How the OKC Thunder Responded to a Historic 4th Quarter Run in Dallas | The Path with Royce Young

How the OKC Thunder Responded to a Historic 4th Quarter Run in Dallas | The Path with Royce Young

And while the Mavericks were able to beat a path back from 24 to within nine the Thunder closed the quarter strong to go back on top by 23 at the end of three the American Airline Center Lawson steps into it and Dallas with back to back threes little punch

Out they got to track that down but it leads to the dodic three and here comes Dallas yet again outside open shooter and the Thunder once again trying to squash a Maverick’s comeback and now Dallas has a chance to tie or take the [Applause] lead

Doic Henri trying to check him the L up top and we are tied as Dallas’s offense all of a sudden cannot be stopped seven fourth quarter threes we got a whole new game here with five and a half to go all right let’s go back to Dallas you

Guys are up big in the fourth quarter and the Mavs are on a big run now and you’re looking up at the scoreboard and now you’re tied what’s going through your mind there I think at first when the first run started happening it was more like panic I guess in the sense of

Like oh man like we’re really blowing it like we just did all this to kind of get back cuz rewind back to the beginning of the fourth quarter you guys are a big coach Mark takes a timeout but then a minute later coach Mark takes another

Timeout when the Mavs cut it to 13 so what’s that second timeout like coming on the heels of that first one uh yeah basically same message you know keep playing with each other but it was it was a lot more curse words involved and uh and a lot more yelling because at the

End of the day dub it’s a 30 run that the Mavs go on and Mark D has used his final timeout they now lead the game by 6 11711 outscoring OKC 33 to4 since the quarter began that moment there is kind of where it did finally turn for you

Guys what was that final huddle like and Mark draws up an atto that you get a dunk out of uh yeah honestly it was to call plate but the Thunder who have led by double digits for the majority of the game plenty of time left to go trailing

By six there is a play out of the timeout he drew a good atto and then obviously I got a dunk and then I think that kind of settled us cuz we hadn’t scored in a while so it was just getting that dunk I think everybody kind of took

A a deep breath you just could not emphasize the desperation for OKC on the offensive but there’s a there’s a Twist to this then one of the main reasons we wanted you is we’re going to ask you to remember a different game okay okay what’s the difference

I’ll wait I’ll wait well okay it happened two years to the day of the Dallas game oh I think J told me Memphis oh you know about it yeah the Memphis game yeah now that’s one you probably don’t want to think too much about and you just hear a crow yelling all

Y’all got the record for the worst loss in India history or whatever and then we get to lock room it’s real quiet yeah but the the the next day the mentality was just like it happens it happens you have exposure to the highs and lows of competition and competition comes with

Great joy and also comes with grief and and frustration and anger and when you step in that ring you know that’s what you expose yourself to is is all of those things that’s what makes it such a fulfilling experience and that’s why the joy feels so good

Because you know when you get punched and you taste your own blood you know it doesn’t feel great you remember what happened the next game after the Memphis game I remember I can’t remember we won we won the next game you actually won the next two we won the next two games

Yeah I mean to me like so I’m kind of drawing a connection between that Dallas game and um within the Dallas game it’s like the world was crashing down on you like you got like an NBA record run on you and you’re like oh my gosh and so

You found that reset moment within that game this great experience here for this Thunder team on the road um are you a tennis guy at all no not at all no okay well I just watched this interview with Novak jokovic are you familiar with who he is okay you

Mind if I show you a clip from that interview and get your reaction from it okay I want to just show you it’s like 45 second mental strength which is what I think is your great gift you I would have to correct you I would have to

Correct you it’s not a gift it’s something that comes with work you train for the mental side the way you would your serve or your your forehand the difference I guess between the guys who are able to be biggest Champions and the ones that are struggling to get to the

Highest level is the ability to not stay in those emotions for too long yeah so you kind of summ that up really well like you’re a human so we’re going to go through like you said those emotions of like oh it’s going to be bad on Twitter

Or whatever or you know just like the fear of losing like I think that’s good to kind of have during the game you know it shows you care and I think we’ve done just a good job as a team like being able to kind of curb how we feel and

Kind of move on to the next play in order to kind of Stack stops and stack plays got blocked by ched on the back side there is Isaiah Joe off The dribble that three is going to Rattle home kept to composure and it just keeps stringing together those

Stops Lawson drives and H swatted it at the summit Isaiah Joe gives it up to Dort Dort on the drive Block H the put back [Applause] down I mean you you can never say oh I could take a punch if you never got your knocked out you know what

I’m saying like like you can’t say you’ve taken you can take a punch till you take one so uh we have to go through those moments and learn from them to have that mental fortitude Drive the by ties the game at 120 anything can happen in an NBA game

To put the Thunder back up black two sometimes things that feel beyond your control and it’s about what you do next and somehow the Thunder after taking a major shot to the chin find a way to gather themselves and come back it’s about the recognition that mental

Strength isn’t a gift bestowed upon a select few it’s a skill earned only through experience

Royce Young takes a deep dive into the Thunder’s matchup against the Mavericks on December 2, 2023, where Dallas went on a 30-0 run late in the fourth quarter to take the lead. Relive the moments that followed along with another game in Dallas two years prior with Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and Chet Holmgren as they discuss mental toughness, focus and resiliency in the face of adversity.

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