ESPN reacts to Thunder beat Raptors 135-127 in 2 OT; Giddey: 24 PTS, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 23 PTS

ESPN reacts to Thunder beat Raptors 135-127 in 2 OT; Giddey: 24 PTS, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 23 PTS

What a wild comeback win for the Thunder after trailing by as many as 23 points in this game it took not one but two overtime periods for the Thunder to walk away with the victory five players scored 20 or more points and OKC walks away Victorious 135 1227 as we welcome

You back inside a paycom Center into Thunder live postgame I’m Paris Lawson sitting next to the Thunder’s very own Royce young and Royce I I don’t know where to start here there was just so much in this game whether it’s trailing by as many as 23 points or having so

Many guys step up at different times throughout this game there’s just so much to pull from this game two words come to mind for me right off the top Paris about this performance by the Thunder is resilient clearly going down by 23 but also intelligent because the

Way that the the Raptors clear clearly had a scheme and a game plan in mind with how they wanted to guard Oklahoma City we know that Thunder one of the best offenses in the entire NBA they have one of the most incredibly talented and difficult to guard players in SGA

And the Raptors doubled and tripled him basically from tip off they played like a hybrid Zone they switched everything they really tried to bracket SDA and it’s no coincidence SDA finished with career high 14 assists but then along with it just the way that the Thunder solved throughout the game it was clear

That the Thunder didn’t have great answers for it early on they struggled to figure out where to get good shots now it helped the ball started going in the basket in the second half as the Thunder really built that run but they really clearly started moving the ball

Side to side and essentially just figuring out how to beat that Raptor scheme and it was really impressive to watch in addition to the offense we saw a little bit of a raise of intensity on the defensive end as well especially in that second half and into overtime we

Really saw the Thunder pick up its intensity its Force its physicality what did you see on that end the floor I mean there were many moments where it felt like oh man that comeback was great but and it felt like the Raptors hit a shot

I mean I think of that shuder three that bounced way off the back of the rim and somehow went in I mean there was just moments where it felt like the Thunder may have just been out of punches to throw but they found them and like you

Said Paris a lot of that had to get in multiple stops with the game on the line with the Raptors having the ball in their hands with a chance to win and the thunder come up with stops in those situations so I mean you go to I mean

There’s just so much to take away from this game just the the five players scoring 20 plus Josh giddy stepping up big Aaron Wiggins what a spark he was I mean there’s so many big moments throughout this game and we’ll get to all of that for sure but before we do

That let’s bring in our friends Chris fiser and Michael cage who were on the call for all of this guys I know you’re exhausted tell us what you saw from that sideline uh we’re not as exhausted as the people that were out there playing double overtime 50th game of the season

It was a memorable one Michael how about double overtime for just the 11th time in OKC history the first half it felt like a Sunday thund were down they couldn’t do anything offensively saw that exotic defense you expect that from Nick nurse but Darko rakovich they came

Out with a great game game plan Thunder fell behind by 23 couldn’t knock down those three-point shots and then something changed in that third quarter you had that Aaron Wiggins offensive rebound the put back and then the three started to fall and it was a completely different game and the Thunder pulled

This one out in double overtime well they did a good job of sticking with the shots I mean the threes didn’t fall in the first half uh and all of a sudden you knock down seven in the third quarter after only knocking down seven in the entire first half and you

Finished the game with 23 so I thought that did a lot of damage on the scoreboard helping to come back from 23 points down and you know all of a sudden you’ll down six points at the end of three quarters from that point on man

It was just a dog fight I mean a bunch of punches and Jabs thrown no one could throw a haym maker until late in his second overtime where the Thunder got those timely buckets they got those timely stops just so many subplots in this game Cas Wallace who started the

Game he had to leave with that right shoulder injury Thunder already down playing two different players just so many different things you can talk about with all the guys stepping up the psychological component of this game you never want to go into double overtime and lose with all that extra effort that

You have to put forth with those 10 extra minutes but it’s the Thunder pulling it out late and what a game it was what a game indeed and it took everybody out there to get the job done Chris and Mike thank you so much we’ll

Be with you a little bit later in the show and I I want to go back to something you brought up Roy intelligent because it really did take a little bit of some puzzle solving to try to crack that that Toronto defense that was really packing the paint and mixing up

