Full Post Game Media Availability | OKC Thunder at Denver Nuggets | NBA Playoffs | May 18, 2025

Full Post Game Media Availability | OKC Thunder at Denver Nuggets | NBA Playoffs | May 18, 2025

Dub, did you really not sleep at all? I mean, I slept a little bit, but um yeah, I was just excited to play. Like, you get you never know how many game sevens you’re going to get, and it’s like an opportunity to to be great. So, I was just more excited about playing and getting the opportunity to What was that? It’s tripping. I think it was the Oh, I thought it was my There’s been some leaks in here. Yeah, that’s called leaks. Yeah. Um, yeah, but I was just I was like I think I was probably just like hyped up to play and excited. Um, that’s really it. You know, those those nights it’s hard to like kind of like go to sleep. And Shay asked you after game six kind of how you thought Dub would respond tonight. Uh, how do you think he played? Um, terrible. No, he was amazing. He um Dub was a big reason for our like little stretch of the lead in the second quarter. Um gave us momentum, but I said this out there after the game like his growth as a basketball player has been obviously like you’ve seen it all year, but his growth mentally has been more impressive to me. He um he wouldn’t have played the way he played today last year and I know that 100%. And to see him take that step forward is uh it’s a really proud moment for me. Um, just knowing like what he goes through on a day-to-day basis, knowing where he comes from, like that’s really my brother and to see him get better in those areas is it’s special. It’s fun and it makes this this whole experience um a little bit like more special. Um, but yeah, Dub, other than that, Dub’s like a great basketball player and he brought his agame when we needed the most and that’s what that’s what makes you the top of echelon, upper echelon of this league and uh the sky’s the limit for Dub as we all know. If you guys can comment on just the points off turnovers return the last couple games, you really hadn’t had that big advantage, but tonight it’s kind of like beating frenzy. You got a lot of easy buckets tonight. Yeah, that’s when we’re at our best. um starts defensively um and then we’re able to play in space with the athletes and the speed that we have. Um yeah, but starts defensively and we once we brought that tonight, we were able to to stretch the leader. You want me to answer that too? Oh yeah, just that’s that’s how we play. I I think I’ve said this earlier this year too, just like on like different things like our defense is not like predicated on us stealing the ball, you know what I mean? But it’s just more about the approach that we have, like how competitive and how right we can be and like how many how many rotations we can make, you know what I mean? Like we’re like trying to be as aggressive as possible and cover up for each other. And then if that results in a turnover, great. But you know, we’re just trying to like contest every shot, rebound every time like and you just kind of stack within our defensive like possessions and then that’s what makes us good. This is a question for both you guys. Uh, obviously a lot of excitement, nerves going into this game. What did you draw on anything? Did you reach out to anyone? Did anybody give you advice on how to approach a game like this? No, I turned my phone off honestly. Um, no cap. I just wanted to like as best as I could block out all the noise. Um, just like enjoy the time. We had two days off for the first time in a little bit. Enjoy the time with my family. Um, like I knew this moment was coming and the nerves nerves sat in my stomach for the two days, but I tried to like just think about it as as as least possible as I could. Um, and I think I did a pretty pretty good job handling that. Came out ready to play today. When you say turn it off, you mean like do not disturb and like maybe your mom can get through it or like no social media basically. And then if you if you have my number, you can have my number and text me. So yeah. Jaylen, I don’t know if you can take the 20,000 foot view this close to the end of a game seven, but just what you guys have come through to now get to this point to go to the finals. What are you proudest of just with where you guys are in this moment? I think exactly that, like we are where our feet are, like being present in the moment, not letting like too many outside stuff like control what we’re doing in the game. Um, and I think that was most impressive with everybody, like no matter what was going on, like we stuck together. Um, and we were just kind of like uncommon in that way. Like we even had like team dinner like after a loss. I think that just shows like how connected we’ve been and we’ve been doing that the whole time. So we’re just with each other regardless of what happens. I think that’s what makes us a good team. Shay, as you think about now where you guys are headed, only four teams left in these playoffs. You’re the top seed and really some of those other top seeds have have gone. What does this sort of set up for you in your mind? Nothing at all. Um, we play a really good team in the Timberwolves and we got to try to beat them four times before they beat us four times. Um, and that’s all I’m worried about, all our