group did a good job of kind of getting out in transition uh from our stops uh I don’t even know if we outrebounded them but I think just there was a couple plays in a

Row where we were able to hold them to one stop and we come down and generate good offense you know everybody’s kind of touching the ball uh moving without the ball kind of doing stuff like that and I thought we got good shots and then you know obviously when you get good

Shots and you hit them makes the game a lot easier and more than his numbers being good Josh’s confidence and decisiveness seems to have really changed have you seen anything change from him the last few weeks uh well I mean he’s making shots but I I Hon

Honestly even the beginning of the year he wasn’t not making shots you know he was shooting around like 35 36% um but you know he’s in the gym every day shooting and and getting extra reps so um it’s not really a surprise as it is to me you know you watch him put

In the work and do that uh we kind of just been his ear about shooting him with confidence and not really letting how people were playing him affect his shot and he’s done a great job of that just shooting him with confidence um when we work our offense and he gets

That look we want him to shoot it and uh you know he’s knocking him down so not really a shock for me Jaylen you guys have been winning a lot recently by wide margins I know you didn’t want them let them back in the game tonight but is it

Good for you that you did and one more experience they’re going through you know tough stretch in the last couple minutes it’s just basketball um you know they’re going to hit shots and we won’t and then vice versa um that’s just kind of how it is especially with how good

They are so I wouldn’t say it’s like you know us letting them back in thing but it is good to have close games especially you know in this January stretch you know you’re going to have like a lot of Dog Days um with how January it is so it’s always good to

Kind of have these these tests early so we know what we want to do later down this season u dub this year Mark has talked about Shay being the leader of this team he’s talked about um kenri being the soul as he called it with you you’re very demonstrative in how you play

You’re the first guy jumping up to DAP up guys after a big bucket would you say that you’re the emotional leader of this team and then what kind of like I don’t know responsibilities come with that if you do feel that way nah I’m just having

Fun uh we have a good group of of dudes like I enjoy being around them a lot um so and I feel like you know uh good energy you know kind of transcends through the team so regardless of how I’m playing I think it’s just important

For me to you know kind of have that High Spirit I feel like Jay will is kind of the same way um but yeah it’s fun it’s fun watching Everybody play well and you know we’re all going through life so it’s cool to watch other people succeed and um I feel like that’s

Something that the team just kind of carries in general inter like with the athletic you guys are one game back number one in the west you know over 30 games in is that is that something you guys thought was possible heading into the season um I mean I don’t think we don’t think

Anything isn’t possible um I just think we kind of came into the year is understanding that we can play with everybody um you know just trying to win games at the end of the day um most importantly kind of just grow through the season obviously you know that’s

Kind of leading us into the point we are now but I don’t think we’re too worried with the standings and kind of where we fall at that it’s just more about kind of getting better each game kind of learning you know uh how to get better

Through it like we had a pretty sloppy stretch where they got back in the game from some of our mistakes so I think we’re just trying to learn how to kind of cut a lot of that stuff out to be the best team we can be and wherever we kind

Of fall within that is where we are you guys ever talk about why Tech free throws are so hard it’s it’s different when you’re not when nobody’s up there and it’s hard you know it’s kind of hard to shoot um I don’t think I’ve shot any so I can’t

Give you too many uh too many pointers like you just like you everybody whoever does matter who it is like yeah I think it’s like a both a both ends thing you know their teams that Miss a text too I think just flow of the game they’re kind

Of awkward nobody’s up there at the line with you so um definitely harder than a regular free throw you yeah all right last one Jaylen has has Mark talked about the concept of artist versus scientists to you nah okay I’ll I’ll let him talk you through that thing before I ask oh

God from your group uh to have the ability to outlast a team of that caliber yeah I thought we were um pretty resilient tonight you know I thought we took some punches uh in the game Flow obviously opened up a nice lead in the fourth quarter uh and they kept coming

They’re obviously a really talented team um and I thought we were a little sloppy on both ends of the floor trying to slam the door on that game but then made big plays down the stretch and executed with poise coming out of the locker room at

Halftime uh you guys outscored him by 15 is there anything tactically that you guys uh did differently during that third or um just executed at a higher level thought the execution was a little better you know we came out we made a couple threes that helped uh but I

Thought we just we tightened up the execution got back in transition set our defense a little bit more I thought they were kind of punching gaps on us early in the game uh in transition and we got that cleaned and obviously had a good offensive quarter against a really good

Defense Mark obviously dub came in scored a ton to to start that fourth but it felt like he was switching between Tatum and brown defensively I just wonder what you you saw from him tonight in in that fourth quarter on that front I he was great you know we don’t win the

Game without him obviously but same as I see every night you he competes at a high level defensively he can take on any matchup he’s growing and conf confidence on offense still makes the right plays on offense he’s a really really good player yeah and you

Mentioned the PO um Chris because I know growth isn’t linear and you always talk about the compete level which they haven’t lacked but seeing you know dub make shots like that late Chad make shots like that late Shay make the shots he just have you did you expect this

Level of poise this season at least from those younger guys um I mean I thought we showed great Poise at different times last year um this teams had an uncommon uh ability to just stay in the moment of the game but uh I thought you know we

Were good down the stretch in terms of getting shots after that one turnover we had um but we also I thought we were a little sloppy defensively you know when you have a lead like that the way to really slam the door in the game is with

