The Oklahoma City Thunder open the Western Conference Finals with a home victory against the Timberwolves and Zena Keita along with Es Baraheni and Andrew Schlecht break down the matchup. They discuss the defense of the Wolves and what it took to break it down, Shai’s foul drawing, what OKC did well, and then finally how the Wolves can bounce back.Host: Zena KeitaWith: Andrew Schlecht, Es BaraheniExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened in the first half of the game?
I don't know if ESPN changed the broadcast, but that first quarter had a little bit of people quiet, a little nervous for OKC, but things turned around. What did you see out there, S?
Ja, ich meine, ich dachte nicht, ich meine, schau, der Broadcast ist immer seltsam, in dem Sinne, dass manchmal das Audio ein bisschen ausgelöst ist. Also ich frage mich, ob es das ist. Andrew, war es da ruhig am Anfang des Spiels?
Also wenn wir erwarten, dass die Leute so laut wie in Game 7 sind, dann ja, es war ruhig. Aber war es ruhig? Aber war es ruhig? Nein, es war es nicht. Wenn die Mannschaft, für die du fürchtest, 35 Prozent vom Feld schießt, ist das nicht viel zu hoffen. Und wenn sie, ich meine, Teil davon ist auch, dass sie einfach einfache Schüsse verpasst haben.
In der ersten Quartier alleine waren sie 1 zu 4 auf Layups und 0 zu 4 in der Flotter-Range. Also, wenn du einfach einfache Schüsse verpasst hast und der Publikum bereit ist, zu poppen. In der ganzen Zeit in Oklahoma City. Und wenn da nicht wirklich was passiert, was dich da bringt, dann wird es die Leute ein bisschen aufrufen. Aber in der dritten Quartal war es wild.
Die Mannschaft hat gut gespielt. Sie waren damals noch wach. Aber die erste Halbzeit war einfach seltsam. Ich dachte, es war ein sehr seltsames Spiel. Statistisch, wenn du es anschaust.
Aber das Pacing war seltsam. Das war einer der größten Unterschiede, die Punkte in der Differenzial-Pain, mit der Thunder mit 54 und den Timberwolves mit 20. Im dritten Quartal sah man, dass die Timberwolves so viele 3s wie OKC versucht haben. which was 13, and Minnesota had 41 threes attempted by the end of the third quarter.
And this was a tale of two halves, S. You saw Julius Randle go off in the first half, and then it felt like the fountain of Julius dried up.
in the second like i i've seen them i've seen the defense obviously being able to keep them out of the paint in the second half but julius let's let's start with him because i really feel like he's been having an unbelievable glorious playoff run right now yeah randall was awesome in that first half i mean without him i think uh minnesota would have been in a bit of trouble offensively just because his shot making he i think he was four or five from three in that first half yeah the way that he was able to stretch the floor from minnesota was massive because
5-6 eigentlich.
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Chapter 2: How did OKC adjust in the second half?
But like, should they approach this series the same way that they did tonight and taking the shots that OKC was willing to concede to them, you know?
Yeah, it's a lot of grenades that happen in this one, where they are shutting things off for the wolves in the paint, and they can't drive and kick like they want to, and then they just have to spray the ball out and then hope that somebody makes a shot, which is not exactly a great recipe for success. I think the Thunder... They feel good about the way that they played today.
It took them a minute to, they called it to recalibrate, because they had just played against Denver for seven straight games. It's mostly zone that's thrown at them. And Minnesota comes out and man, and you're like, oh my gosh, this almost feels like a regular season game because of the way the defense was being played.
There was one play that Shea walked up the floor. I think it was in the third quarter. Julius Randle stops him at the free throw line. He takes one jab, dribble, like jab, stab, dribble, backs up. And it looked like summer pickup. It looked like a practice game in the way that they played against the man defense versus the zone.
