FULL Interview: SGA Previews Game 1 vs Pacers | 2025 NBA Finals Media Day

FULL Interview: SGA Previews Game 1 vs Pacers | 2025 NBA Finals Media Day

[Music] Shay, you guys have have made strides as a team throughout the playoffs, even, you know, the days in between games. Do you do you feel that here over the last few days that you guys are continuing to get better as you head into this, you know, next challenge? Yeah, absolutely. every um every practice, every off day, every day, every game day in itself is opportunity to get better. I think this team has done a really good job of maximizing those days and and using them to get better and that’s why we uh are where we are. You as a team over the playoff run have faced different kind of heads of the snake guys from Morant to, you know, Joic and and Edwards. How do you view Hallebertton maybe in comparison to some of those guys and in the way that as a team you’ll have to try to you know all five defend his playmaking what he does? Yeah. Um at the end of the day every team has a few guys that are their best players um are the the the main engines and get the the ball rolling for them. And those guys have strengths and those guys have things that they’re I guess you can say less comfortable doing. Um, and the better the guys are, the harder it is to do so. Um, but if you want to win, you have to be able to make those guys play in the the things that they’re less comfortable doing. And and that’s what the task always is, no matter who it is, like the guys you just named, all those guys, you try to go out there and make them do the thing that they’re less comfortable doing. And it’s no different for him. You guys played them last in March. That’s two months ago. Where’s where do you think they’ve how they changed since then? Uh since the last time you played them? Uh I don’t think they changed much. I think they’re they were a really good team back then. They were on a roll back then. Um and they’re on a roll now. I think I I saw something like since January, us and them have the best records in the NBA. Um and they’ve been playing good basketball. So I don’t think much has changed. They’re going to be a tough opponent regardless. They were tough in March and it’ll be tough come Thursday. when the team I mean they’ve got some guards that can score you guys uh same a matchup like that. Do you approach it first from a a defensive mindset first and foremost? I mean like they’ve got Hallebert and you’ve got you and Nim Hart some other guys coming off the bench. How how do you approach a matchup like that from an offensive standpoint? Defense first. Uh defense first is always defense first. we um if we’re able to buckle down defensively, we can take care of the um offensive side and it also allows us to play more in our strengths offensively. But um defense is always where it starts. Defense helps you win games no matter the environment, no matter the team, no matter the the personnel. Like if you you get stops, you give yourselves a chance. So it always starts there for us. All right. So two parts here. Number one, what stands out to you about Indiana and how they push the tempo and and why they’re so good at it? And then the the second part of it would be how comfortable are you guys running? Because you guys are pretty good at running, too. They’re maybe a little better known for it, but you guys run just as well. Uh yeah, they’re they play fast. They’re stubborn in the way they play. They play like that no matter the game, no matter the environment, no matter the round or stage. They play to their identity and that’s why they’ve been really good. They um impose their will on the team. Now it’s just about us being able to impose our will. Um and that’s what that’s what it always comes down to no matter it’s game 41 or it’s game 91. Like the team that wins is the team that imposes their will and and has their imprint on the game more and that’s what it’s going to come down to. Shay Mark was talking yesterday about kind of the importance of those 20-ish win seasons that you guys went through a few years ago in terms of laying the foundation for what you are today. Uh would you agree with that and in what ways do you think those struggles help get you guys to where you are today? Yeah, they they’re humbling. They um they also help you with like like coach said building foundation but like building habits, building the things kind of you like you don’t really see every night like things that don’t really show up in the in the stat sheet. Like coaches always been really good on like his standard of how we play and the things that matter no matter who’s on the team, no matter what our record is. Um, and then naturally as the team’s gotten better talent-wise, we’ve had those things in place and have been able to take strides because of that. Um, so yeah, those those days were very very important for sure. Shay, I I know when AC brought his 2020 ring to the locker room, it’s it sort of started with him maybe like showing it off and then it became like guys being curious about it. What what do you remember being curious about in in regards to the ring, his journey, and and what in terms of his message has stuck with you to this point and is maybe resurfacing this week? Um, I don’t remember much about it to be honest besides it being like a very nice ring. Um, a lot of diamonds in it. It was cool. But yeah, AC’s message has always been like AC’s been very good at at understanding like playing for a bigger picture and playing for like what we’re trying to achieve and not playing for the moment. Like not like not worrying about who we’re playing on game 32. If we’re up 15, but not playing to our standard, he’s holding it. he’s holding us to it. Um, and he’s been really good with that all year and and I think that mentality um has definitely helped us get here to this point. And I I don’t know if you saw it, but the other night Miles Turner after they won was just kind of like half jokingly saying that both both of these teams are sort of that run