WCF GAME 1 REACTION🔥 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s big 2nd half lifts Thunder past Wolves | SportsCenter

WCF GAME 1 REACTION🔥 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s big 2nd half lifts Thunder past Wolves | SportsCenter

Welcome back to Sports Center. David and Nicole here with you. OKC grabs game one at home. A great sign for SGA and company. Since 2000, 16 Western Conference teams have won game one at home during the conference finals. Of those teams, only the 2012 Spurs did not go on to make the finals. The Thunder six-1 at home this postseason. That’s the sixth time they’ve won six or more of their first seven home games in franchise history. Three of those five led to a finals appearance. Plenty of series to go obviously, but OKC trying to make its first finals appearance since 2012. Their only title in franchise history came in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics. So, we now welcome in the the newest guy, the newest member of our Sports Center family. That would be Michael Malone, former coach of the Denver Nuggets. Hello, sir. Um, look, obviously you look at this game and the second half told the story of of all the things for Oklahoma City. When you look at that offense, how did they break things open the way that they did in the second half? Well, I actually think it started with their defense. They forced 19 turnovers tonight and converted those into 31 points. We talked about that pregame going in. We talked about during the Denver Nugget Series, you cannot come into this building and turn the ball over and expect to win. And obviously, OKC’s defense, that’s what they do. They do it at an elite level. And then Shay Gilis Alexander, he’s he showed why he’s the MVP. He took over in the second half, did so in a very efficient manner and put the team on his back when they needed needed him to do so. Hey, Michael, you’ve obviously had to prepare for this Thunder team many times in the past. So good on both ends of the floor. They played 10 deep. They’re relentless on each side of the floor. How do you prepare for a team like OKC? Well, obviously to your point that they’re tremendously deep. You saw guys like Camri Williams come into the game tonight. Isaiah Joe played tonight. Didn’t play a lot in their last series. So, they’re deep, but once again, uh, a lot of controllable things for Minnesota going into game two. They did not get a lot from their bench tonight. They have to be a lot better. Nas Reed, Dante Devenenzo, Nquille Alexander Walker have to be a lot more efficient. Uh, but once again, Chris Finch is going to tell his guys, fellas, we cannot play in a crowd. We cannot dribble the ball into the paint. They’re going to collapse. They’re going to get out and run and you cannot beat yourself. Good teams don’t do that. So, a lot to take from this game for Minnesota. And I expect a much better effort from them come game two. It wasn’t really just their bench. I I mean, you saw Julius Randle have one hell of a first half, was a little quiet than in the second half, and there were exactly zero points from Ant in that fourth quarter. What do those two specifically need to do differently in game two? Well, you look at the paint scoring. I think the final score in the paint was 54 to 20 in OKC’s favor. I think Minnesota settled for a lot of threes tonight. I think they can be a lot more aggressive. Give credit to OKC’s defense. They sit and boxes and elbows take away the paint, but they’ve got to get some easy baskets. They got to get out and run, try to score in transition. Julius Randle had a great first half, building on a stellar playoff performance so far up until the Western Conference Finals in game one. But he’s got to bring that for four quarters. It can’t be just for a half. And Anthony Edwards, he’s got to be the guy that kind of sets the tone, looks to score, attacks the basket, and if they’re going to sit and take him away, he’s got to find guys. And when he does that, those players have to step up and make open shots. And they really struggled in that area tonight. So game one in the books. It goes to OKC. And the chess match begins. We’ll see what kind of adjustments are made ahead of game two on Thursday. Mike Malone, good enough to join us tonight on sport. in the third. SGA driving scores and this came up a lot and the foul. How he twists his body in the air. Thunder outscored the Wolves 3218 in the third. In the fourth, a lot of the same. Hubs trying to keep it close. Julius Randle misses the layup, gets his own rebound, puts it back. He had a big night, but it simply wasn’t enough cuz SGA north of 30 points. Thunder take game one. 11488. And we are joined now by Chad Homegrren. I think you can hear me. Congratulations. Uh what do you say about your second half and how this team put together that win? Uh you know, I just tried to go out there and and make some plays to help our team win. I stunk it up in the first two quarters. So uh you know, I had to turn it around and uh you know, leave it all out there. There’s no point in saving anything uh you know, if the game’s going to end. You know, you got to leave it all out there. Okay. So when you in your own words stink it up in the first two quarters, you go into the break, what do you tell yourself to get your mind right when you go back out there? Uh just, you know, stay aggressive, uh but don’t force anything. You know, make the right plays and then uh started with energy on defense and I feel like we did a good job of that. Uh and that led to our run. So when you when you look at where the defense was effective, I mean you you absolutely shut down Anthony Edwards in the fourth quarter. Julius Randall was so good in the first half, fairly quiet in the second half. How did you do it? What was the key? Uh, you know, I I think it’s it’s a plural answer. Uh, you know, we got really good point of attack