Their coverages throughout the night no question and again I mean just the way the Thunder really couldn’t just play like the Thunder and and that had a lot to do with the way the Raptors guarded them and taking away the ability to drive and really touch the paint you

Look at it the thunder only shot eight free throws in this game in a double overtime game 63 three-pointers which is quite unusual for the Thunder but a lot of that you know they where they had to unlock it was swinging the ball side to side they’d get the ball to the corner

And then they’d find a cutter on the Baseline and then they could really kind of start the blender a little bit that’s when the Thunder were able to find their Cutters and all and again obviously I think a lot of this had to do with making some shots in the second half the

Thunder in that first half I don’t know if Coach Mark’s going to feel the same way but it felt like the Thunder missed some good looks in that first half and then they started to fall in the second half there the Rhythm started to build yeah so much to pull from this game

Let’s roll the tape let’s start rap really trying to scheme them Josh giddy right at the Forefront of that with a massive game and a massive dagger and one it is just incredible to look at these final stats and know how this game turned out you see the amount of

Three-pointers made that TI’s the most made in OKC history but the free throw discrepancy is something that I just cannot rrap my head around only eight made free throws on the night for the Thunder 21 attempts on the night for the Raptors yeah and I mean a lot of that I

Mean obviously it has something to do with the Thunder shooting 63 three-pointers it’s a little bit the way that but you know I mean that’s the way that the game goes also on that 40 assists for the thunder in this game which is I think the second time this

Year that they’ve had 40 or more assists uh but again that’s just the way that the game kind of had to go the Raptors were forcing the pass and the Thunder were taking advantage of it and really did it in that second half and the two overtimes on top of it just an

Incredibly resilient effort tonight by the Thunder defeating the Toronto Raptors in double overtime all right let’s hear from Thunder head coach Mark dagnal who is now standing by at the podium Nick Gallow Casey Thunder uh Mark seemed like your guys displayed a lot of restraint tonight and patience um where

Does that come from within this group to be able to outlast a team like this yeah I thought um that was a great game for us um the way they played Us credit them you know with their game plan uh they made us uncomfortable in the first half

Um you never know how a team’s going to play you so it took us uh obviously a little bit to calibrate that um and I thought we came out in the second half um you know double team and Shay all over the place um I I was really

Impressed by his ability to get it out of there and then the rest of the guys ability to play on the catch shoot when they’re open uh drive and make decisions uh and I thought that really opened things up for us uh in the start of the

Half we missed a couple shots and we went down by 23 and the game kind of tested us as to whether or not we were going to kind of stay with that even though we weren’t getting the direct results and to the team’s credit uh we

Stayed on it you know and let the game turn um and it was an impressive show of confidence uh by our team to just kind of you know confidence in each other and then con confidence in themselves um to go out there and get that one that was

Kind of the the mental side of things there was also sort of a physical sheer force of will from guys like Lou and kenrich and and many others as well what did you see in that regard yeah they were great you know obviously that’s high minutes uh in a game double

Overtime um you know they just you great grit great will got competitive guys you know that that rise to the level of the game win or lose I thought that was on display tonight Mark the defense down the stretch the second half especially that second overtime felt wildly

Different from what we watched for for most of that first half just what did you see change and I guess what what stood out to you maybe certain plays anything like that down a stretch yeah credit uh Toronto with the way they started the game I thought they were

Just on the gas they played with way more Force than we did on both ends of the floor um and had us on our heels for much of the first half uh we got that corrected uh at halftime and um I actually thought in the first overtime

We kind of had a we we regressed a little bit there on the defensive end then the second overtime our defense was tight and um the guys did a great job of adjusting in game problem solving together on both ends of the floor the defensive you know physicality uh was

One example and then the attacks of the offense was another yeah and you you shoot 63 threes in this game you shoot only eight free throws um obviously double did this game feel as weird as it was happening as it ended up being well the eight free throws you know come on

You know I was not happy with that and vo that but uh you know the threes it’s like great if they’re going to be open you know I was impressed with uh our guys confidence stepping into those shots if a team’s going to uh you know

Volunteer to the ball like that uh and give us you know open driving lanes and let good decision makers play out of advantages and then good confident Shooters shoot open shots then um we’re happy with that so um you know let’s keep it coming you know if they’re open

