TBU Podcast | 2OT Thriller | Adding Gordon Hayward | OKC Thunder

TBU Podcast | 2OT Thriller | Adding Gordon Hayward | OKC Thunder

Welcome into the Thunder basketball Universe we are recording this podcast on Friday February 9th that means the NBA tread trade deadline has come and gone it passed yesterday and the NBA the Thunder announced that they had made a move they have acquired Gordon Hayward from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange

For treyman Davis Berton and vasilia meich and a couple of picks cash considerations all in the press release but this is this is new information here for the th and a veteran coming into the roster yeah he’ll be the oldest player on the team coming in at age 33 6’7 225

Pounds uh Gordon Hayward definitely a household name in terms of a former Allstar and a guy that can do a lot of different things on the floor has basically been a 155 and five guy uh not just this season but throughout the course of his career so um you think

About the way that the Thunder plays guys that can make decisions on the floor can shoot it can pass it and can make that next play seems to really fit in with that and um so should be interesting and exciting we’re looking forward to maybe getting a chance to

Meet him over the next few days or or however long it takes for him to kind of get in get settled and and get everything going yeah we’re really excited to to see him in a thunder uniform see him on the floor and of course as we gather more information

Talking to Gordon Hayward and of course coach dagnal we will of course bring that information to you as well we do know one thing he’ll be wearing number 33 for the thunder so if you guys want to go ahead and get your jerseys all lined up and ordered you can get that

Going um but we love when we get those kind of little tidbits of information of course we’ll share that stuff with you as it comes along super super cool stuff and we welcome Gordon Hayward to the OKC Thunder and Oklahoma City in general it should be fun to have them in this city

And in this building all right the last time we podcasted it’s been about a week mind you we are very well rested right now the Thunder has had a nice three-day break between games they came from a trip their most recent game was in Utah taking on the Jazz before that though

The Thunder had a double overtime time an incredible thrilling I mean there was just so many different elements to this game we hadn’t got a chance to podcast since this game so Gallow let’s let’s go back let’s rewind let’s roll the tape on this game against the Raptors because

There was just so much happening in this game so the Thunder was stuck in the mud for about two and a half quarters yeah the offense just could not quite gain traction uh Toronto was playing an incredibly aggressive style of Defense on sheld Alexander in particular doubling him really high scrambling

Toronto has you know pretty good athletes in great size they were kind of playing this trapping with a with a Zone on the backside and and Scotty Barnes was just massive his arms and his body was everywhere and so the Thunder uh really could not get things going when

They were able to get C Clean Catch and Sh shoot looks they did not go down and ultimately Midway through the third quarter OKC got down by 23 MH and the amazing thing is there’s no buckling that happened and some somehow the Thunder just kept sticking with it and

That led to an incredible run there at the end of that uh third quarter yeah the Thunder went on a huge run I think it was 19 to two 19 to three or two something like that and in the third quarter they finally tied the game

Finally took a lead but of course I mean if a game goes into double overtime Thunder’s not like you know pulling away by 13 12 points they were they had to kind of like stiff arm the Raptor I mean because this game was just back and forth back and forth for the remain

Of that that quarter and a half there and it it was so in my brain I was just like what what what’s going to like what what’s happening right now because we’ve seen these runs by the thunder so many times right we’ve seen them come back

We’ve seen them you know put up massive runs to overcome massive deficits and then the Raptors they just wouldn’t go away no and this is uh fortunately everything we’ll tease the end here a little bit everything ended up good for the Thunder they won in double overtime

It was um a now double digit comebacks by 10 or more points by the Thunder this season who has one of the highest marks over the last couple seasons in that regard in terms of being able to charge back from those deficits but I thought that th this team was really personified

By the way that Lou Dort handled this game he started the game two for n shooting from the field he kept getting these open looks and you know they were within the flow of what the Thunder wanted to do to attack this Zone and attack that pressure on Shay Y and they

Weren’t going down they weren’t going down well as the game went on Lou adjusted but he maintained his confidence so he continued to take some of those threes and eventually they started to go down he ended up with five makes on the night but he also adjusted

By attacking really wisely into the lane and he had like three drop off passes to teammates on these great drives and dishes down underneath the the bucket and I don’t know if you noticed but I mentioned the phrase driveing dish well done Nick Gallow wow which is the name

Of my newsletter that you can find on our exclusive Thunder Insider uh weekly email that’s that goes out every Thursday you’re going to want to subscribe to that you can go on um the Thunder website and find that Thunder Insider email uh subscription link and

So um in that in that driveing dish I I wrote about how Lou really embodied what the Thunder wants to do on on kind of a mental level of staying engaged not giving up sticking with the program not deviating from the style of play and

