OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Minnesota Timberwolves | December 26, 2023

OKC Thunder Full Media Availability | Post Game vs Minnesota Timberwolves | December 26, 2023

Thunder uh Shay seemed like pretty much no lulls in the offense tonight really consistent uh 48 minute performance uh what do you think contributed to that yeah um I think we played together on both ends of the floor um for the most part of the night um we do that and trust

That um things go our way usually um some nights might not H shots um the Laker game felt like that um but I think just hats off to the guys for tring it um and sticking with it um and tonight it it paid off for sure I know obviously

Playing all 12 minutes of the first quarter contributes to this but you’ve been so productive in first quarters and um efficient both as a a scorer and a playmaker for your teammates what are you I guess looking for searching out in those Opening 12 minutes when You Face a

Team usually guys have schemes um but at the end of the day it’s just making the right basketball play when I come down um the court trying to be aggressive trying to set the tone on both ends of the floor um but just just let the game come to me

And make the right play I know you guys talked about how much you hang your hat on the defensive effort for 24 turnovers tonight what do you like about you guys’ effort on that side of floor yeah we were good we were connected um communication was good out there um and

We did a good job on their main guys sh so much was made especially at the beginning of the year about the rebounding and it’s always going to be a a little bit of a thing when you guys are as small as you are especially

Against a team as big as this do you feel like you guys have gotten better at just kind of scrapping when you’re when you’re playing small and and crashing the boards a little better um absolutely um I think we can all feel um the rebounding deficit um we can feel when

It’s when it’s like a a big part of the game we can like we can feel the shift and momentum when it happens um and we just try to do everything we can it’s on the the front of our minds and going through film and stuff like that it’s

Just something that we we have to do as much as we can and control we can control when you’re playing small the way you guys so often do you’re playing a team this big there are always going to be trade-offs it’s tonight kind of the plus side of all that when you move

The ball they’ve got bigger guys trying to chase it that kind of stuff yeah absolutely um with a team that big you have to play Fast um you have to move the ball you have to make them work um like you said there’s upsides and downsides but we use

The to our advantage for sure tonight Shay on a drive in the game you had a spin that you hit Lou on a shot in the corner that looked like a big reaction from both of you seems like you’ve really leveled up your passing game and

Just sort of all the passes that you can make what went into that during the offseason just sort of developed those skills um I think uh playing Team Canada I was like full-time point guard um and kind of seeing different coverages different defenses uh with the teams across the world

And the teams um from all over the world I think the game is slower it’s a lot more reading it’s a lot more it’s like uh a lot more like his skilled and thinking is involved in that game um and I think it helped a lot inter with the

Athletic on that play Lou hits the three the celebrations with Lou tonight just seem to be a little bit bigger um is there just like what what does he mean to you I was asking Mark about this but what do what does l specifically mean to your group um especially when he’s

Making shots um L is obviously our defensive anchor um he’s been that for so long he puts his hat on every night guard’s the best player runs around um doesn’t pout some nights he doesn’t get shot some nights he does um such a professional such a good guy um and when

Guys like that succeed uh it feels that much more better K is now shooting 50% from three you whenever he’s out there what does he kind of give you guys um a a fight a dog mentality um he guards bigger guys he guards smaller guys he does whatever it takes

Um he rebounds he offensive rebounds he Dives on the floor uh he’s a guy that every team in the NBA needs um we’re lucky to have him for sure J you went right at Rudy goar tonight in the pain a few times and he’s potentially one of the best Rim

Protectors in the league what kind of goes into that fearlessness on your end um just playing basketball and playing to my strengths um trying to get to something I’m comfortable getting to uh the best players best defenders are in the world are in this league I’m aware that and I

Work hard knowing that I’m going to play those type of guys um night in and night out so I’m prepared you guys keep mental notes and I’m referring the first time you guys played we had a really good first half offensively M they went Zone it kind of

Fouled your offense up yeah they went Zone the first quarter tonight it obious didn’t affect you the what’s that feel what’s that feel like uh it it feels good um still room to get better but uh I think that’s what we expect we have a group of guys that that attack every day

Um look in the mirror as an individual and as a team um and we know like we we hold each other accountable and we know what we need to get better at and that was one of the things um zone offense we’ve been working on and I think we saw