team is worried about. Like Dub just said, just trying to be where our feet are in the moment and see what’s in front of us and try to attack it and come out on the right end of it. Um, I think that’s why we’ve gotten this far in the season and we’re going to continue to do so. D, you guys took your first lead 2726. It was your lay that did it and you got a whistle and the crowd just goes crazy. It’s one of the bigger pops of the night. just kind of what was going through your head after the struggles you’ve had with this crowd just going crazy for you. Did I get fouled? Yeah, you missed the free throw. Um, honestly, it be so loud in there. It’s really cool to have those moments. I always try and like relish those in the game and um, yeah, it’s just really fun to play in there. So, we have a very good fan base. this way and then Daniel for uh both of you guys. Um coach talked about just the magnitude of this game uh before you guys came in here and talking about how he woke up this morning knowing that he’ll always remember because it’s a game seven. How much of that halftime break played a part in the sense of you guys coming out and putting together that tremendous third quarter? I mean just to you know take that kind of like a deep breath and it’s the only time you really kind of get that brief time to all you know be together for that little moment. Did you think that played a part or just things come together just in that third quarter organically? We honestly had like I think besides game two, we we haven’t been really good coming out of halftime this this series. Um and that was on top of everyone’s mind at halftime. We wanted to to make sure that we got out to a good start. Uh we obviously built a pretty good lead. I think it was like 14 going into halftime, but the type of team they are, we’ve seen it all series, 14 is never enough. Um, and we knew that and we wanted to come out and throw the first punch, we call it, and and I think we did a good job of that tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Shay, Mark and Caruso at different points in this series talked about how you guys were looking forward to playing the Nuggets because of how good of a team you got and how much respected how much respect you had for them. What are some of the things that you learned about this team, you guys team, uh, now that see the season, excuse me, now that the series is over? Learned about us. Yeah. Um, nothing I didn’t already know, but like we we we can win no matter the environment, no matter the type of game. It could be ugly, it could be pretty, could be high scoring, it could be low scoring, could be a lot of free throws, it could be no free throws, like no matter what it is, we can we can find a way to win. And I think that’s that’s very important this time of year. Um, but yeah, like I said, I already knew that about us and we have to keep implying that going forward. What else we got? We do two more. We go. We got Michael. Actually, three, then you uh dub, going back to plus minus, we have Caruso and um Kase coming off the bench. They have the two highest plus minus in off the bench in game seven history these past three games. What have they meant to you guys and sort of just closing out this series? They’ve been great. They’ve hit big shots. They’ve done a lot of little stuff that people won’t know about just as far as like being in the right coverage, pursuing playing good defense. Like they’ve just been really really solid. AC switched on to Joic for a lot of that game too. So it’s like for them to like answer that task and be willing to kind of do whatever speaks to what kind of players they are and um that’s why they’re here. Mark Mark said that this was your guys’ best game on defense activitywise. What do you guys think led to that? do or die. Yeah. Since urgency, we knew that if we didn’t, like I said, bring our a game on the defensive end of the floor, uh that um our season could be over. Um and nobody in the locker room was ready for that. We uh above all wanted to control the controllables and defense is one of those things, being active, communicating, helping each other. Um, you can’t always control if the ball goes in on the other end of the floor, but defense you can always control and we knew that and that’s why we were as active as we were tonight. Chay, you and Nick said, you and Nikquil have played against each other a lot now, but just from a personal standpoint, what’s it going to be like matching up with him uh in a conference finals? Yeah, it’ll be very fun. It’s like uh it’s hard to expl even even explain. Like if you know how close we are, he’s literally like my my second brother. He um he’s been through every stage of life with me and picking up a basketball to going to prep school to making the NBA. Like we’ve gone through every situation together. For for both of us to be where we are is is special. Um to compete against each other is even more special. Um, but I am trying to take his his head off for sure. Completely. Thanks, guys. Wasn’t just uh tough on Jokic to get open. It was tough on whoever was trying to pass to him, too. We’re pressuring. So, uh, credit to all those dudes. And then, uh, you know, I just have to make sure that that they know I have their back. Uh, you know, if they get beat on anything