Then that style of play being hey if the there take it if it’s not attack a close out and make the next play find Cutters find guys that are relocating and that’s exactly what Lou did and he ended up having just a sensational night um in

Terms of his scoring in terms of the physical impact yeah and of course he did those things like track down loose balls and knock away uh loose loose rebounds as well well he was one of five Thunder players that finished with 20 or more points I mean and and the

Three-point line really played a factor in this Lou obviously had five May threes the Thunder finished with 20 3 made Threes And if that sounds like a lot it’s because it ties the Thunder record for most threes made in a game and that just goes to show how to your

Point Nick the intelligence that the Thunder played with offensively especially after the first half of that game where and this is something they’ve been countered a lot this season where teams are just throwing a lot of different looks at them they are changing up their typical go-to defenses

To try to stop this Steamroller that is the thunder offense and so they’ve had to really find different ways to navigate these the the kitchen sink being thrown at them and the Thunder went up against the Raptor team with all of the length that you mentioned they

Were really packing the paint they were really just forcing the Thunder to not get into the paint not do their typical like drive into the paint kick it out behind the three-point line so OKC had to move the ball a lot around the perimeter just to try to create some of

Those creases try to create some of those cracks and it obviously the Thunder finished with 40 assists they finished with 23 made 3es that’s an indicator that they were able to just start cracking and unlocking that Raptor’s defense and there’s one play there’s one play that I want to talk

About because I I think it’s a great little sidebar here and I asked coach about it the sideline out of bounds play Oh My Gosh beautiful I mean we you it was like it was like one of his like less razzled Dazzle sideline out of bounds plays you know like he’s had some

Where it’s like oh my gosh what was that but this one was like just just kiss perfectly executed pass from Josh Giddy and then cut and finish by Aaron wi and screen from Shay gild Alex I was going to say the pass actually didn’t have to be as spectacular because of how

Spectacular the off ball movement and screening and cutting was by Shay and Aaron Wiggins so Josh giddy of course the one that threw this inbounds pass that tied the game and sent it to overtime in what was just a kind of a crazy sequence at the end of regulation

But there was this little Tango action that Shay and Aaron Wiggins engaged in right at the free throw line where Aaron screened I think Aaron screen Shay’s guy and of course the defense is all geared up for Shay to get the ball in that final second yeah and then Shay turns

Right around and screens Aaron’s guy screen the screener right screen the screener and then Aaron’s back door for an easy wide open layup and the Thunder has gotten that layup I mean at least at a dozen times over the course of the last two seasons a wide open layup with

There was how there was like five seconds left four seconds left in this game a wide open layup under the rim when you’re taking the ball out on your sideline is insane that that is a result of incredible play design incredible passing and incredible screening and

Cutting and like you don’t get that if one of those things is off and how many times so 5.8 seconds were left on the clock when by the way Josh giddy made another play that probably saved this game which was after a Miss shot by Shay balls rolling towards out of bounds RJ

Barrett of the Raptors is about to put both of his hands on it and Josh comes in he Dives on the floor Taps the ball and Barrett then has to kind of Corral it as he’s sliding out of bounds and Barrett’s touching the ball while he’s

Out of bounds if Josh doesn’t make that hustle play yeah this game is over yep Toronto inbounds the ball they get fouled there’s not enough time to play the foul game and move the ball down theor I mean so that play Saves the Game Josh’s pass saves the game and to your

Point 5.8 seconds on the shot on the sorry 5.8 seconds left on the clock how many times do we see a team just get the ball in bounds and somebody hoists a contested 28-footer right and the Thunder is getting a wide open layup at The Rim that’s a

95% you know shot yeah whereas most teams are probably getting like a 30% you know field goal percentage shot on that play So this this brought up a a burning question in my brain and so I asked Josh and I asked Mark about this

And I asked Jos I was like do you get excited like when you get the ball and you’re about to go like pass the ball inbounds on the sideline or the Baseline he’s like honestly yeah I do I do and it’s because like uh the coaches draw up

Such great plays and so it’s always like we’re going to get a good look and he has great chemistry with his teammates too who know to look for him so that brought up another burning question in my brain which was hey coach it having a guy like Josh who is

Such an elite passer what does that do for you and how you’re able to draw out plays and it was like yeah it really like unlocks The Playbook a little bit because we learned early on that you know when most teams are just using sideline out of bounds play just get the

Ball in bounds we have to incorporate a live cut for Josh because otherwise we’re just leaving opportunity and advantages on the table and Josh is so Adept and so strong at threading the needle making good well-timed passes that we if we don’t put that live cut in

