TBU Podcast | Chris Fisher Joins to Recap February | OKC Thunder

TBU Podcast | Chris Fisher Joins to Recap February | OKC Thunder

Welcome into the Thunder basketball Universe I don’t know if you can believe it but it is March 1st right now and so the Thunder has completed February we are now in month 6th of this season which is just crazy to think about and so we’re going to take a step back we’re

Going to look back on this month of February that had a little bit of everything and we thought you know who better to help break down all of these fun story lines than our very own Chris fiser so you might recognize this voice on this podcast today Chris thanks for

Being here they might it might sound a little different I don’t have the headset on to kind of get me in the mode you 18,000 people you’re screaming over during the game but thanks for having me I’m glad to be here this is this is great because we have so much to look

Back on I mean obviously it was Allstar during February we had a little bit of a fake spring in February a couple of days where it was really warm here in Oklahoma City the Thunder played really well eight and three during the month they’ve now played 58 games this season

Just 24 left and so I know you’ve got a couple of things that made you look during this this month so since you are our guest I’ll let you go first what made you look during this month of February CH I feel like there was a lot

In the month when you think back to pre-all-star break getting the sort of the close on January anytime you close a month it feels like an accomplishment you’re like okay what what’s in store for the next month how many games are there how many times are we on the road

But February was even though there was only 11 games it felt busy with Allstar break being kind of right in the middle of it but I have to go back to a game post All-Star break this was in Houston not that long ago first of two and

Houston had been a team that had been giv the Thunder some issues particularly at the Toyota Center they took the Thunder down earlier in the season and in that first game Chad holgren didn’t play maybe his best he had only four points and we’ve seen him respond really

Well and what made me look was the beginning of that fourth quarter and you and I were kind of talking off air coming before we were coming on here just what he did in the first minute and 20 seconds of that fourth quarter yeah was incredible uh we were looking at the

Play-by-play and I don’t I don’t want to get it wrong and this is this is where I can look down and in my little cheat sheet here but he had in the first minute and seven seconds of the fourth quarter he had an alleyoop he had a

Block yep he had an offensive rebound a putback and a three he was all that is onean takeover and it was impossible to miss you had to see it and it kind of changed the whole trajectory of the game the Thunder had control at that point

Took the lead never looked back and it’s a good embodiment a good example of Chad and his ability to respond and there’s been times where you know he he’s looked like a rookie where he’s been in a situation that he might not have been in or a matchup that he’s facing for the

First time but it seems like every single time he goes up against that particular matchup or that opponent or that scheme for the second time yeah there’s Improvement and he had a huge game but that minute and 7 second stretch impossible to miss it’s still stuck in my mind it’s a great one

Because it stuck out in my mind too and I remember very vividly writing in my notes I think Houston called a very quick timeout early in that fourth quarter because of Chet’s kind of explosion there and I remember writing in my notes Chet hunger in 14 points in

The opening of the fourth quarter and I was just like marveling at his ability to do a little bit of and this is what we’ve seen from Chad all season long he’s got 17 double doubles this season which is a thunder rookie record and this is a reason why he finished this

Game with 29 Points eight rebounds seven assists which is something that kind of popped for me in this game for Chad just because we we obviously we see the scoring we see the rebounding we see the blocks but those assist numbers I think that just goes to show that he’s he’s

Really able to impact a game on several several different levels I I don’t know about you but he has just blown me away with what he’s been able to do in a short amount of time on both ends of the floor and there there’s a lot of players

Out there who are making plays Shay’s having an incredible season jdub is taking his game to another level but seeing the versatility that you’re talking about the understanding of how to play Within what the Thunder are trying to do the sort of defensive shrewdness that he’s got and having

Going through it for the first first time but still able to to make these impact type plays with how the Thunder want to play if they’re getting stops and they’re getting out on the run and they’re making defensive plays that’s when they’re at their best and he’s a big

Part of that in anchoring the defense particularly at the rim with how opponents are trying to attack the Thunder and he has just turned himself into a wall but it’s just so fun to watch because he’s such a grinder he’s a basketball intellect at heart he wants to study the game

And then you combine that with his competitive fire and and you see what we’ve been seeing and it was kind of interesting because they were asking him recently and I think this was before the game last night against San Antonio or after the Houston game one of the one of

The two one of his media availabilities and he was asked you know how do you feel this being you know your rookie year and uh are you going through the rookie you know the rookie wall at all and he’s and he he said look it’s not January anymore and we’re all happy that