and that’s what kind of gives us the, uh, ability to pressure up. Alex, you talked earlier this series about how you were excited to play the Nuggets because they are going to make you a better team. How do you feel like you guys are better today than you were in game one? Yeah, I think just our mental fortitude, you know, even tonight we came out and uh you know, they scored kind of four relatively easy baskets and we missed shots early. Even then, I think, you know, halfway through the first we’re down 10 or 11. Um, but the whole time, you know, I’m trying to tell the guys it’s a long game and I think they knew that at that point. Um, and I think we understand what we’re capable of when we, you know, play at our best. Uh, so just the ability to get to that level, that that elite level of defense, moving the ball, shot making, offensive rebounding, the stuff that we do great. Um, I think, you know, we’re we’re figuring out how to get to that quickly and stay there for a long time. Hey, you you’ve mentioned this a bunch this year, but but you’ve said, you know, the versions of yourself, versions of this team maybe like tonight, but when you play like tonight, you could be the best team in the world. I I just wonder from what you saw tonight, is is this close to the vision you’ve had year round? And I guess what is what does that take to sort of tap into in a game seven? Yeah, I mean, uh, when we play it, we played how we did tonight, you know, and it wasn’t perfect, but but we had, you know, large majority of the game, we were kind of in control, uh, as far as assignments, you know, our physicality, our our pressure on the ball, finishing possessions, getting out transition, sharing the ball. Um that that’s the stuff like we have so much talent on the team when we do those things that just you know kind of doubles down on on how special we can be and you see it with a couple games this postseason where we’re winning games by large margins because you know we’re just trying to be ruthless and and get to that. Um and part of that in game seven is Mark did a good job of telling us just like you don’t have to do anything special. You just have to be who you are. You know we won 60some games for a reason. We’re in the second round in game seven for a reason. We’re a good team. Everybody on this team does whatever they do really well. Just do that. And uh I thought we did a good job of that tonight. And and so when Mark tells you that you’re going to be defending Jokic as often as you are tonight, what do you think? And sort of what does that take to do that effectively? Um it’s a lot of hard work obviously. You know, he’s he’s a phenomenal player. uh his resume speaks for itself, but he’s he’s a difficult matchup because he just does so many different things um to get others involved and to influence the game. So, uh for me, it’s just about competing. Like there’s nothing to save it for. It’s game seven, right? So, you either are going to the next round or your summer started. So, for me, it was just about being relentless with my energy, the effort to make it tough on him. Um, and obviously the guys around me did a good job of helping and swarming that because I’m not doing that on my own. Um, but just making stuff touch tough on him, you know, understanding how the game was game was going to be called, understanding the flow of the game, where where you could be physical, where you can’t, um, and just trying to make him work for stuff. um on this for AC, just how important has this process been of you obviously um being embraced um in Oklahoma City and and the team culture and them also allowing you to be the kind of player you are defensively? Yeah, I mean it’s been pretty fluid just because I’m allowed to just be myself. Um, and you know, that’s kind of where I thrive is just allowed to go out there and play my game, which has got me to this point and is the reason that I think, you know, they made the trade for me last summer was, you know, they they recognized the stuff that I was good at and the things that that helped elevate, you know, the players around me and the team. Um, and they encouraged me to do that. And obviously the guys on the team are great people, great teammates. Makes it really easy because they have a lot of belief and trust in me, too. Over to your right, AC. You kind of going off of that with the veteran leadership. When do you think about your rookie season up until now? How do you feel like your voice has expanded as a player? Um, a lot of that is just learning and growing and and observing stuff around me. You know, I’ve been I’ve been fortunate enough to play with Hall of Famers, been coached by Hall of Famers. uh you know the the elite of the elite mental vocal um in between the lines of the game kind of stuff and uh you know I’ve just been stealing stuff from other people and and honing it and working on it um and now trying to pass it on to the rest of the guys and I think that they’ve done a good job of that. You know, I think our our communication level, um, our sense of urgency, our ability to dissect and move forward is a lot better than it was, I think, when I first got here. Um, and that’s the key, you know, is is using that stuff that I’ve learned from other people and passing it on to the others and elevating the team. This