off like the power of friendship. Um, I just wonder if this is the closest team you’ve been part of and how that maybe has translated to the growth and and gotten you guys to this point. Yeah, we’ve been we’ve been as close as you can be as a basketball team. Guys are connected at the hip everywhere we go. We do everything together on and off the court. Um, but above all, we all like prioritize winning and enjoy each other’s company. And I think it’s organic. So, I don’t think it’s anything like forced. It’s it’s just who we are and the personnel on this basketball team and um even the guys that have come into the fold have been team first guys and guys that easy to get along with. So I think it’s just like organically happened that way. Um something I don’t take for granted. You never know how many times you get to play for a team like this, especially when basketball becomes a business and not just a kid running around. Um, so yeah, it’s special and uh you try to cherish these moments no matter what’s going on, wins or losses or you try to just embrace the journey, embrace the opportunity. Yeah, Shay, in talking to AC, talking about you and not comparing, but talking about similarities between you and LeBron, you mentioned how the thing that y’all most have similar with each other is the habits that you guys create coming into the building every single day. And don’t get too high, don’t get too low, and no matter what that you guys are doing things the right way. Where did that for you start in creating coming into the building, not getting too high, not getting too low, making sure you’re coming in with the same habits every single day? Um, as a kid, I used to be very emotional. I used to be very high and very low. And I was all over the place, um, basketball-wise because of it. And I learned just throughout my career and throughout life that like there’s going to be ups and downs. There’s going to be lefts and rights and the more you can stay even killed, the more you can control what you can control and worry about what’s next is the better off you’ll be no matter what you’re feeling in the moment. Um, and then I just try to carry that out throughout my career, throughout my life. Um, and it’s worked for me so far. How much of that do you try to impress on your teammates? Um, I don’t think I don’t I don’t really try to press that on them. I just I just like I am who I am. Um, and and lead by example and I guess the success and everything else allows them to, I guess, gravitate to it naturally and and follow it. But I don’t I don’t I think that’s the biggest thing with leadership. Like I don’t try to force it on anybody. I just am who I am and try to lead by example. Kenny, uh you talked about uh the team that’s able to impose their wills, the team is most likely to be successful. How does a team do that, especially at this level? [Music] Um you you you have to it’s going to sound very like It’s going to sound like not rocket science and not special, but like you just have to like impose your will more. Like you just have to I don’t know how to describe that. You just have to like if they want to get to the spot, you have to beat them to the spot. If they want to cut back door, you have to make sure they don’t cut back door. If they want to beat you to a screen, you have to beat them to the screen. like you just have to take them out of their comfort zone and play in your comfort zone and they’re going to try to do the same thing to you, but whoever does it more and whoever plays in their comfort zone more usually comes out the successor. Is that something that you learn through experience, especially going through the playoffs, or is this is that something innate? Yeah, it’s definitely something I learned through experience just playing through these games, watching these games my whole sevenyear career so far. Um that’s been the common denominator in in winning teams and winning games. Can go Joel for the last one. You you said that that sort of inflection point for you was when you learned how to channel your emotions and and no longer be emotional. Who who or what sort of helped you hone your emotions, so to say? Um, one of my coaches in high school, I uh used to be a kid that like would like get mad and throw the ball around around the court over like a pickup game or a dumb possession like if I get fouled and it didn’t get called or anything like that. Um, and I just like he just like he just taught me that like well above all he taught me that like the older you get the less you get away with things like that and you’re not like a kid anymore and you like real life consequences come into play. And then he also like just showed me that like to be the guy that I want to be I was the best pro on the team at the time, but to be the guy that I want to be in on a basketball team in the NBA, whatever it is that like I can’t behave like that because it’ll translate to the rest of my team. And um as my team goes ups and down, up and down, so will I and so the rest of the guys and it’ll be hard for us to sustain whatever it is we’re trying to do. Uh, and that that lesson just always stuck with me and I guess I’ve uh taken it every step of the way. And so quick followup since you learned to filter out those emotions like where do they go now? Like where does the anger go? Where does the sadness go? Like where do they go? I still have it. I still feel it. I um I just I just understand I just understand not to I just understand not to let it not to let it show and and kind of weaponize it for myself. Um showing showing that also gives your opponent a weapon as well. Um, so the more that I can be, I guess you can say even kill through whatever’s going on, the less they know what I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. Um, and ultimately gives me an advantage. Thank you, Sh. Welcome

Indiana pacers vs Oklahoma City Thunder – FULL GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS | June 5, 2025 | 2025 NBA Finals

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