It’s not understood exactly what he exactly and he just he’s got vitamins back in his socks now and he’s he’s back to to playing well but he’s he’s getting better and better he’s getting more comfortable and seeing that growth as the season has gone on is a testament to

Him and his ability but also his commitment to be getting better and it’s starting to show up in games more and more and he he he’s a problem for opponents I love that you talk about just his growth and development over the course of the season because coach dagnal we’ve heard

Heard several times talk about the fact that he’s a basketball Junkie and the questions are nonstop there’s it’s an endless conversation with Chad and that explains why we’ve seen just a steady growth and every time he seem sees a team multiple times the second time is typically a better outcome for Chad and

Just his performance out there on the floor so that that makes a lot of sense with what we’re seeing from Chad this season I feel like I I took all of the sort of the chat block here for from you Paris but I I know that we’re not we’re

Not quite done with him we’re not we’re not cuz here’s my made you look it is chat related it’s chat related but it’s it’s more than just Chad so let me just set the scene here you talked about the first Houston game I’m going to go back

To the second Houston game okay in Oklahoma City obviously a win for the Thunder really fun game in paycom Center the environment was super loud you can just tell everybody was super into it and this play had a lot to do with it so jdub comes off a ball screen at the top

Of the key he’s kind of surveying the floor he’s looking to see what he’s got he’s kind of looking around and he throws the ball up to the front of the rim and chat hrin facing Jay duub at the top of the key grabs the ball and

Reverse dunks it and then we all remember this play and I remember thinking huh that’s new we haven’t seen that before and then we go to San Antonio and Jay dub throws another lob they do it in back toback games back to bat games he throws another lob to chat

Homr and he reverse dunks it two things in my brain one Mark dagel has told us that the Thunder has emphasized lobs recently because especially if teams are going to switch that element of you know vertical spacing and just kind of stretching the floor out a little bit

More is a really good threat for the Thunder to have and I’m like hm were the lobs to the reverse dunk part of the development plan here is that part of practice right are they out there like how many different versions of this lob can we put together and secondly after

That Houston game the first time we saw it I asked jaub I was like did you expect Chad to reverse dunk it when you threw it he was like look I I wasn’t expecting him to dunk it like that but it was a perfect lob it that was the best lob we’ve had

All year would have been really hard to mess up that dunk I I imagine there was a little bit of sarcasm in his voice first of all well I asked Michael cage on air when we saw it yeah I think it was last night against San Antonio when they did it the

Second time yeah I said I don’t think that people realize how hard it is yes to first of all dunk a basketball and then reverse yeah and then they do it on an aloop that takes the difficulty to a whole different level with defense live action yes it is really really hard and

He makes it look effortless and I was like that’s impressive cuz you don’t see that an alleyoop reverse like you might as seen that in the 90s when they used to do a lot of creativity you don’t see that now it’s 2024 doesn’t exist in the

NBA but those two have a a heck of a connection going and it is fun to watch because they handle that sort of early second quarter early fourth quarter unit and whatever they got going on keep doing it yeah because they’ve got a connection they’ve got the chemistry and

Jdub’s lob last night over wanyama yep and they they made it look like they’ve been working on that like it was nothing in the back almost touched the rafters like it had to get so high up there yeah yeah yeah so ridiculously high and they make it look easy and what a great

Connection those two have and I I want to see more I’m like when’s the next one coming I mean at this rate the next game probably but as much as that play those plays were about Chad it was also about Jay dub because this season or this month in particular he’s averaging a

Career high in assists per game as well so his facilitating has been up and clearly he’s added a little razzled Dazzle to this as well with that connection with ch I thought that you asked the question before the game yesterday that I thought was really interesting and it was about Jay dub and

His playmaking and Mark dnal said he can even be more aggressive still I was surprised still right yeah because we heard this last year about jdub about how his teammates his coaches they’re like he’s such a functional player he doesn’t he’s such a good system player

That we have to tell him like hey go hunt for your advantages go get your shot go look for your opportunities and now he’s above 20 points a game and they’re like yeah you could still be a little more aggressive there’s a lot more in that tank there’s a lot more in

That tank and there’s a lot more growth there’s a lot more creativity and he’s got he’s got a little bit of flare but you combine that with the confidence yeah and then you start to see more and more what he’s capable of and I think that there’s a lot more in there isn’t

