ESPN reacts to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shine 36-Pts to lead Thunder beat Rockets 123-110
That had a minimum of five years their first five years in the league to have you know 42 30 point games he is crawling towards that guy named MJ that’s that’s pretty unbelievable stuff right there can’t ask for anything better 42 42nd game with 30 or more points which by the way the
Thunder have only played like what 42 games it seems like they’re halfway through their season a little over halfway and SGA just continues to impress but we want to take a look back on the second half because like I mentioned earlier it was the defense that really took Center Stage Nancy said
This in pregame that the offense and the defense when it is firing on all cylinders the thend team is one of the hardest teams in the NBA to stop and that’s exactly what we saw in the second half and he walk us through the defensive effort well you’re seeing here
Chad I mean they talked about the guys about the pre-block shots the active hands on the you know just corralling getting people around the ball and you can see I mean it’s hard to play one-on-one defense in the NBA but if you’re running two or three guys it’s
Fantastic they held this team uh you know to 49 second half points and 35% shooting and it it was fish who said you know six 16 point deficit that is 29 Points that’s exactly what you were just talking about they have this amazing innate ability to not worry about the
Score they have to worry about about the execution and what are we doing and to be able to make those adjustments in the locker room and and that it takes the coaching staff it takes the players and then it takes the recognition of what we
Have to do who who are we what’s our identity what can you see and what can you not see in how we turn this around in the second half and to your point there Nancy it also takes a lot of gameplay and discipline and this Thunder
Team with as young as they are across the board they’re really mature too and they’re playing like season veterans they have a lot of experience and it just goes back to them being able to execute game plan and discipline for more on this huge win in Houston I want
To go back out to the Target Center and bring in Chris fiser and Michael cage guys what were your initial thoughts following this win yeah thank you Madison there were this was one of those games where there just so many different storylines that we could talk about Michael from Chad
Holgren in his historic night the defense and the adjustments in the second half and also playing through those early struggles and adversity with that 16-point deficit said I’ll let you take it where you want yeah well well I I like the fact that everybody chipped in you had what three guys over 20
Points Chad obviously was was just magnificent we had a a beautiful stretch where he just took over the game SGA was doing the SGA thing Jay Dub with 22 points Shay with 36 but when you look at how they did it because this is a tough place the Thunder struggled here to win
These games because the Rockets got out to a great start they were up 16 in the first half up five at halftime and then all of a sudden the gong went off for the Thunder and they just started to defend Force turnovers got them out of transition started cutting off the water
Supply for the uh Rockets offense was those threes and then they started knocking down those threes and all of a sudden you saw the game open up you saw the Rhythm play start to happen and they had the Rockets chasing him for the entire fourth quarter which they never
Relinquished that lead to Michaels point about the gong going off this game very much in the first half was reminiscent of what we saw the first time in this building on December 6th when it was all Rockets all defense the thunder made a couple of pushes just couldn’t come out
With a victory but this young Thunder team for whatever reason at halftime made the adjustment and made the decision this game tonight was not going to be like it was on December 6th yeah guys it’s like Michael says sometimes sometimes you’re the bug sometimes you’re the windshield tonight the
Thunder we the windshield we’d love to see it as they take their fifth consecutive win and what a win it was from Houston in large part because of who they just mentioned Chad holgren and his ability to score off on the offensive end to create turnovers blocks
Defense everything the list goes on and on of what Chad is able to bring to this game and this is why he is our Ford player of the game get this Chad hit his 103 first rookie in NBA history with 100 threes and 100 blocks pretty Elite it
It’s I think this game’s been around for over 75 years and there’s been guys like Chamberlain and Bill Russell and Bob and Abdul Jabar and Shaq to have that type of you know uh number on your resume is unbelievable and just shows you how ready he was to step into this
Role and I’m going to go back to last year I’m going to go back to the year where he was trying to get healthy and Donnie stro and his team got him to where he needed to be but this young man um I mean he’s going to give my vote for
For rookie of the year he’s unreal yeah to your point Nancy 7 fo 1 7 fo2 and he’s able to expand the court and space this offense so well we talk about his ability to score in the paint and finish at The Rim he was 5 for eight from
Behind the ark tonight as well we talk about this all the time when we’re watching him his shot is so pure especially for a seven foot guy yeah well this is where the game is going I mean you know this you and Paris played you know not a long time ago in in