There we might be leaving points on the table and so you’ll notice every single time the Thunder take the ball out sideline or Baseline there is one live cut it might not always be open it isn’t always open but there’s always an opportunity to score on that pass it

Reminds me of in football where you know if your team’s got like a third and 26 A lot of times teams will just like all right we’re going to run a draw we’re going to just drop a little screen pass we’re going to try to get some yardage

To to make the punt you know a little bit further downfield the Thunder does not operate that that way at all what if we could score a touchdown what if we just had one guy like on a nine route one guy on a post and you know one guy

Maybe we’ll have him as an option to dink out and like the Thunder is trying to score on that on that possession on the third and 26 when most teams are not yeah exactly I just thought that was so fascinating because like it it could

Only happen if you have a guy like Josh if you have Cutters like Aaron Wiggins and you have selfless guys like Shay guildas Alexander who were willing to use their gravity to make the team better and obviously that sideline out of bounds play I think is just a

Microcosm of this team as a whole and how all of those things work together so that the hole is greater than the sum of its parts beautifully beautifully done okay now we can go into the double overtime part of this sure sorry I had to do that little aside there just

Because I thought it was I thought it was awesome um so yeah game goes into overtime overtime is not enough the both teams only score I believe eight points in the first overtime yeah the first overtime both teams only score eight points and then we get to the second

Overtime and the Thunder’s like all right I’ve had enough of this I’ve had enough of we’re we’re done playing around here they put up 17 points in the second overtime and it was it was just a lot of different guys playing a factor in this Chad had some incredible plays

That he had a massive block he had a three and then Lou had his awesome and one over yaka burle went sliding across the Baseline screaming it was just it was it was such such fun entertainment that was where I felt like this game really married the Thunder’s mental

Toughness with its physical toughness right it was a ton of mental toughness required to come back from down 23 but the physical stuff the kenrich tap out of a long rebound Lou going I mean he’s L the shortest guy on the floor at the end of this game he’s going into yakob

P’s chest a big Burly Center and he just straight up overpowers him finishes the an1 and wins you know that that was kind of the nail in the coffin and had great opportunity to talk to him in the walk-off interview afterwards and of course um you know he’s being mobbed and

Surrounded by his teammates and uh it was just so clear like this is a team that is really putting those two things together of course there is a long way in this season to go and they’re going to have these moments where they don’t put both of those sides of the equation

Together but when you see it come to fruition it makes for some incredible nights and I’m so happy that this happened at paycom center with the home fans able to experience it oh my gosh just the atmosphere and the build building you could tell the fans were

Like okay I’m getting more Bang from my buck here this is incredible 10 more minutes of basketball more and the game was an early tip off wasn’t it it was like a 600 p.m. tip off instead of a 7 p.m. tip off Sunday night game and it

Was hilarious because we got home at the exact same time yeah we’re sitting there on postgame media availability I was like wait a second this is exactly when we would be doing this normally Chris fer made a great point on our game broadcast on B Sports Oklahoma that the

Two overtime periods took 58 minutes of real world time to complete so yeah there’s the extra hour there’s the extra hour right there well obviously the Thunder outlasted the Raptors in that game in just in an incredible feat of mental and physical toughness then they went out to Utah that game was really

Tough another really gritty game against the Jazz I mean every single time these two teams have met this season it just seems like it’s it’s kind of a scrap between these two squads the Thunder dropped that game but the beauty of that was that they had three days in between

Games to just kind of rest recover and fill their cup a little bit Yeah and something happened after that Utah game that I think connects back to a point that you were making about the Toronto game and it was a quote from Chad holgren um who noted that you know the

The Thunder is getting played very differently by opponents you talked about this with the way Toronto defended the Thunder and was extremely aggressive with Shay toron uh Utah was did it in a different way they really sat back in a Zone and then they kind of like it was

Almost like a box in one a little bit they put Chris Dunn on Shay and then kind of zoned up behind him and Chris Dunn very physical long athlete there’s a reason why he was drafted fifth in the in the NBA draft a handful of years ago

And uh Chad made the point afterwards like you got to take it as a compliment when teams are throwing different things at you and are doing stuff that they’re not used to doing this is not how Utah typically def you’s not in practice every day going over their you know box

In one junk defense that’s not something they’re working on regularly yeah and and Chad said the key for them and this was the sentence that really stood out to me I think his Capper the third sentence is what really got people’s attention but the the second sentence is

What stood out to me he said you have to keep that same eagerness to attack whatever they’re doing on a night toight basis and and it connects to something that kenrich told me once which is like this team finds it very fun to solve these problems together they think it’s