Ja, sie hatten Raum, um ihre Plätze zu finden. Und das war wirklich groß für sie. Und Shea hat das sogar ausgesprochen, weil ich ihn gefragt habe, was er über die Defense gedacht hat. Und er hat gesagt, du weißt, Minnesota hat uns eine Zone in einem Spiel gegeben. Und wir wussten sofort, wie wir sie entfernen, weil wir gegen Denver gespielt haben.
Und sie haben sofort einen Dunk gegen ihre Zone bekommen. Und ich denke, sie haben sie danach verlassen. Sie haben sie verlassen.
They are a learning machine. They are literally artificial intelligence. The offensive side, they look that way. The defensive side, this was a clinical performance from OKC. They forced Minnesota into 17 turnovers. Tons of points in the paint. They got inside the paint often. Tons of points off turnovers as well. They dominate all of those metrics you look at as a team that just...
Töne von Turnovers sind ständig gefordert. Einer der stärksten defensive Schmiede jemals, wirklich. Ich meine, das ist die Rezepte, die man aus Minnesotas Perspektive verlieren kann. Man kann das Ball nicht so oft wie du es gemacht hast.
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Chapter 3: What were the key defensive strategies used by OKC?
Hat OKC, wie jemand im Nachhinein erwähnt, den Fakt, dass das so war, wie sie es heute spielen wollten, war, dass sie Turnovers fordern, Dinge rausnehmen und runten? Oder ist das nur die Spielplanung jeden Abend?
Well, we asked Mark about this all season. And his answer is always, it is not our game plan to get steals. Our game plan is to crowd teams in the middle. And that generates steals. Because they love to play the gaps. And that is a really important thing for them. And because they play the gaps, they're going to get steals. So it's just like a byproduct of what they're trying to do.
But they're never like, hey, we're going to sell out. We need to make sure that we get... 6 Steals in the second half or something. It's like, no, we're just going to execute our scheme and as a byproduct of our scheme, we're going to get Steals. If you play fast, it's going to benefit the Thunder. I thought it was really interesting. The Thunder, I think,
Diktative play tonight with their lineups. In the second half, and specifically in the fourth quarter, they didn't play Isaiah Hartenstein. They played small. And Mark closed this game playing J-Dub at the five. And playing all guards that were just so pesky with Shea. And they didn't have an answer for it. Because you get the ball to Nas Reed. And you have Lou Dort there.
Or you have Alex Caruso there. You have Cason Wallace there. It just makes them feel uncomfortable. And I think that was part of how they shut Randall down in the second half. They denied the ball. They didn't allow him to get these shots that he was getting in the first half. And they put a smaller guy on him. Und sie sind einer der wenigen Teams, die das tun können.
Und es interessiert wirklich ihre Bigs.
Es hat auch Minnesota kleiner gespielt. Also haben sie Rudi Gobert 21 Minuten in diesem Spiel gespielt. Und sie waren so, Mann, wir können nicht Gobert da draußen gegen die Arme von Kaysen Wallace und Alex Caruso. Er hat nicht in der Viertelstunde gespielt.
Ich habe nicht in der Viertelstunde gespielt. Und es ist wert zu sagen, dass die Statzen 19 Turnovers für Minnesota, lediglich 31 Turnovers. transition points or you know points off of turnovers for okc and i i want to go back to the lineups conversation because i think that is why okc is so damn dangerous like they not jalen williams didn't play in this game
This is the same Jalen Williams that had significant minutes against Denver. He was a DNP in this game. You look at by the end of the second quarter, four people had scored for Minnesota. Nine people had scored. für OKC. Es gab so viele verschiedene Ereignisse durch das gesamte Spiel, dass sie Dämpfe hatten. Und nicht nur Dämpfe, sie hatten Dämpfe, die das, was das letzte Line-Up tun könnte.
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Chapter 4: How did Shai Gildas Alexander perform?
Okay, well, I feel like before we go to break, I am obliged to tell you that Nikhil Alexander Walker and Sheila Gildress Alexander are cousins. Yes. You didn't know this? If you didn't know, we're letting you know that as well.