College at Belmont the three-point shot has changed the game everybody to the best of their ability has to have that you have to work on it because you’re going to get that opportunity and you can’t say I don’t shoot that shot you have to be able to but I look back on
What he’s done defensively he has totally changed this basketball team’s identity because you can play so hard on the perimeter and if you get beat and a teammate comes over and a teammate’s not there you know help the helper you have chat there at the front of the rim he’s
Changing shots he’s you you know making guys get to the rim and pass it off because they don’t want to get their shot blocked or flat out pancake in your shot and now you’re in transition you know between him doing that and the fact that they forced 18 turnovers with the
Rockets and that was 23 points so you know you can use your defense to Spur your offense this is just really great basketball that’s why they’re in the top five in those categories and the you know the only other team you know is the Boston Celtics and I think they’re
Really good yeah they’re pretty good right yeah to your point Chad homr three blocks tonight he’s an excellent rim protector also to your point the turnovers a lot of those points off turnovers came down the stretch of this ball game so the Thunder W locked in
They didn’t let it bother them that they were down 16 points they continue to show fight and they continue to show how they can win in a variety of different ways it helps when you have a guy like Shay gilders Alexander on your team as well which we will get into his numbers
And what he brought to tonight’s big win in Houston when we come come back here we roll out our final stats a lot to break down here Nancy considering it was kind of the tail of two halves when you take a look at what the Rockets were
Able to do in the first half versus the second what stands out to you the most with the way the Thunder responded well the points in the paint and the points off turnovers because now you’re manufacturing points that you might not have had early in the first half and
They just did a great job you know the other thing you mentioned at halftime they it was 16 nothing fast break points for the Rockets and the defense right defense is what wins championships and get you to the playoffs and and takes you to another level they only gave up
Four fast break points in the second half that was just great defense and they were funneling them as we say into a meeting of three if if you have a guy and he’s got you one-on-one and he can go to the basket but if you have guys on that second
Level and they’re stepping up like I’m not worried about the guy in front of me cuz I see past him but I’m looking at where the rotations are coming from and that’s what they took away in the second half to hold Houston to to only 49 points 35% shooting as I mentioned
Before yeah and it’s that defensive IQ that every single player has on this court they’re constantly rotating defensively communicating like you mentioned that’s what leads to them having so many steals and forc turnovers per game as well Shay gilders Alexander tonight had three Stills we talk a lot
About his offense and what he’s able to do on that side of the ball but his defense is just as good as his offense as I mentioned three FS but he finishes tonight with 36 points five rebounds seven assists Nancy he’s getting better and better every single game which is
Scary to believe well when you have a three-level scorer like him he can look what he does at the rim and he has such beautiful touch and spin I mean these are world class athletes and Shay’s making them look like uh okay I’m not as
Good as I think I am but he can split you he can break your heart and he’s he’s absolutely amazing you know one of the tops you know in the league defensively uh stealing the basketball he impresses me so much each and every day it was his 42 game this season with
30 or more points take a look at this Elite company SGA leads the way with Luca right behind him with 37 yanis Sant TMO with 34 and Joel embiid with 28 I mean so impressive what we are witnessing SGA do right now and what I love most about watching these games
Here in the studio is watching them alongside you and as you mentioned he is doing this against the best athletes in the game of basketball and it impresses you it’s like something that you have never seen either and you’ve been around this game for a really long time I think
He just called me old but it’s okay I can handle that but uh you look at the guys that were on you know you got a couple of MVPs in Joker you got embiid as an MVP you have luk who one day will be an MVP in the same
With Shay so you know I just look I learned this a long time ago offense sells tickets defense and rebounding wins championships didn’t Bob Stoops do that at Oklahoma you know he he really locked into to uh that defense I think Pat Summit wrote that one time too I
Know but everybody else uses it right it’s so important if you are a good defensive team no matter what sport you are going to be successful and then that will fuel your offense and and this team has such a unique balance uh you know they have it on all different levels
Absolutely and they continue to impress night in and night out as they just won their fifth consecutive game let’s check in now with head coach Mark dagnal spee spee speech spee yeah wh I’m don’t I will I fore is go fore foree speee foree spee for spee for speech foreign speech speech speee
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ESPN reacts to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shine 36-Pts to lead Thunder beat Rockets 123-110