defenders. A lot of credit goes to to Queso, AC, Lou, uh, Dub at times. Uh, K Rich came in and made big plays for us all the way down the line. And then understanding that you don’t guard good players with just one person. So, it’s a team effort out there. Uh, you know, we’re always helping each other, helping the helper. And then, uh, you know, it allows you to play more aggressive when you know that somebody has your back on the backside. You know, I’m curious because it was Shay who told um Lisa Salters right after the game that he said he almost felt rusty early on in this game. How do you avoid that now moving into to the second game? Who said that? Shaded SGA. Uh uh I I don’t know. You just got to uh you know, trust your process. You know, we’ve played a lot of games this year and there’s a process leading up to every single game. And uh you know, there’s no surprises at this point. We know what we’re doing. uh we know what we need to do when we get out there. So just you know trust the work uh trust trust what the coaches are telling us, trust each other out there and and good things will follow. Chad, thank you for the time. Thursday game two, we’ll see you then. Wolves coach Chris Finch. We we didn’t have uh a lot of patience in the second half and then the you know our rushed offense um you know didn’t get a bunch of quality looks and then uh it affected our defense honestly. you know, uh we got some fouls early which I thought made us a bit softer than we needed to be. Um and then uh you know, it was just then when we did get good looks, you know, they they didn’t go down. So, you mentioned the the defense became a little softer. Was that was that the main issue in your eyes on that end of the floor in the second? Yeah, I think it was like I said, our our offense affected our defense. Um and that can’t you know, that can’t happen. And Chris, the amount of good looks it seemed like you had from three. I mean, how do you feel just about Yeah, I think there are a lot of good shots out there. I think uh you know, we got to clean things up a little bit. Um you know, sometimes the passes were late. Sometimes we weren’t quite shot ready. Um sometimes we need to turn them into to other plays, you know, but I did think that we got a number of really good looks um at, you know, and we we really couldn’t connect when when the game was kind of turning uh against us. So, and Julius was great in the first half and then did they just really kind of load up on him in the second half? You know, I mean, I don’t I didn’t see I mean, I didn’t see necessarily anything different. That’s that’s on me. I got to get him the ball. I got to get him more involved to to start that uh second half. So, down halfway through the third quarter and they win this in a runaway. Thunder now 6-1 at home this postseason, outscoring their opponents by 176. That’s an average of more than 25 a game. Best point differential in a sevengame span at home in NBA postseason history. Yes, ahead of the 2016 Cavs. Yes, ahead of the 2014 Spurs. Both of those teams won the title. Tim Leggler is here. It’s not that the Thunder were were down. It said they were down at the half. They were down midway through the third. Then they outscored the Timber Pubs by 14 in the third quarter. So, how did they find their groove? How did they get it together? Shilas Alexander was able to get to his sweet spot and and that’s the mid-range area of the floor. In the first half, Minnesota did a great job of forcing him to either be a deep jump shooter or everything was at the restricted area. He only had two mid-range jump shots in the entire first half and he went two for 13. He comes out to start the third quarter and this is the one he wants right there. He goes full speed. Nobody stops on a dime the way Shia Gilus Alexander does. He gets that little lean back jumper. He was also aggressive here as you could see him around the rim that time with his own putback. But this is the shot that has defined Shay Gilis Alexander season and really the last several seasons for him. It’s that 18 to 20 foot jump shot off the dribble in a one-on-one setting and he was able to get to that and I thought it calmed his team down. When you start to see your best player operate with efficiency, everybody starts to calm down and then they stay in their lane and and then Oklahoma City’s defense took over because he wasn’t shooting well in the first half. They only had 11 points in the first half. It wasn’t just their offense though in the second half. If you think about the the defense, they they calmed Julius Randle and then of course in the fourth quarter, we’ll get to a little bit more of Anthony Edwards, but the end of the day, he had zero points. So, when you look at what the defense was able to do for OKC, what impressed you the most? You know, think about what OKC did this year as a team. These things shouldn’t go together. Number one, in defending the three-point line while defending the paint at the highest level. like those two things shouldn’t go together and also giving up the fewest points in transition. That’s what this team is defensively. That’s their identity and you saw that on full display in the second half. Outscored them 70 to 40 in the second half and this defense swarming picking up every 50/50 ball. Uh the activity with their hands and I just thought they made Minnesota’s life miserable. Minnesota took 50 three-point shots in this game, almost twice as many as two-point shots. That’s not who they are as a team. and Julius Randle, Rudy Gober, and and Anthony Edwards, of course, not able to get anything in the paint at all. Not enough balance in their offense. Just real quick, what’s your level of concern when it comes to Ant’s ankle? Very, because when this game was still within reach, you know, 10, 12 point game in the fourth quarter, Anthony Edwards has erased those deficits by himself. He