It pay off tonight so I’m not surprised Jaylen Lou hits five threes uh kenri with another two you seem to be able to find a lot of different guys from behind the arc as a team tonight um what are those guys doing when they’re playing

Off the action to come up with with good shooting angles um we call it creating windows we was just like finding space you know when we drive um I mean who was the last team we played the Lakers yeah yeah we we got those looks

Against La too uh we just missed them um but you know those guys are really good at kind of next shot mentality and uh they knocked him down tonight so that was that was dope dope to see before the game Mark said that playing against Denver playing against the Lakers kind

Of we’re nice preparation tools for this game tonight how cool is that that you guys are are finding ways to learn from playing other opponents and able to apply that to to a new one uh yeah um it’s good just cuz you know those are those are really good teams so whenever

You’re able to kind of play them early in the year it kind of let you know where you’re at um and they throw a lot of different schemes at us just throughout the year cuz we play them so much so um you know it’s good to kind of

See that and then as we saw like when we played Minnesota the first time they went in that zone and that kind of messed us up in the games we were kind of able to attack that a little better tonight so um we’re just kind of learning you know what works and what

Doesn’t work so it’s good that we kind of get to play these teams as early as possible hi Hart with the Oklahoma you not only gave the offense a spark tonight but also then had to have a match up with Carl Anthony tailon some of the time how would you describe just

Kind of how you were able to settle in defensively tonight just have a lot of help behind me so it allows me to kind of crawl into the ball and make it uncomfortable um so that’s more credit to the other four that are on the floor

Um when you have good players like that whenever you whenever they see a crowd or know that somebody else is going to help it makes it more difficult for them to kind of choose their spots and um I thought we did a good job of just rotating kind of throwing different

Looks at him doubling him randomly so um you know so that’s more of the four behind me and I just kind of crawled in the ball make it difficult the other question what have you seen in Lou Dort as he’s kind of as coach Dave KN said

Whether the cold streak to be on the hot streak that he’s on offensively now uh it’s good uh Lou shoots a lot behind the scenes so um you know stuff that nobody in the media would see or I mean even probably some of the players on our

Team uh you know he goes in there a lot and shoots uh after games you know before games so um just credit to him to sticking with it um he’s getting a lot of good looks so um you know whenever you’re getting good looks they’re going

To fall and uh he’s done a good job of picking his picking his spots well and you know now he’s starting to knock him down Jaylen they’re obviously huge and you guys are going to play small so much is tonight kind of the the blueprint for

What you got to do you made them chase the ball cuz the ball moved so much you you guys kind of felt like you scrapped on the boards forced a bunch of turnovers that kind of stuff uh yeah I think we’ve done a good job at for and

Turnovers this year in general um I don’t really ever think that’s like the goal is to go in there and try and steal the ball but you know you want to show good players crowds and you know make their life difficult uh you always want

To make them play to the next action I thought we did a good job of that but um yeah every game’s also you know unique and different just just in the sense of like our schemes and what we’re trying to do but foundational stuff like rebounding one shot like that that just

Goes for every single game have you guys I know it’s not that the rebounding thing is fixed or that it’s never going to be a problem but do you feel like you guys have gotten better at just crashing from the perimeter at at fighting for them when they’re when they’re getable

Uh I think we just made more of an emphasis on it I don’t know if we got better at it yet but um you know sometimes when you when you have people taking tough shots the ball just bounces weird you know stuff that is out of our

Control but at the same time we are going we’re crashing more it’s more conscious um I think guys are trying and just scrapping so I think we’re getting a lot more of the controllable ones you hit two threes back to back in the second half what what’s what’s going

Through your head after that second one goes down I was dribbling up for the third one I was definitely going to shoot it um just going under screen shooting looks that that are open um you know when you have go bear and Cat in there

It’s harder to you know get to the paint as much so just trying to read what the defense gives me and uh those just happen to be the shots but I was for sure for to shoot the third one and then with the Wolves being number one in the

West is this one that like you’re excited for like you Circle or is it just another game uh just another game I think not even them being number one in the west just I think they’re a really good team and so like I said earlier whenever you can match up against them