All right. They got the cousin watch on ESPN.
There you go. Let's talk about Minnesota after the break.
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Alright, the Minnesota Timberwolves are officially 0-1 in this series. And you would be surprised to know that the personal foul count, even with the J.D. McDaniels fouling out, was even. Yeah. Even with Shea Gildas Alexander shooting 14 free throws, somehow Minnesota was not able to take advantage of the fact that fouls were all around. Let's have the discussion.
Let's talk about this, because I know a lot of people feel a way. Even Anthony Edwards felt a way when he threw the ball at Shea as he went down with another foul call.
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Chapter 5: What can Minnesota do to bounce back in the series?
Die Fouls sind ein Aspekt, das natürlich etwas ist, mit dem man sich beschäftigen muss, besonders weil ihr bester Verteidiger Jada McDaniels aus diesem Spiel gefoult wurde. Ich denke, eine der großen Teile dieses Spiels war, als McDaniels seinen vierten Foul erhielt. Das Spiel hat sich von da an verändert. Jadab hat Rhythmus bekommen, SGA hat Rhythmus bekommen, sogar Cech hat Rhythmus bekommen.
Wir haben nicht so viel darüber gesprochen, aber sein viertes Quartier war großartig. Es hat wirklich den Ansatz für Minnesota verändert. I can understand mentally the foul drawing changes and it kind of wears on you. But SGA also, and Andrew, I'm sure you know this, lives in the paint. He took 16 shots in the paint tonight. He averages 11 on the season.
He's one of the best, if not the best driver in the NBA next to Giannis Antetokounmpo. There's nobody else that drives like those two. So, yeah, he's going to draw a lot of fouls. Does he do the dark arts? Does he does he know to twist and bend in the right way to get the right type of call? Yes, naturally. Aber, Andrew, ich muss dir das fragen, okay? Weil das ist meine Meinung.
Das ist, wie ich mich über die Foul Drawing Situation fühle. Wie fühlen Leute, wie fühlt Shay das? Wie fühlt Shay das über die griffende Konversation, wenn sie zu ihm gebracht wird? Er interessiert sich nicht. Richtig.
Er interessiert sich ehrlich gesagt nicht. Weil, ich meine, hier ist die Sache. Somehow, ethical basketball has become a thing that we talk about now. And everybody just wants the game to be played in a particular way. But the problem with that is...
Es ist so, okay, dann kannst du Michael Jordan oder Allen Iverson oder Kobe Bryant oder irgendwelche von diesen Leuten nicht lieben, dass jeder sagt, oh Mann, der Größte aller Zeiten, die Goats, LeBron, LeBron und dann sagst du, dass du We don't like this from Shea. The fact is you haven't watched basketball. Because almost every single great player did this.
They looked for advantages, looked for ways to gain an advantage for their team. And part of that is, especially in the first half when the Thunder had nothing going. I mean, they had nothing going. Yeah. Except for Shea getting to the free throw line.
Ich meine, das hat sich nicht wirklich in der ersten Quarantäne geholfen, weil sie nicht einen Layup machen konnten, sie konnten keinen 3 machen, sie hatten nichts los. Und ja, das ist Teil des Spiels. Du kannst dich überrascht machen, sicher. Aber Jokic macht es. Was denken wir von ihm? Bester Spieler der Welt, richtig? Ja.
She's going to win the MVP.
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Chapter 6: What was the impact of fouls on the game?
Yeah, it is bizarre, I think, the pushback. I think the ethical basketball pushback on what has been basketball for as long as we've known it.
Ich sehe, was du sagst, insbesondere bei den älteren Spielern. Das ist, was sie gemacht haben. Ich denke, das Spiel hat sich verändert, in Bezug auf das, wie das Spiel genannt wird. Das Physicality-Level, natürlich. Wir haben das Wort ein Millionen Mal gesagt. Das Buzzword von 2025, Physicality. Und das ist wahrscheinlich, warum...