That exciting to think about like what we’ve seen from jdub from Chad from Shay so far and then remembering that these guys are still young and still early on in their careers and there’s still so much in the tank to be offered so much more to go and and what we’re seeing

From them is clearly good solid fundamental basketball within what the the Thunder are trying to do but you see the individualism at times and the creativity and what they both bring and I think that that’s what make makes it fun to watch on a nightly basis so fun

To watch as a matter of fact it’s so fun to watch you know we’ve talked about it how about we run those plays back with our very own Chris Fischer on the call for the those plays all right we’ll take a look at those plays when we back

Better than audio when we come back we’re breaking down February one the reasons why they play great defense shutting down the fast break opportunities for the rockets and right out of the gate here in the fourth quarter it’s a l to homr for the alleo something that the Thunder prioritized

If the matchup is Right Thompson tried to get homr in the air didn’t matter as he still laid him up another block for Chad hren Hayward off balance shot offensive rebound hr’s put back that’s going to drop in hren again from the outside as this time he bombs a three and that’s what

He’s been able to do with the veteran leadership that they brought in oh my goodness gr on the reverse Rack Attack you know I I’m amazed sometimes when I see certain plays and and those two plays were amazing there they go again this time another reverse slam on the

Alleo all right since we’ve wrapped up February and no it wasn’t quite as action-packed as January was with what was that 19 games 17 so sorry it felt like 19 17 games in February or in January February did have a lot to offer and there was there’s still a lot of

Story lines to break down and so Chris I want to throw this to you what are some of the the major themes from February that stood out to you I think on on the back end of of how busy January was you get to February and there’s kind of a

Sense of relief almost and like I said you finish a month like that there’s a sense of accomplishment but at the same time you’re really thinking about All-Star break because it you’re past the halfway point of the Season you’re right around game 50 and you can kind of

See that break and boy is it right there and you just want to Dive Right In you want to get to warm weather you want to start getting some days off you want to mentally release from basketball and the Thunder did not do that and I think back

To those two games right before the All-Star break that really stood out to me that that I thought was a testament to the maturity of them and their growth as a young unit because if you think back to the Sunday it was February 11th it was Super Bowl Sunday the day before

Against Dallas they they got worked over pretty good and Dallas took it to them scored a ton of points that was a a 2:00 start time that’s right but the next day the very next day which was the final home game before the All-Star break they were going up against Sacramento and

This was a Sacramento team that had just given the Thunder fits tormented them the last couple years they won eight consecutive games just could not figure them out yeah and so then you combine that with the All-Star break is looming it’s a backto back you’re going back

Home it’s another early start time 2 p.m you got the Super Bowl that day all these things that could have just pulled you in a million different directions and you end up playing a really good game to the point that Sacramento really never stood a chance in the second half

You cut off dearen Fox played incredible defense on him and he had really given you problems I remember back to the game in Sacramento I think he put up 40 43 points and the thunder came out with a a pretty solid victory in that afternoon

But they still had one more game Y and that was in Orlando long trip one game that’s the final game before the All-Star break TNT all star festivities looming and sha getting his jersey jersey retired and Orlando is having a much better season this year than they have in the years

Past they’re a good defensive team they had Paul banero and the thunder came out and and really controlled that game from start to finish got into a good Rhythm and finished the pre-all-star break incredibly strong that kind of gave them momentum which is why we saw them win

Six in a row but that that to me was a sign of growth it was a sign of maturity you love the approach yeah you love the mentality that they had in those two games making the adjustments and and I think that that’s one thing that carried over into the

Start post All-Star break yeah but uh it it stood out to me as as one of the high points of the month no doubt those two games were a candidate for made you look for me for a very random reason I hope I didn’t steal it no not at all both of

Those games the Thunder won with the exact same score the 127 113 against the Kings 127 113 against the magic I didn’t know that and I just thought that was wild just I’ve never seen that before um so that was a candidate for made you

Look but to your point the focus and the discipline and the Poise of this young group especially in that magic game when there are just so many potential distractions surrounding that game it’s the last game before the All-Star break like you mentioned Shaq’s walking around the building people are following him

Around and TNT is there and there could have been just a lot of reasons to just be like we’re going to kind of mail it in see what happens and just get me to the all-star break and they didn’t do that well the there’s a mental aspect to

It as well when you’re playing on TNT and it’s National TV you could kind of be like well I want to show what we’re capable of doing you can get out of yourself a little bit Yeah they haven’t had a ton of these National games over the last couple years they starting to