And kind of see where you are as a team I think that’s that’s a good thing but um yeah it definitely has like more emphasis just cuz they’re like a really good team and you know they they always play us tough so it’s fun to go out there and competing against them you

Mentioned the Defenders with you and one of those guys is kerch Williams kind of what does he bring to the team and what’s it like playing with him uh switchability and competitive uh you know Kenny hustle his name for a reason so it is fun to play with K Rich uh he

Plays really hard and uh he gives us a lot of defensive looks he’s been shooting the ball really well as well so he’s been able to kind of stretch the floor um but yeah just just no fear plays hard um also gives us that rebounding Edge a little bit too in that

Second unit so he does a really good job with that lineup where you guys went really small and they went really big did a pretty good job against the lineup what do you feel like was the key to slowing them down um yeah like I said just throwing different looks

Defensively um trying to make them speed up and I think just kind of limiting one shot I think that’s kind of our biggest thing is you know you get a lot of open looks when you’re able to get Second Chances and I thought we did good good

Job of shutting that down and then we’re able to kind of get out in transition Jay when you said that you were definitely going to shoot the third one because one of the things Mark just gave you credit for was not shooting the third one that’s why I didn’t shoot it

Uh what made you what made you not shoot I didn’t want to come out the game so it’s not really a lot to that one cuz it was going to be from far too so um yeah just just knowing time and score you know we were on a run at that point

In time so trying to get another good shot Nick Gallow KC Thunder uh Lou the offense seem so steady throughout the course of the night you didn’t have any of those you know two three minute stretches um where you didn’t get good looks or didn’t create something um easy

For yourselves what was the key to that against uh the number one rated defense yeah uh I’m going say just the way we moov the ball I mean we know we know they they’re pretty good defensive team and the way that they they move around

So our main thing was just to move the ball and to try to find the best shot that we can we can find that’s what we did there was a time when you know you didn’t have the shooting percentages from behind the arc that you have now I

Just was wondering if you could reflect on um the way that you’re really able to hurt teams and what you the work you’ve put in over the course of time um to be kind of a three-point barrage kind of guy yeah I mean like like you said it’s

It’s to work just trusted trying to you know always shooting the ball with confidence shoot the ball to to to to make it all the time and that’s just my my mindset and that’s that’s what’s in my head and then should shoot the good ones at the same time you know whenever

I’m open the way that we move the ball you know credit to my teammates you know it’s the way we move the ball like that I’m always find some good shots so I just got knock it down kind of a followup on that um you went through a

Little bit of a slump but seem to be back on track what was the key for you to keep your head down and keep keep positive about taking the right shots to keep trusting it really I mean I kind of know what kind of shot I’m going get

Every game now so to just be ready and and and shoot it um it’s going to happen to have some some off night know you man as basketball but um you know I’m just always sh with confidence then you guys for 24 turnovers tonight what’ you like

About the defensive effort uh it was just we was trusting it just moving around moving as a team um and the communication was big too I mean just hearing all the coverages and everything and the guys on the help side too so it was huge L not only your teammates finding

You but they’re like celebrating you pretty big after you you hit shots like what does that feel like it feels good I mean it’s always it’s always fun to celebrate on a Courtney it just brings so much momentum in the crowd gets going at the same time and um but n it’s

Always fun when when we get it going and the whole team is is Turing up so that was a good one Lou you’ve talked about staying levelheaded offensively when shots are falling they’re not falling but what about on the defensive end where it seems like it could probably get a

Little bit overwhelming whenever you’re playing really good defense and shots are falling but you feel like you’re doing everything right nah it’s going to happen I don’t really put my head down on those type of stuff just cuz you know there’s so many good players in this

League now and you know guys they they they they good for a reason they good because they make tough shots so it’s going to happen but it’s going to be hard to make tough shots the whole game so my main thing is to just make everything tough but I’ll never put my

Head down on that L Mark said tonight that you’ve had a really consistent shot diet this whole year do you feel similarly about that does it feel like anything changed this year opposed to maybe the last few my main thing is one my shot selection to

Really let the game come to me to not force um we got so many offensive weapon on this team so I’m just trying to be ready and and and and really be at the right spot um my main thing is not to force and really let the game come to me and I