could not get to that shot going left where he pushes off his right foot to get separation. This is the play heard. I believe it’s the first quarter. the entire second half. He did not take any jump shots going to his left, which requires you to push off on your right foot. He might not say it after the game. He might want to ignore it. I think it’s a factor. At least in this game, it was his aggressiveness was taken away from him from that point on. It’s not an excuse. OKC played great. They dominated them second half, but it was a factor. You can’t deny it. He’ll have 48 hours to figure it out for game two. It is something to watch before Thursday game. Thunder hosting the Timberwolves. You had Shay Gil just Alexander. He was two for 13 in the first half. 11 missed field goals or tied for the most in any half this season, regular season or the playoffs. He had just 11 points. Then came the second half and that man took over. A step back jumper that made it a two-point lead for the Thunder. Make it four with that. Then two minutes left in the third. The lead has now grown to nine. He can do silly things. Thunder up 7362 now up eight getting by Anthony Edwards easily and one SGA completely redeemed himself in the third quarter he went two for 13 in the first half he finished five of eight in the third he had 12 points 12 points in one quarter compared to the 11 he had the entire first half the Thunder had a 10-point lead going into the fourth then uh not much changed in the fourth quarter off a turnover little defense into offense man was falling away there was Foul. Thunderhead had a 9177 lead after that. He was 11 of 14 from the free throw line as well. Gets that one for two. That made it 9381. SGA had 20 points in the second half. He had 11 in the first half. Finished with a game high 31. Thunder win game one 114 88. New on Sports Center. Thunder head coach Mark Del. I thought that was the game, you know, for us, you know, to play as poorly as we did offensively in the first half and to be down four was a a major victory for us at halftime. Um, and the defense was a huge catalyst in that. Thought offensively. Um, it’s a very different series. You know, it’s a very different team stylistically and I just thought it took us some time to calibrate that. They’re a lot more pressure oriented on the perimeter. They’re a lot more physical on the perimeter perimeter. Denver, you know, plays you at a lower pickup and and packs it in. Their physicality is different, but this team is really up the floor pressuring um and really after you. And so I just thought it took us a second to calibrate to the opponent, but our defense allowed us the margin to do that obviously. Let’s go over to the other side. There’s Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards. Let’s hear what they have to What did you feel like was working offensively for you guys uh in this game when it was working and when the offense got a little stuck? What uh what were you running into? What was working? Um just making the right play. Um taking our shots. Yeah, I think that was pretty much what was working in the first half. Julius, uh in the the first half I think at 20 um and really aggressive shot was going in. Um what what is did they adjust to you at all in the second half? Um or what changed for you half to half offensively? Uh I don’t I don’t really think they did anything different other than uh just try to run me off the three-point line uh a little bit. Um I mean that was really the only thing different. I mean their defense is the same. their heavy gaps, you know, boxes and elbows. Um, so I don’t really think they did anything different. You know, they just tried to get me off the three-point line, off my catch and shoots, and I mean, that was it. Getting downhill and both of y’all, question for both of y’all. Um, getting downhill is kind of me, you know, strong suit, you know, from the last two series and even just, you know, kind of you guys’ identity. What did you feel like, you know, with their size coming into this matchup was the the biggest adjustment that you guys had to make given that you guys only had 20 points in the paint this game coming off of, you know, 72 versus Golden State in game five? Uh, I mean, they clog the paint. That’s what they do. Um, they don’t got much size down there. So, they bank on us not making shots, I guess, cuz every time I go to the rim, it’s like four people in the paint. So, yeah. I guess they just be clogging the paint. They put like five, four bodies in the paint, make you kick it out. So, just keep making the right play. Le, what do you think changed defensively for you guys in the in the second half? Or or was it just a matter of them hitting more shots uh in the second half? Uh I mean the the first half, what was it? 48 44. So, I mean it was like it was a shootout in the first half, you know what I mean? So, it’s just even if we’re not making shots, we still got to defend at a high level. And um I mean, we gave him 32 in the third and then the fourth it got away from us obviously and gave him 38. But, um whether it’s misses or makes, we still got to defend at a high level. And I think that was probably the difference in the second half. Obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we wanted to tonight, you know. Um but regardless of that um I mean we really held them to 100 points into like the end of the game obviously where you know they made some baskets so we got to we got to defend at a at a at a little bit better uh level in that in that third quarter. And uh Dante was saying in the locker room that seemed like they were throwing different looks at you guys every other possession on offense. just how did it make it hard for hard for you to read or hard for the team to read or just how did you kind of process their their defense? Uh yeah, I mean hard to process cuz he right it was different. It