Like that what did you think of just just all that job did um and the way he played off the ball and and when he had the ball and just his game in general yeah I thought he played with great intensity tonight you know especially on

The defensive end of the floor and on the glass um I thought he did a great job um from a physical standpoint he had different matchups throughout the night and did a nice job on that end and then offensively I thought played with great decisiveness you know in his shooting

And also his driving uh his movement off the ball I thought he had a great balance tonight and when you talk about the way obviously the way they played Shay is hard to do a dub on the floor and they they could do you talked about wondering how teams were going to

Approach that but you talk about the other guys playing off it but what does it tell you about him and the way he played to to take that defense and figure it out uh I thought he figured out as the game went on and so did we

You know I thought we were a little you know he was a little he held it a little long in the first half and then when it came out the other guys I thought were a little indecisive on a couple plays and then coming out of halftime he was

Decisive off it they were decisive it didn’t work right away and you know to the credit of the team we stuck with it um and if teams are going to play us like that then we’re going to take what they give us the other thing it does for you is we offensive

Rebounded tonight because if they’re scrambling around like that you get free runs to the glass you’re shooting a lot of Threes those are long rebounds those were huge plays for us so um like I said we’re going to get played a lot of different ways uh this season you know

We don’t know what opponent’s going to do coming into the game it took us a minute to figure that out tonight but we got better as the game went on uh and took a step forward you know in our season season to we’re going to see this

Again at some point and just one more thing with regard to that you’re going to you you would hope play meaningful games down the stretch of the Season play meaningful games in the playoffs what does it do for a team to just sort of have to calculate to to figure some

Stuff out that can serve them down the road yeah I mean no I mean we’re getting uh I I don’t know the numbers on this but as I said before I said it in December and I would double down on it now we’re not getting like base coverages very often you know we’re

Getting some version of uh a plan B by our opponents you know whether it’s the cross matching The Zone what we saw tonight um you know we’re seeing something different every night and at the end of the day you know if you have a good offense and potent players like

We do that’s going to happen and these games are allowing us to learn these attacks and get comfortable with the discomfort of alternate defenses and thought tonight was a great example of that because it was uncomfortable early the guys stayed together they problem solved together and we got better as the

Game went on Wiggins was well he didn’t mind stepping in and making those shots I is one thing to get him but he kind of LED that surge coming back from 23 yeah he was huge I mean he and Chad are two guys that you know we’ve encouraged to

Shoot more open threes because of how well they shoot it and what it does for our offense and uh wigs has done a great job of uh turning that up lately without like hunting you know and shooting bad ones he’s still he’s just finding more

Good ones like tonight uh and Chad did a great job of stepping into him as well and so those guys um they made big ones Wiggins to to cut into that lead and then Chad obviously down the stretch head to huge huge shots and when things aren’t going well what what’s the mood

Of the team I mean are they still pushing it do you have to kind of push them to keep going because a lot of shots are just in and out and the league grow to 23 I mean how you but there’s a lot of time left yeah some teams are are

Are kind of together and happy uh when things are good and then they detach uh when there’s adversity and we’ve got a group of guys the the chemistry of the team is real uh because as the games get harder they tend to connect more and problem solved together and I I thought

Tonight was a great example of that you know the game was not going our way on either end uh easy to pack it in point fingers try to do it ourselves and we did quite the opposite you know coming out of halftime um they showed confidence in each other showed

Confidence in themselves uh problem solved together and like I said the best part of that the sneaky thing about that is we started that way out of the half and it didn’t work you know and Toronto extended the lead to 23 and yet we were persistent with it together and I

Thought that was really impressive by the team in the first half it seemed like they were doubling Shay a little higher than teams normally do I mean when he would kick it out led to a lot of threes and seemed like just we’re missing it second half that seemed to

Change and you mentioned how they were being more decisive was it was it just ball falling in the second half or was I thought he helped us create a little more rhythm in the second half like I thought he got off it earlier um and he was For spee Fore Fore for looke for speee spee fore [Laughter] spe Fore fore foreign speech for speech for speee fore Foree for

ESPN reacts to Oklahoma City Thunder beat Toronto Raptors 135-127 in 2 OT; Josh Giddey: 24 PTS, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 23 PTS