Really like it’s kind of invigorating to like okay hey here’s like something that this team is doing how do we work together as a as a you know as a team as a fiveman unit to like Orient ourselves differently around that and then the last sentence that Chad said like hey if

You’re seeing the same looks every night that means that you’re not winning yeah you’re not beating anybody and so I I think that’s where he kind of gets the this is a compliment standpoint is like this team right now the Thunder they’re they’ve gotten the results on the scoreboard and that’s what’s gotten

Team’s attention yeah and so they’re going to continue to see this stuff and oh by the way they’re going to continue to see this stuff for the next few years as well and so uh you know teams are he made the other point teams aren’t going

To just let you beat them and so yeah um and so the reason I’m bring this up I wanted to I wanted to ask you yeah in your playing days do you remember a time where you and your teammates kind of had to like problem solve something like big

Like this that a team was throwing your direction yeah CU in college we I played at Belmont and we were known as like the three-point shooting team we were like had the best three-point Shooters in the conference we they called us splashville like that was just like our thing and so

Teams which you know typically you had a couple of good Shooters on a team but like when everyone out there on the floor had the green light a lot of teams were just throwing just you know two three zones box and one full court press

Don’t let him get down and so like we had to really work on problem solving in real time like this where it’s like okay how do we get our point guard the ball where she can you know it was a lot of Tango screens a lot of you know cutting

And and moving and we had an offense where it was just a lot of read and react it wasn’t just like set play call run this to get this one option it was like all right here’s the action figure out what you need to do within this

Action exactly exactly and so and a lot of that it grew over time just like this this team right here and you know my freshman year we weren’t very good at it and by the time I got to my senior year it was you know we knew it like the back

Of our hands and we knew what to expect going into it and it was it it is fun when you figure it out especially when you don’t know what you’re going to get com into a game like a team throws a one31 zone at you and you’re like okay

Yeah all right yeah and it just takes you a minute to calibrate and that’s something that this Thunder team You know despite losing a very tough hardfought game at Utah I mean a lot of teams have dropped games in Utah this season you know it’s not it’s nothing to

To hang their heads about uh but but it I think it’s a great kind of outlier to the the fact that like you know the thunder in in general has figured these things out over the course of the Season as time goes on they’re going to have more and more of these

Things to figure out definitely thanks for uh sharing your experiences there yeah but I will say in in college basketball zone is a lot more prevalent I would say then obviously the NBA so it’s like we saw zone a lot more often because a lot of teams had Zone

Typically just like and you can hang out in the lane more defensively there’s no defensive three seconds college so you can kind of just stand there and be big just be big take up as much space but how much fun is that when a coach tells

You like you kind of get into a set and then like okay go play basketball fig out and you hear that sometimes from coach and it’s a great of confidence too like that that’s what every player wants whenever they’re out there this is just how we’re getting started exactly yeah

Just initiate the action you guys are good basketball players I’m trusting you that you will find the right opportunity out there on the floor and we did it was great it was a lot of fun when we started knocking down shots even though exactly exactly you know it’s just like

You know I like youever just like gone and played pickup basketball and like yes can confirm can confirm you would like go play pickup basketball and then like suddenly you’re like why are why is this person picking me up so early like why why why are there two

People on me right now and pick up basketball it’s cuz you’re really good because you’re good and that’s like all right okay yeah there’s no better compliment than the team like retreating back on defense and somebody being like shooter shter SHO or like someone just like aggressively denying you the ball so

That you don’t get it back it’s like all right all right I see where I stand here I’d love to know how that feels someday you can come to Michael Cage’s Church Le can find out it would be great all right all right we’ve been we’ve

Been to the church league we’ been the church Le it’s so fun it’s like especially after you know me and my thre knee surgeries you know going and playing in the church league it’s a nice do Statue of Liberty thing it’s like come on but know what’s great about

Michael he only shoots threes now so it’s like he’s not like this big you know massive force in the paint he can be if he chooses to be but he a lot of the times I would say like 85% is like just choosing to knock down the three-point line for some reason Michael

Ends up down on the Block when it’s game point interesting yeah in the whole leadup he’s behind the three-point line but when it gets down to game point suddenly he’s down there I wonder why I wonder why that would be the case all right um so as we mentioned

We’re recing this on Friday February 9th that means after this podcast we’re going to head out to the airport and take a flight because we are heading out to Dallas for a quick one game Road Trip taken on the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday that game’s going to be at 2