was kind of it was different every time. I mean heavy in the gaps sometimes trap the ball screen, sometimes don’t. Sometimes just run and jump. It’s kind of similar to like AAU. They remind me of like a AA defensive team just run and jump um fly around. So, it was pretty good. Good to um get it out our system in game one, you know. So, we’ll be ready for game two. We should be ready. Seems like one of the turning points in the game is when Jaden got his third and fourth fouls early in the third quarter. Did his absence affect you guys on either end of the court, do you think? Yeah, hell yeah. I mean, he’s best defender we got and um they usually put the five on him and we play through him in the pocket. Um and he makes the right play over and over again and he’s super aggressive. So when he’s not on the floor, it definitely hurts for sure. Gel Alexander not amazing in the first half. In the second half, MVP. It’s new on Sports Center. We we haven’t had the greatest of third quarters this um playoff run. So far we um want to make that emphasis like come out of halftime with a punch, with a little jolt, with some some energy um and not ease into it and we’ll be better off towards the end of the game. We um yeah, we just made that emphasis and we didn’t like we didn’t panic obviously in the struggles with the struggles in the first half. We missed a bunch of layups as a group. We missed free throws like the easy ones and we knew that we we stuck with it. They would eventually fall and they did. Shay, you you’ve played a handful of series now as a first option. What have you sort of learned about how to process a game from from quarter to quarter? How you value each quarter up until maybe the point it’s time for you to close a game? Yeah, it’s always a chess match out there. Like you go out there, you have a base coverage, you have something that you you want to start with, then you see how the game goes and then you just read and react and adjust from there. They make a move, you make a move. Like it’s it’s it’s back and forth. And it’s going to be like that throughout the series. Um they’re a really good team. They’ll make adjustments. They’ll get better for sure. We have to continue to get better as well. All right. All right, we’re joined now by our NBA senior writer, the Hall of Famer, Mark Spears. Uh, Mark, it has been a long time coming for this Thunder team, their first conference finals since 2016. A whole different cast of characters back then. You were there then, too. Take us inside the building. What was the atmosphere like tonight? Well, I’m going to take you even back further. I I came to games here in 2005 when the New Orleans Hornets were here during Hurricane Katrina. I came to the first game here 2009 when they moved from Seattle and now take you to tonight. Uh definitely uh knew those games with KD and James Harden and Russ. Uh it was certainly as loud as those games. They call this place Loud City for a reason. It was incredible environment. They’re here 20 minutes before the game. Uh fans are it’s like a college environment. And I heard like the University of Oklahoma attendance isn’t the same as it used to be because of the affinity uh for these Thunder. And and it could change pretty soon because they’re actually building a new arena across the street. I I believe this could be the loudest place in the NBA now that Oracle Arena’s gone. I think it could go to way of Oracle Arena once the new building is is uh open. But until then, man, yeah, this place is uh I I got to get I see there was a little baby with those ear muffs. Kind of want to borrow them from the baby cuz the baby was tougher than me. The baby stopped using them. Oh jeez. Okay, there you go. Leave the baby with the ear muffs. Let’s just say that. That’s they they they build them tough in the OKC. Yes, they do, Mark. Uh so you listen, home courts a real thing for the Thunder. They they’re winning by 25 a game at home this postseason. One of the youngest teams in the NBA, but so poised tonight, particularly in the second half. What stood out to you about the game? Look, this team averages 24 years in age. I’m I’m going to remind you, 24 years in age. They got a bunch of guys on on Minnesota that are older than that. Mike Connley’s pushing 40. So is Joe English. But on one day off, uh, one day prepare, they were extremely mature. And Minnesota came in, threw that first punch, were much better in the first half. And the play that kind of stood out to me that shows you the poise of Oklahoma City is their star, SGA. Sheay uh, got fouled. Uh, Anthony Edwards didn’t like the foul. Thought he was baiting and he tossed the ball at him, hit him in the foot. Shay just laid there, got back up and shot his free throws. didn’t get rattled even though the crowd was upset and somehow they figured it out to will it down be down four a half in the second half. It was just a totally different team. They caught their energy back. So for a team that young to so show so much poise and look like they were the rest of the team. They were the more prepared team. Uh like we better get used to seeing this for a long time cuz if they’re doing that this young and they got the money to pay these guys. Yeah. We we we just got to get Oklahoma City to figure out how to get more direct flights, but otherwise we better get used to getting there.

Michael Malone, Tim Legler and Marc J. Spears join SportsCenter to react to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 114-88 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

0:00 Michael Malone reacts
3:45 Chet Holmgren joins SC
6:23 Chris Finch on Minnesota’s loss
7:42 Tim Legler breaks down Game 1
11:01 Shai’s 2nd half performance
12:25 Mark Daigneault on the win
13:17 Anthony Edwards & Julius Randle react
17:23 SGA on OKC’s win
18:43 Marc J. Spears on OKC’s atmosphere

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