is a question just for both of you guys. When when when Shay and Dub were in here, they said that both of them said Dub said he didn’t really sleep that much. He was excited to play. Shay said he was nervous before this game. like what did what did both of you feel before going into this game seven and and how did you get through that initial nerves in the first quarter? Go first. You got it. Yeah, I mean I think you know if you don’t feel anything leading up to it, you probably like a serial killer, you know, like you need to be you need to be checked out. Um, I was I was a little anxious, but not in a sense of winning or losing, but in a sense of like I could I was ready to play and I was ready to like to get to the game. Like there was nothing else to do. Like we played each other six times. We knew what they were going to do. They knew what we were going to do. It’s about going out there and competing and playing. So, um, no, I got a full nine and a half hours last night. I slept really good. woke up, watched some of the PJ Championship, um, and was just ready to get to the game and play cuz we had been off for two days. Yeah, same here. I got my sleep last night. Um, also it just kind of understood what’s on the line and there was a lot of excitement. I’d say uh, a little bit of angst just kind of the whole process of leading up to play. Uh, you know, it takes a while. You know, you get here three, three and a half, four hours before the game. So, uh, just kind of tried to do everything as as I would for any other game. Prep the same way, but also understand what’s on the line. So, like like AC said earlier, not leave anything in the tank, uh, you know, cuz there’s no point in saving it for summer. So, just tried to go out there, do everything I could, and uh, leave it all out there. And, you know, I knew the every other guy who touched the floor tonight was going to do the same. So, um I feel like I’ve played enough games now where uh I kind of know what to expect now and uh a lot of the pregame jitters or whatever kind of uh I’m like outgrowing them. I guess both guys um all series long everybody’s been waiting for the Nuggets to wear down and obviously they held it together pretty well. But could you sense at any point during this game maybe the run at the end of the second quarter when maybe you started to sense they were getting a little fatigued? I wouldn’t say until they pulled their guys. Uh I don’t I wasn’t really trying to sense that. I was more just kind of focused on like we can’t let up even even an ounce, you know, we just got to run through the finish line on this one. Yeah. I mean, I think I think they are, you know, their leaders are elite competitors, so like the rest of the team follows and and they always have that mindset. And I just think the talk about wearing out through the series, but I think that, you know, our pressure and our energy, you know, maybe not as much through the series, but through the games that we won was the difference. You know, the the games that we ended up winning were games that we had, you know, high intensity, full throttle, pressure, finishing possessions, um, physicality on defense, and I think we did a good job of that tonight. Chad, as someone who spent a lot of time guarding Jokic, I just want to get your perspective and evaluation of what AC was able to do this series and especially today. Yeah. Uh obviously extremely impressive. Uh he’s he’s somebody who’s kind of been through the ringer and he’s seen every type of player that there is out there and um he’s played against him in the playoffs before, too, right? Yeah. So, he’s uh he’s been there. He’s he’s seen it. He knows uh what type of player Jokic is and uh you know he did a great job of kind of playing to his advantages. That’s what that’s what he does no matter who he’s guarding. He he knows what his advantages are and then he kind of plays to that. So uh you know he was scrappy. He was using his his his speed and his pace to kind of keep uh Joic kind of from feeling comfortable and knowing where he was and stuff. So credit to him. You know he’s game changer. you know, without him, you know, the game looks completely different. Chad, you have a chance now to play meaningful basketball in your hometown. What would that moment be like for you? Man, it’s it’s amazing. Uh, you know, growing up Minnesota was never in the playoffs. So, uh, you know, I never really that atmosphere was never there in the city, you know. Um, so I’m sure it’s it’s insane right now. Uh, but it’ll be great to be able to play anytime I go home and play. Uh, it’s great to be able to play in front of friends, family, old coaches, old teammates. Um, you know, I never take it for granted and, uh, it’s definitely kind of full circle. Uh, I was just on NBA TV before this and they asked me about it and, you know, I told them my first game was supposed to be in Minnesota, but then I got hurt. So, uh, you know, it kind of makes it feel all all worth it, you know, grinding back to it and and now we’re here. So, uh, it’s going to be a challenge. They’re a good team, uh, but we’re looking forward to it. Alex has been made that you’re the old guy on the team, but, uh, not once, but twice you went up there and punched it down, uh, one time, cocking it back, two-handed just I