Get a little bit more and Mark D always says you got to earn those for the best teams in the in the league but you you can kind of kind of get in your own a little bit and say I I want to show what everybody everybody what I can do and

There wasn’t even a hint of that not at all and especially the like the offense took care of itself I felt like but it was the defensive Focus especially against Sacramento a team that is so potent offensively you’ve got Damonte sabonis like you mentioned dear and fox

Two guys who can absolutely light it up and combine for 75 points easily but the Thunder were so disciplined especially in their game plan against dear and fox I felt like Lou Dort did a f fantastic job it’s just so easy to take for granted what L Dort does defensively but

He was all over Deon Fox making every shot super difficult super tight-knit fiveman defense and holding the Kings to 113 that’s a win that is a that is a major win in itself in the Thunder just showing such great Poise yet again for one of the they’re not the second

Youngest team in the NBA anymore I’m I can’t say that anymore I think they’re fifth now they’re fourth or fifth somewhere around there but with the new additions on the kind of bumped him up a little bit bringing the average up he did still a young team a very young team

Um but showed a lot of poise in in those moments to be able to get the job done all right fish you said you had another thing that that stood out to you during the month of February was there anything else uh I I would defer to you on

Allstar break I know that you you were you were feed on the ground there but did I know you have something that stood out to did I did um the All-Star break was great we had a whole podcast recapping the All-Star break so if you haven’t watched it go back and look

There’s a lot of fun fun elements to our time in Indianapolis snowy Indianapolis I would add mine is about the Thunders shooting percentage from the three-point line this has been this has been something that the thund been top of the league really all season long in three-point shooting shooting around 39%

From three and they’ve been about you know I think it’s like 0 five ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves or something yeah Minnesota’s number two well during the month of February they shot 42.7% from three which incredible and as we know from coach dagnar like shooting

Is the most volatile thing in the NBA it no matter what you do you can control everything you can control and sometimes the ball just might not bounce your way and that’s just how it that’s basketball but what I noticed during this month in particular the Thunder shot the ball

Incredibly well but this was a result of them getting good shots and putting themselves in the position so if the if the ball did bounce their way it was GNA it was going to go through the hoop and they were getting themselves good looks open looks quality looks and it was just

Coming within the flow of the offense and multiple guys you had Chad holgren Lou Dort you had sgaa shooting well from three I mean he had four threes in that game against Houston the other night and every seon High by the way season High exactly every single guy felt I felt

Like was really chipping in and shooting the ball really well during this month I thought last night in in the game against San Antonio there there was a a cluster of examples back to back to back and it came in the second half with SGA facilitating things and there were I

Want to say three consecutive possessions where he drove down the lane kicked the ball out to the sideline right in front of San Antonio’s bench and you had Cas Wallace yep jayen Williams and it might have been two jayen Williams shots MH and they were all misses mhm but you’re

Thinking to yourself that’s exactly the shot that you want because they’re normally you want to be taking wide open shots Y and those are shots that clearly Cas Wallace can hit he’s been over 40% over the course of the year and Jaylen Williams can hit that too you you live

With those all day long exactly all night long and to your point those are the kind of looks they’ve been generating all season long and you’ve got guys who are are benefiting from it Shay he can get his shot anywhere but but he’s bumped up to about 38% Chad’s

Been over 40% Lou Dort was smoking hot in the month of February he can get going he he has his highs and his lows K’s been pretty consistent but it it’s all a part of how they want to play offense and a couple of things so today

At practice we actually had a chance to talk to coach dagel about this and he brought up a couple of really interesting factors that the Thunder considers when they deem what they would deem a quality look a quality shot something that they want and he was referring back to the San Antonio game

And he was like you know there were probably about 12 looks that we would consider kind of lower you know subpar shots for us I asked him like what goes into a subpar shot and he mentioned several different there and this just goes to show just how many variables go

Into shooting a contestedness b the person who’s shooting and where they’re shooting it and obviously shot clock like all of that stuff plays an element in the quality of a shot and throughout the month of February the Thunder was able to generate really high quality looks in terms of their contestedness

Guys were shooting open ones the right guys were shooting the right shots and coach dagno was saying we we really try to educate guys on which shots are best for them to take and he gave the example like Isaiah Joe anything he throws up that is a pretty quality look so like

We’ll live with that anywhere on the floor green light my guy you are good to go um but they try to educate guys on which shots are their most highest quality highest percentage expectancy shot and the guys have been really leaning into that and buying into that and making sure they’re generating those