Stops and making them earn everything I didn’t think we did a good enough job there so as much Poise as we showed in some parts of the game you know we also have a long way to go coach you talked about earlier three-point perimeter defense being really important you probably like

Getting out of there 18 of both teams shoot 40 but you make 45% and they make 37.5 yeah I mean obviously there’s a shooting variance uh in every game I thought we generated pretty good shots tonight uh and moved the ball and worked for good shots um and that’s some of the

Stuff I’m talking about in the fourth quarter where I thought we could have been tighter uh is to protect against the shooting variants obviously we made shots down the stretch we kept the score board moving uh and that allowed us to win the game but when you have a lead

Like that you want to be able to rely on the things you have the most control over um like defense rebounding execution Mark they kind of uh they kind of loaded up they put T him on Shay gave him a little bit of a different look in

That fourth quarter he only gets a few shots it doesn’t make a field goal but has a couple of assists those other guys kind of Step Up I just wonder how you thought he reacted to what they threw at him and what it said that without a

Field goal from him your other guys were making those plays yeah I mean he’s still um he managed the the game really well I thought um and I thought he made some important passes he obviously found Chad a couple times uh had a really good

Screen for dub uh on that last uh score that dub had so you know he’s learned how to impact the game in other ways and um you know he’s that’s why he’s a really good player it’s not just he’s not a Hired Gun scorer there was a

Stretch there in that third quarter when you guys built a big lead it seemed like those bench guys Cas Jay will some of those guys you felt like you were kind of contesting every shot I just wonder what you saw from their defensive effort energy you know I thought I give Jay

Will a lot of credit he didn’t play in the first half um and we didn’t start you know we didn’t put him in the game till late in the third um we were switching them and they were just catching a rhythm against the switching and so I wanted to try um changing that

Up and going coverage and he’s the best guy to do that with uh and his Readiness was impressive and you know we kind of have a culture of that the guys do a great job of staying ready um and every time a guy goes in and delivers like

That in a tough circumstance it just reinforces that mindset set so I give him a lot of credit you talked about it uh pregame uh 403s for them 52 tws how do you feel you guys did making them uncomfortable making them take shots that they normally don’t really want to

Take in the two-point uh range uh good and bad you know I thought um they defin I mean they’re a really good offense you know they’re really good offense they not only have top end talent but they have really good attacks they’re well coached they move the ball out of there

They keep the ball ahead of you they make you pay for mistakes so um it was a great barometer for us tonight you know a lot in that game that we can learn from um that we need to learn from in order to continue to improve uh against

Obviously a really quality opponent more than the numbers being good Josh seems to be more decisive uh not thinking as much uh have you seen anything different from him the last few weeks or so yeah I mean I think as we’ve talked about um you know he was he’s getting schemed a

Different way than he’s ever been schemed before that takes time you know to learn uh he made shots tonight but I think you know what he’s done what he’s really done that’s made him confident and decisive is he’s developed uh a more predictable style of play and and around controllable things movement cutting

We’ve added a couple things for him where he can facilitate and then screen uh he did that well tonight and so when you’ve got kind of that sourcing on offense then it doesn’t just come down to making and missing shots and I also think he’s really competed defensively

Mark with Chris DS you mentioned some of the the lapses I’m curious throughout the stretch of the game it felt like he was reacting to the doubles well reading them well just how much of that did you expect and how much of the decision making were you prepared for I mean he’s

Really good you know it’s that’s why they’re tough because you know if you don’t switch him then he’s teeing up really high percentage shots the other guys have gravity and so he forces you you almost have to switch him to take the the jump shooting away and then when

You switch him you know he’s a great ISO player he’s tall he can play over switches so you know there’s a reason why they’re hard to beat you guys have put together quite an impressive list of high highquality wins I mean just since Christmas first place teams in both

Conferences defending champs what have you learned or discovered about your team during this run um well I mean I I think they’re ambitious um but I also think they put the work in behind that and uh there’s so many examples of us improving you know not only this season but in

Previous seasons over time and they have a uncommon ability uh to block out the noise and to just stay focused on what we need to get better at uh and they tend to respond really well to adversity you know they they turn the page and get to the next one uh and they

Respond very well to to some of these little bumps we’re getting you know where you know we have a win like this but they’ll look at these these plays and they’ll look at the game in a in a sober manner that’ll allow us to keep getting better and as I’ve said you know

We’ve had some early uh success but if we want to continue to have success we have to keep getting better and I think we have a group that understands that where are those growth opportunities I mean like I said the execution on both ends of the floor down the stretch um

You know our ability you know to understand how to play with a lead you know you’re up 18 there’s a way to win that game in a methodical way that I thought got away from us a little bit tonight and then individual guys I mean

You can name a guy on the team and there’s plenty of stuff that they need to improve at and um not only improving but also sustaining the things that we’re doing at a high level it’s really hard to to play as well as we’re playing

And to beat a team like Boston so we also don’t want to take for granted the stuff that we’re doing well anybody else

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 127 – 123 win over the Celtics.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
9:39 Chet Holmgren
15:26 Jalen Williams
22:42 Coach Daigneault

Follow Our Social Media!

Website: https://www.nba.com/thunder/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okcthunder/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/okcthunder
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/okcthunder/
Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/okcthunder
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@okcthunder
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@okcthunder

#NBA #OKCThunder