mean, was it the adrenaline of the crowd? Like, what was the the necessity of getting there and throwing it down left on those knees? Yeah. No, I just saved those for the games that matter. Um, I wasted a couple early in the year and I had to remind myself like game 4550 when I was getting a little tired. I was like, “All right, we save them for when they matter.” And then Chad, whenever you see Alex Cruso getting up there and doing that stuff, what does that do with the rest of the team when you see a lot of times I get scared cuz there’s a couple times in the season where he kind of blew a tire on the way up and kind of just shoots a layup without even leaving the ground. So, um, you know, I’m always hoping for the best and, uh, you know, tonight we saw the best. So, credit to him. Keep going, Chad. Chad, uh, you introduced Shay as, uh, the MVP in in the postgame interview. I I know the league has sort of dragged it its feet with announcing the award, but sort of how they announced it. They have not announced it. No. Um, how how gratifying maybe is it for for him to have this sort of series against the other guy? Um, I mean, the type of guy that that Shay is, you know, he was more worried about winning the series and doing it with the team. uh you know, he enjoys playing with us. We enjoy playing with him and uh you know, he’s not somebody who really gets wrapped up in in uh those the stuff that’s not about winning, you know, the narratives and all that. You know, if you go out there and uh do what you need to do to win the game, all that stuff, take care of yourself. And you know, I can’t speak for him or where his mind was at on that, but you know, that’s what I saw from him and how he approached things. So, credit to him for uh you know, really sticking in there with us and uh you know, being about all the right things throughout this. Anybody else? It’s been a while since you played in this kind of atmosphere. Well, how much fun is this when people start? It’s one thing for your teammates to appreciate, but the fans appreciate the work you’re doing on the floor of Rock. Yeah, I love this place, man. They they yell. Um, I told people after game five here, I think that was that’s the loudest basketball arena I’ve ever been in. That moment after, you know, we hit the second three and then get the defensive rebound, go up six, and Shay gets fouled. Then this place was it was like deafening how loud it was. Um, and I think it’s just a testament to how much the community cares, you know, how much this city cares about basketball and this team. Um, and you know, I think it’s reciprocated. Like, we we play with a ton of energy and and excuse me, we play with a ton of energy and a ton of effort and leave it all out there. And I think that they’re excited to do their part and cheer us on. And, you know, um, that’s the biggest thing I think in sports is like fans want to see effort. They want to see you play with energy. They want to see you play hard and compete. And I think that this team embodies that. And I think that that’s easy to get behind. and uh they do a great job of supporting us. Um it’s been a lot of fun to see in the playoffs. Yeah. Shout out to our fans. Shout out just off the top, I want to acknowledge Denver. Um they displayed the medal of a champion. Uh obviously they’ve won championships, the the core guys. Uh and they displayed that in the series. I mean, the the way that they the run to this point uh and the run they gave us uh was impressive. They’re a bunch of zombies. Um and we have the ultimate respect for their team. Uh and we’re better uh now than we were at the beginning of the series and it’s because of them. They they pushed us to the limit. Uh and we just have such respect for uh all the guys in that locker room and their staff and their organization. I just wanted to hit that off the top. Mark, the swarming, compounding nature of your defense to to be disruptive has been kind of a major storyline all season. Uh what it seemed like to you to to be able to summon that and have it be such a factor here today? Yeah, I thought our pressure today was a a differencemaker in the game and uh we we accessed that at different times in the series, but uh today we did it, you know, most consistently for the 48 minutes. Um and we didn’t even play a perfect game on offense. Uh, but you know, it was just such a catalyst for us, the pressure, the deflections, the turnovers, and you know, even when they got shots, I thought the pressure um and the help really disrupted the rhythm of those shots and the guys just did a great job of, you know, sifting through all the noise of a game seven and just focusing on what we needed to do to win and and we really executed it. Mark, we we talked yesterday just about, you know, being this late in the series, not having many tricks left and and it coming mostly down to to execution, but I don’t I don’t remember, you know, AC defending Jokic one-on-one as much as he did in any of the games or series as he did today. Um, just what sort of led you to to to stick with that, you know, today and and what’ you hope to see from it? Well, the volume of it today was a result of how effective it was. Um but looking at it was was a priority going into today and um he did an unbelievable job, you know, individually. And then