Know the guys that that move the ball the most that has the ball most in their hands are are good at at finding Guys open what’s it like watching him playing with ker Williams on the defensive end oh it’s it’s always good I mean he brings so much energy and intensity at

The same time just knowing that he’s out there with me hearing the coverages hearing his voice knowing that you know it’s it’s a switch right away so it’s it’s just so much more trust and um and he just brings so much energy on the court I mean I I know

You guys can definitely see that just the way he runs the way he talks to us on the court it’s it’s it’s big Nick alow KC Thunder uh Mark what type of Force did you all have that allowed your offense to be so steadily uh efficient and productive

Tonight I thought we really were intelligent with our attacks uh they’re a really hard team to crack obviously and you’ve got to be really intentional I thought our guys did a great job executing both sets and kind of our random basketball up the floor uh we

Were able to space them move the ball play with really good Pace shared it um so give our team a lot of credit I thought we had a really intelligent uh approach to that one and then you had said before the game you know speed against their size quickness against

Their size how did you see that manifest itself on the defensive end I thought we’re really active I thought we had great pressure uh which you have to do I thought a couple times they were trying to punch the ball in there against smaller guys uh and you got to really

Like heat up the ball and then have really aggressive weak side help and make them pass multiple times to get it in there and then I thought we kind of scrapped on the glass when we were small like that I thought wigs really helped us there K Rich those guys really were

Uh were tough down there you know kept plays alive even when they didn’t get the ball so great activity by that group specifically you guys for 24 turnovers tonight what you like about the defensive effort I just think it was it was the activity the same activity I was

Saying there I just thought we had great intensity on that end after the first quarter I thought both teams were outscoring each other in the first uh period of the game and then as the game wore on uh we tightened on that end of the floor really in the second half did

A great job too uh and I thought the turnovers were just byproduct of that joshh came back after missing a few few days uh what you like from his performance tonight uh you get it moving early you know um he had seven assists in the game did a good job there found a

Couple cuts which I think is critical for him just as an activity player uh so it’s good to have him back we talk so much especially early in the year about the rebounding when you were playing as small as you were um how much is tonight kind of an example of what you’re

Talking about with the tradeoffs the things you can do by playing small the advantages you can have yeah I mean the I we want to get every rebound obviously but um the game’s not played in a vacuum you know it doesn’t come down to one thing it’s very interconnected there’s a

Lot of different facets to it um and we just want to be a team where you know when you bake all that in uh the benefit outweighs the cost you know if we feel like it’s a game where we can’t do that then we don’t but um you know I thought

Tonight we were able to kind of um dictate the pace of the game I thought our intensity like I said our activity defensively is what allowed us to do that and allowed us to play that way you mentioned scrapping on the boards and there were some plays where second and

Third efforts kind of got you balls that’s some stuff that seemed like maybe it was missing some of the time when you were smaller and you talked about having to get better at that have you gotten do you feel like you guys have gotten better at just fighting even when you’re

Small yeah I mean it’s we haven’t arrived any stretch the imagination a lot of the early narratives about the rebounding camer Williams wasn’t healthy and uh he’s you know in particular very impactful small ball five because of the way he competes uh both in the in the

Floor game man on the glass um but we’ve improved you know in some areas but uh and I thought we showed that tonight you know just contrasting this game to the game of Minnesota but we also shot it really well tonight played in a really good Groove um you know so there was

Some of that going on too hi coach danal I’m Hy with the Oklahoma before the game I know you talked about really the the growth process with the team and and having patience as they’ve learned to face specifically bigger teams what was it like for you to really see them put that

Into action after having that patience through the season I just thought like I said I thought tonight uh contrasting that game to our game in Minnesota I thought um you know for example they zoned us last time and that that really threw us off kilter and tonight I thought our attacks

Were really sharp against the zone so we clearly uh learned some lessons there I thought our offensive attacks in the second half of the game the last time we played them left something to be desired I thought we played a 48 minute game on offense tonight um and then last time we

Played him I thought what got him back in the game was was Edwards you know a couple missed assignments early in the third quarter cut into the lead uh and tonight I thought we had great intensity on him and towns in particular especially second through fourth quarters Jaylen Williams had such a