The folks that are complaining about it are talking about the product, right? The stoppages, the amount of times that we're stopping the flow of the game because there are, you know, Shay's going to the basket and he's getting free throws, shot nine free throws in the first half and Folks were all up and down my ex-timeline being like, oh, again, oh, again.
And what's funny about it is like we talked about in today's game, it happens. Like you look at Jokic, I mean, how funny would it be if you had Free Throw Merchant against Free Throw Merchant and Jalen Brunson versus J. Gildas Alexander, right? It happens, but at the end of the day, it's what you're saying, Andrew. These players are smart. They're playing to the game that's being allowed to happen.
Now, I will say, I have seen the photos. I have seen the screenshots of Shay going into the paint and making the faces. Potentially, I haven't heard it with sound, but potentially making sounds. You know, feigning being hit. I think it's a skill.
I think it's a skill.
We reward Oscar winners. Du kannst ihn alles was du willst, aber hey, es funktioniert. Er ist klug, er hilft seinem Team. Und wie du erwähnt hast, Andrew, er hat dieses Team geholfen, wenn es nichts ging. Und wiederum, neun Freethrows in der ersten Hälfte, nur fünf in der zweiten. Guck mal, er hat es nicht so viel gemacht, als die Offense flog.
Also ist es ein Faktor von, lass mich einfach mein Team gehen. Lass mich etwas tun, um mein Team zu helfen. Wirst du dich an das wütend?
listen like this is a skill that anthony edwards would like to have too i mean how many times has he driven to the basket and yelled hey right after he goes up every player does that and by the way anthony shot chart tonight no only one made basket at the rim yeah yeah and that was the only attempt
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Chapter 7: What does the future hold for this series?
They're getting to their spots. They're finding creases in this defense very easily. And if they can just focus and maybe not overthink everything and not overpass everything, which is something I think they were doing, they're going to crack this defense really quick. And that's what happened in the second half. was that they were able to crack the defense.
And like I said, they threw zone there for a second and they quickly went away from it. Chris Finch even talked about that before the game. He said that they had been good at zone last season with their personnel. And then this season, for whatever reason, they could not really play zone. And I think part of that is like...
Wenn man einen Viermann wie Randall hat, dann muss der Viermann ein Verrückter sein, wie Aaron Gordon war. Und ich denke, Gordon hat diese Zone wirklich gemacht. Wir haben darüber gesprochen, nach Game 7, wie, wenn er nicht effektiv war, der Thunder es schnell zerbrochen hat. Und also, diese Zone, zumindest für heute, hat es nicht funktioniert.
Ich wundere, ob sie zurückgehen gegen den Thunder in Game 2. Aber ich bin auch mit S. Das... They're not gonna shoot this bad again. Ant's not gonna play this poorly again. Yeah, they can't. No, yeah, there's no way. And so I think there's gonna be a game... Yeah, there's going to be a game... where they shoot, you know, 40 percent from three and then the Thunder are in huge trouble.
And so I do think that there will be adjustments made. They will make shots. You know, Jane McDaniels will make more corner threes. You know, Anthony Edwards will make more than three of eight from three. You know, Mike Conley is one of five. DiVincenzo is three of twelve. Nikhil was two of nine. But those guys are going to make shots in a game. Yeah. And then like we'll have.
We'll have a game that'll be tight. Or we'll have a game where Minnesota blows out OKC. That's going to be part of this series. It's going to go back and forth. OKC has got to feel really good after this one. I think that they have a lot of answers to the problems that Minnesota is trying to pose to them. We just have to remember, this is a series. This is going to go back and forth.
Minnesota is a very good basketball team. I think they'll have adjustments moving forward. Some of it can be as simple as make or miss. Kann ich euch eine Statte geben?
Ja. Also, ich habe das gerade gesehen, aber die meisten 10-0-Runden in einer einzelnen Saison seit 1996, 1997, Oklahoma City hat jetzt 106 10-0-Runden, was einfach absurd ist.
Das ist verrückt.
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