you know, if you’re putting a um 65 guard uh on a player like that, you need like relentless help and relentless pressure on the entry passes and you know, it all works together. Um, so he had amazing effort individually, but um, that truly when you’re when you’re expose yourself like that, you know, truly is a team defense to make that effective and the guys, you know, executed the hell out of that. I I couldn’t make out what you were saying. Um, when that group, that last group checked checked out right before AJ and those guys, but you put your your finger in their chest and one by one they kind of went to the bench. Yeah, just acknowledging those guys, you know, I thought they just gave a great effort. Um, you know, they’re so easy to bet on. You know, it’s we’re not perfect, but um they’re just so easy to bet on. They’re great competitors. They do things the right way. They’re professional. They’re inside the team. Guys sacrifice. Everybody sacrifices for the team. Uh, and you want them to get these sorts of things because they deserve them. And not everybody always gets what they deserve, but this team deserves these types of opportunities. And I was just really happy for those guys. Eightman rotation for the majority of the night. you guys used quick rest for for guys. Was that the plan? And then how much did that help you guys uh in this situation? It really wasn’t the plan. Um you know, Jay Will and Isaiah Joe were live. Um there were situations I would have gone to them. I think the effectiveness of uh what we were doing uh was the reason why I drifted away from that and cut it to eight. Um you play every other day in the playoffs, we have a lot of good players that we believe in. Um, and so we’re going to need the depth of the team, but obviously in a game seven, um, you know, you you got to empty empty the tank and that’s what we did. But, um, those guys done a great job of staying ready. We’re going to need everybody as we move forward here against Minnesota. With that, not many no not many rotations, but guys were giving their all. I mean, 15 offensive rebounds tonight, diving on the floor, a lot of deflections. What do you think about the effort despite not having much rest tonight? Yeah, it was our best energy game and activity game. you know, they they drummed it up, you know, for game seven. And um I just give them a lot of credit. You know, game sevens are are, you know, there’s not many games you wake up in the morning and you know that you’re going to remember the game for the rest of your life and game seven’s one of them, you know, and to be able to focus through um the distra, it’s really a distraction, you know, it distracts you from the fact that it’s still a basketball game. To be able to focus through that uh and perform the way these guys did today was very impressive. Kase Wallace and and Caruso both kind of came in late in the in the first quarter kind of got you going into the second quarter. Did you did you know that would that they would give you that kind of boost or is this just a normal rotation to getting those guys in? It’s normal, but they’ve made such a habit of that that, you know, it’s to this point it’s surprising when they don’t. You know, it’s the pressure, the intensity, the competitiveness in their team guys. You know, they go in there, uh, Denver played a lot of zone in this series. Those guys move the ball, they get into gaps, they they’re looking um, to activate their teammates, which is critical against man or zone, but certainly against zone. And so, um, they’ve done that all season, but they were incredible today. Your points off turnovers the last couple of games have been either even I think the they were even last game and you only won by three and that’s always been a big deal for you. Today it was back to well you have 37 to7 back in your favor. Yeah, seven games is a long time. You’re not going to play uh optimal basketball over the course of seven games. Um you know it’s hard to to hold that level when the opponent is doing everything they can to make you completely uncomfortable. Um and I just thought you know this wasn’t our cleanest series. I didn’t think we played our best. Um, but I do think this series really tested our resolve. You know, we went down 10. We went down 2-1. You know, after those three games, we had led 17 123 minutes to their 17 and we were down 2-1 at that point, you know, and it’s hard mentally to get yourself to zero and go win game four, win game five, and then same thing today. Um, we’re tied 3-3. We had doubled up the amount of minutes that we had led in the series and yet we were tied 3-3. and they just these guys just keep coming, you know, it’s really incredible fortitude and um I I thought it really showed the the character of the team and the character of the guys and um we’re going to need that resolve, you know, as we move forward here. Mark, you talked about the noise of a game seven and obviously you’ve got a couple guys that had experienced a game seven, but with a bunch that largely hadn’t. What did you see? What did you like most about just the way that they handled just the difference that a game seven is? just that we were who we are, you know, that’s the biggest thing. That’s that’s that’s enough with this team. I mean, if if we just bet on who we are