Spark early in the game too what did you see that really allowed him to be able to do that uh he’s a really good player you know we got a lot of confidence in him obviously he’s growing in his own confidence um but I always have

Admiration for um how hard he plays you know he had that off game but he also guarded Carl towns for much of the night he’s an elite player uh and then offensively he made two straight threes in the third I think it was and then he came down on another possession and had

A he could have ripped one um as like a heat check and he just kind of reversed the ball and that’s that’s one of the things I have most respect for him uh about is he just plays the the play in front of him uh and has great maturity for a in experienced

Player Andrew the athletic uh you decided to play me tonight is there some that went into that decision or just wanted to get him some minutes um a little bit of both I thought um you know some of it’s matchup related um some of it is Giddy and uh giddy was

Questionable until after shoot around today dub was questionable with an illness so wanted to get him in The Fray uh in the case that we needed another playmaker out there uh and then we’re this is the first of I think 21 games in you know through the month of January so

We have a very condensed schedule as most NBA teams do coming up uh and we’re going to need everybody played Burton’s last game played uh Vasa tonight you know we’ll continue to take a look at our whole roster yeah and then Lou D’s kind of on a hot streak but I just kind

Of noticed like the way that when Lou’s hitting shots the way that he’s kind of celebrated by the team like what like what does he mean to your group you can ask them but I mean I just think when somebody has that sort of like output physically every single night I mean you

Just think about the amount of screens that guy gets hit by in a season with who he’s guarding um for him to to get a little bit of of candy on the other end of the floor is a good thing it’s important that our guys find them and

Everybody else that’s open on the perimeter I think it’s deflating when you’re not a primary Creator uh and you’re open and you’re not getting the ball I thought you know we did a great job of finding not only him but everybody tonight um and offensively I just it can’t be understated how

Important I think it’s been for him to have a very consistent diet of shots this year and he’s weathered a cold streak you know he was really good early and then he didn’t make some shots for a little while and he just stayed with it

And it kind of worked out of him uh and now he’s finding shots again and so the consistency of his approach despite the variance of the shooting I think is uh a good lesson for everybody but certainly a good reward for him um Mark uh tonight you play against

The Wolves who want to go big they have go bear towns NZ Reed you guys went the other way and went small what goes into a decision like that obviously the things in front of you would be that they have bigger guys you’re going to have smaller faster guys but just scheme

Wise what all goes into that of just playing that St style it’s all cost benefit you know if the benefits outweigh the costs then we do it and um we’re you know we’ll go big we’ve gone big with jayen Williams and and chat together too so it’s not like a badge of

Honor to do something different we’re just trying to find the best thing um and we thought that was best tonight but if if it you know boomeranged in our face we would have done something different we would have adjusted it but um you know we it’s something we want to

Explore it was obviously really good for us last year um and we want to find some version of that in this year’s team it is not been universally true but a couple of times we’ve seen Chad the second time he plays a team or the second time he’s in a matchup like he

Was with goar some things he seems to figured out or some comfort level he’s reached he didn’t have the first time What What In His approach you think makes that possible just the amount of work he puts in in between you know like I’ve said before he’s he just you know

Eats and drinks and sleeps back basketball so um he’s obsessive about wanting to learn uh from his experiences and it’s not going to make him grow up you know immediately but it certainly um invests in his growth curve so I think he benefits from that I I give him a lot

Of credit in how hard he works in between games uh not only mentally with the with that stuff but physically you know he needs to be a guy obviously especially in his first year that uh really crosses every te dots every eye um from a recovery standpoint and he’s

Done a really good job of that so far tomorrow is a double header day on the second night of a back toback and you mentioned that condensed schedule is there a plan to shuffle anyone down there tomorrow and uh does that kind of change your philosophy given how many

Games you’re going to play here um we’ll see I mean I we’ll see how everybody’s feeling and I haven’t watched New York other than you know in between bites at Christmas so um you know we’ll see if we think it’s best we’ll do it but we’re eventually going to need everybody you

Know at some point and we want everybody to be live so we’ll make sure everyone’s ready anyone else thank you go thank you guys yep oh

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 129 – 106 win over the Timberwolves.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
5:40 Jalen Williams
11:55 Lu Dort
15:55 Coach Daigneault

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