P.m so just make sure you have that circled you’re not waiting until 700 to turn on ballet Sports Oklahoma and then after that game it’s a quick turnaround come right back to paycom Center on Super Bowl Sunday and we’re facing off against the Sacramento Kings that game

Is going to be at 2 p.m. central Time as well yeah the the reason for the 2 p.m is obviously you want to play on Sunday before the Super Bowl and not interfere with that and so the day before that you’ve got to have at least 24 hours

Between tip offs for that back toback to be legal in the NBA so that’s why that Saturday game’s on two is at 2 o’clock as well which is is great my kids get to watch the game exactly I get to get home before halftime and watch Usher perform

That’s the only thing I care about um and then the final game before the All-Star break Tuesday in Orlando taking on the magic that game’s going to be at 6:30 p.m. central Time and it’s a TNT game um so it’s not going to be on balet

Sports Oklahoma I know I know like don’t don’t send in as many emails at Furious emails we know but we’ll still be on the ground though so check us out on all of your OKC Thunder social channels and the website and everything and then after

That it is the allstar break and as we all know Shay guildas Alexander Jaylen Williams Chad holgren and our very own K Wallace and Keon Johnson Johnson Johnson going to be there for the g-league game they are all going to be representing Oklahoma City in Indianapolis we are

Going to be so busy we are going to be so so busy all over Indie but we do this for you so be sure to come back to the Thunder basketball Universe podcast during Allstar Weekend after all-star weekend because we’re going to be on the ground we’ve got all the Intel all the

Insight everything that you need to know to follow this team through you know one of the most fun weekends in the NBA there are going to be so many Thunder cameras in Indianapolis just to keep track these guys that are there and it’s so fun I mean Shay this is kind of a

Different year than it was last year for him being an All-Star starter there’s kind of a little bit more pump in circumstance I would imagine you know at his some some of his media availabilities there’s going to be more people crowding him than than in years

Past you know um and for guys like Chad and Cas I mean this is sort of A Dream Deferred for Chad Yeah by a year and you know I think the level of gratitude that he’s demonstrated to this point about the experiences that he’s gotten to have

This year after what happened last year right um I think that will again surface and then kase um you know he’s a man of few words but I’m sure that this is going to be really really special for him um to be able to experience all of

This and and Jay dub too of course he’s a man of many more words than much more words and he’s the veteran of the squad at this point you know went to Rising Stars last year back again this year so he can show chat and case around my

Favorite quote this season was asking Mark about Chad case and dub making the rising stars game he was like yeah it’s great I’m just glad the distraction is over because I could really tell K was just like gunning for it K who like plays in the tightest box ever and does

Like but you know he’s expanding that a little bit more we didn’t uh we didn’t let people know uh ched and jdub are going to be on the same Rising Stars team yeah they’re on team this is amazing team jayen Rose so Jaylen Williams is playing with Jaylen I just

Thought that was great there’s too many jayen there’s a lot of jayen maybe it’ll just be J Homen for the game just to you know even even cohesive K I believe is on pal Gasol’s team yes so um you know they were all talking about how they

Wish that they could all be on the same team together but I guess we’ll have to see him go monoo it be really fun to see J oh my gosh that’ be awesome that’s what I was I was like oh yeah that’ll be a fun match up you know Pal Gasol is

Gonna be like go get him go get dub that’s you and what a great showcase for keante Johnson also I mean Mark digal talked about that as well just being a great opportunity for a guy like him to you know look the G League kind of an

Invisible you know space at times not every team around the league gets to watch every game uh in the G league and it’s you know they’re not on national TV every night you know so uh what an opportunity for for Keon to be able to get out there and play and great

Validation that what he’s doing he’s doing a good job he’s kept his head down kept his head down doing good work and just this is this is some nice candy for him you know as a reward just keep doing and keep doing what you’re doing Mark likes the broccoli and Skittles

Analogies he does he does we’ve gotten we’ve gotten a couple sprinkles over it this year it’s been great sprinkles nice see what I did there okay than well that wraps up our podcast today thank you so much for watching and listening be sure to like rate and subscribe wherever you

Get your podcast thank you so much to our producer Matt bishop and until next time Thunder up and catch you later

Paris and Nick look back on the 135-127 double overtime win over Toronto that saw a 23-point comeback, 23 made threes and 40 assists by the Thunder. The TBU crew gives a brief introduction of the newest member of the Thunder, Gordon Hayward. We also look ahead to the team’s final three games before the All-Star break.

00:35 Roster moves
2:10 Recapping the matchup with the Raptors
7:15 Josh Giddey’s sideline out-of-bounds pass to Aaron Wiggins
12:30 Hightling the second overtime
22:45 OKC All-Star Weekend representation

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