Looks out there on the floor it just sounds like trying to put guys in positions to be successful and that they’re comfortable with and predictability that word that we’ve heard so much from the coaching staff predictability to to not only help the individuals but to help the function of

The offense yeah and I I think that it’s not just the month of February too Paris like they’ve been generating definitely the shots that they want all season long and it it’s not something that we’ve heard much griping about at all Def and and that’s a that’s a really good point

To point out like the Thunder’s been shooting the ball well in February 42.7% which is three percentage points ahead of the next team in line so that’s a really good point but all season long top of the league in this category and it’s because they buy into these controllable elements of shooting the

Ball and it has served them pretty well and all the guys out there on the floor pretty well as well all right so that’s a look back on February now we have March ahead of us and oh the Thunder hits the ground running so we’re back right now from San Antonio this could

Have been an easy four game Road Trip yeah four game road trip because the Thunder was in San Antonio last night we’re here in Oklahoma City no games in OKC we’re going to ship out we’re g to go to Phoenix to play the Suns and then

That starts a back toback where we end up in Los Angeles a nice little three and four yeah but it’s always nice to come home like Reg group I like that repack very necessary yes the the packing part of it like January I literally wore the same thing the entire

Month in my room I just left it there left it there would do the laundry put the exact same clothes back in go back out on another road trip so being able to come back and like just reset the whole packing situation and your suits like not having to bring four suits or

Four outfits big difference is significant it’s a big differ I can’t even tell you how big of a difference it is so being able to come home is nice like allows you to kind of mentally reset before we go back out tomorrow to Phoenix so we got Phoenix LA

And then Portland port and then flying back from Portland and Landing at about 4:00 in the morning but that that’s a that’s a nice way to kick off the month of March a very a warm welcome a very warm welcome to this meteorological spring that we’re stepping into I think

I said that wrong I you’ve been leaning into here yesterday I did you’re leaning in March you’re leaning in Spring I’m just turning into the weather man out here yeah exactly we going to get a Paris loss and weather report m game coming up right my next first

Quarter hit going a weather report from Miami all right so the Thunder as we mentioned three- game Road Trip to start the month of March and then a really nice homee fish I think it’s one two three four games here inside a paycom Center and we’ll be here for about eight

Days which will be a really nice little respit from the the travel that we’ve had it’s always nice to just be able to settle down and know that I’m going to be home for a while even though you’ve got those games you got an off day pretty much after every single one and

Then you’ve got that single game in in Memphis and they need to come back home for three off days yeah Monday Tuesday Wednesday I believe then you got another home game before you got to go back out on the road so um it’s got a little bit of everything yeah there’s no doubt

About it they’ve got another road trip at a three- game Road Trip toward the end of March yeah which I believe is Toronto which going nor of the borders always got its own difficulties and Logistics Milwaukee and then a backtack with the Pelicans yeah New Orleans right

After that so it it’ll be a it’ll be a really good stretch and it’s just crazy to think that there are 24 games left in this season we’re going to Blink and the regular season will be done it feels like yesterday was November I just can’t believe we’ve been playing basketball

For six months now of this season yeah it feels like it was October yesterday it’s going by quickly um and it’s going to go by quickly this month’s going to fly by and before you know it we’re going to be in April but there’s a good balance there’s a good balance it it

Doesn’t feel dense in one area over another it feels like kind of one of those normal months where you you split the time between the road and and home and you can kind of catch your bearings here and there and not too many back to backs not too many not five back to

Backs that was fun which we we love back Tob backs so fun but yeah a really good balance and I really think there’s there’s a lot of really good games in here too I mean even this back toback just to start off the month of uh march here with the

Phoenix La trip here tough one that’ll be a really good test for this group just to start this month off and uh you can catch it all on Bal Sports Oklahoma our very own crew Chris Fisher Michael cage myself and Nick Gallow bringing you all the action on the road well fish

Thanks so much for joining us today coming in here this has been fun this is great do it again we’ll have to bring you back fish to the pot at this point all right and 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 is joined by Thunder broadcast play-by-play announcer Chris Fisher to talk about what caught their eye from the last week. They also look back at the month of February where the Thunder shot a league-leading 42.7 percent from three while winning six of its last seven games.

0:58 Made you look 👀
12:34 February: Recapped
15:45 Standout stats
23:29 Looking ahead to March

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