individually and collectively, um we’re a really hard team to beat. And um I just thought we were we stayed in character. We got off to a rough start. You know, we didn’t panic. We just played the the 48. Um and we tapped into who we are, you know. Um, and that’s the thing that I’m most, you know, satisfied with is I I would hate to play a game seven like this, an elimination game, and and leave anything on the table. You know, you can live with the result and when you are who you are, and that’s what we did today. Jada really bounced back in the scoring department today. What did you see from him? Uh, great force. you know, especially early, you know, it was definitely a a conscious effort by him to um to use his speed and his power and, you know, he was on the gas from the jump tonight. He was incredible. Um and, you know, you talk about bouncing back, it’s like no no player in the playoffs, in a this competitive series plays great every night. You know, like Joic is as good as anybody. Obviously, he didn’t play great every night in the series. It’s hard, you know, and Dub, I think because he’s in his third year, takes a little bit more flak for that. Um, but like it’s hard to perform in a playoff game, in a seven game series, this competitive every night, but he rises up every time. He did it last year in the Dallas series. Game six was his best game after some struggles. Uh, and tonight was his best game uh after some struggles as well. Concerning Dub, I think he had 12 points in the last three or four minutes of the second quarter. Yeah, you’re you playing pretty well at that point, but that really put the came way ahead. How important was that stretch the last three minutes of the half? Yeah, it was a critical stretch. I thought the stretch that won us the game was uh when we went down early, you know, they were making some shots, we were missing some shots, we seemed a little frantic. Um we we seemed like we were just, you know, tiptoeing into the game a little bit from a confidence standpoint. And I thought the maturity of the team to understand the length of the game, it’s just like let’s settle into this thing. um was a huge thing because you know we went down 11 or whatever and if that balloons to 20 you know it becomes a very you know hard game to manage from that point. So I just thought that was the stretch that won it for us but the separation stretch was that that in the second quarter. I if I can ask two questions. One just what did you make of David Adam coaching against him in this series? I know it was a lot of adjustments on both sides and he’s obviously doing this on an interim basis. Yeah, I I just told him on the court how much respect uh I have for him after having competed against him in this series. Um he’s a pretty seasoned guy, you know, um to be put in a very very challenging situation. It’s a credit to their players, you know, first and foremost, but a credit to their staff um for that type of disruption that late in the season. Um you know, he was thrust into a very um challenging leadership position and handled it very well. And I think what stood out that wasn’t all smooth, you know, like they lost some games end of the regular season. They lost you get blown out in one of the games in the Clipper series. They got blown out here in game two. And that team kept competing and stayed together through all the ups and downs of their experiences, which is first of all a testament to their, you know, championship mindset, but also a testament to the relationships that he must have built over a long time with those guys. Like they really, you know, had his back. And um so I was just very very impressed with him um from a distance. I don’t know him at all, but I have the utmost respect after having competed against him. Just a quick follow, totally different subject, but you were you were with the blue the last time the Thunder were was in the Western Conference Finals. Did you get to be around the team that much during that run? And and if so, what did you learn about what comes next here? Yeah, I was um this guy. I was uh it’s hard to keep a straight face with with that guy. Um, I was around the team. This has always been an organization that’s had great synergy with those entry- level spots. A lot of the people that work here now went through the blue and all of our blue staff’s here now. So, um, yeah, but, you know, to to start over basically, um, huge shout out to Sam, you know, for his vision for this, um, to start over and to get back to this type of level, uh, is incredibly impressive. It’s an organizational accomplishment. You know, there’s a lot of invisible people behind the scenes that are part of that and I just want to make sure I acknowledge them. Obviously, we have um more opportunities in front of us, but this is a great accomplishment for a lot of people that have been here a long time. Thank you, coach. Yep. Thank you. We have players coming

Hear from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso, Jalen Williams, and Head Coach Mark Daigneault following the Thunder’s 125 – 93 win over the Nuggets in Game 7.

0:00 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams
9:48 Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso
23:23 Coach Daigneault

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