Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. I'm Dave DeFore. I'm Zena Keita.
Oh, I don't know why that's my name.
Andrew Schlecht. We're in Vegas. If you're watching us live on YouTube, welcome. Thank you. If you're listening to the pod, thank you. Guys, we just saw the Oklahoma City Thunder. get dealt their second loss of the season thanks to Victor Wiminyama coming off the bench for the Spurs, although they've been good without him. They were amazing with him.
Andrew, I think I'm going to start with you because you went to the losing locker room after the game. All right. These guys wanted to win the Cup. You told us. Absolutely. They wanted to win the Cup. Absolutely. But they're not turning it tough. How do they feel about it after the game?
Chapter 2: What was the significance of the Spurs' win over the Thunder?
I guess Vegas is the kryptonite of the Thunder. Really? Move the finals here. Yeah. You want to destroy the Thunder? Move the finals to Las Vegas. Yeah. The Thunder, the mood was very light in the locker room. They were joking around once we walked in there.
It's not surprising. Yeah.
As expected. They lost two games. It's certainly an unfamiliar feeling this season for them. But the constant message from the players, from iHeart to Chet to Case and Wallace, who we talked to after the game, was that they did not execute well. Right. That they felt like after they kind of got that big lead, that defensively, that they didn't execute well enough. They weren't physical.
I mean, I think they got punched in the mouth by the Spurs. Yeah. And they were not good enough tonight.
Right.
We were talking during the game. All right. How many times this year have we seen OKC look the way that they looked at the end of the third quarter beginning to fourth? I think I can mark twice. It was the Portland game that they lost. They blew the 20 point lead. And then the other night against Phoenix where it felt like what what is happening here with the Suns?
And some of this, I wonder, like, it could just be, look, this is a basketball team. They're not going to go undefeated. Right. But also there's got to be a little bit of a fatigue factor here. They've played so many games already. Like we know how condensed the schedule has been for everyone around the week.
And when you have to win every game the way that they're playing, teams are ready for them. They're the champs. They're getting everyone's best effort every night. I mean, Victor Wiminyama came back because it's the Thunder and it's the Cup, right? So he respects the Cup, but they really respect the Thunder is really what it is. This is who they want to be.
I liked the way that the Spurs looked against them. I think it's a good matchup for the Spurs. And Zena, they have the guards that can really bother the Thunder up top.
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Chapter 3: What were the Thunder's struggles during the game?
But that was just one example of how they were pressuring up. There was, I believe, a clip by Iman Shumpert talking about how OKC does such a good job of setting the tone physically that it makes referees go, OK, that's just how they play. They raise that vowel level, right? And you saw the Spurs match that energy. And it's funny you talk about being punched in the mouth sometimes.
The fun castle, like he's got literally the end of the game. Nose plugged up, bloody lip.
Like it was a battle out here. Yeah. Chet's mouth was messed up too. It was, it got pretty physical. It did.
Yeah. Well, this is a rivalry. And I think that when you look at the Spurs and you listen to Victor Wiminyama in the post game, which by the way, all right, I might be in love with Victor Wiminyama. Okay. I'm just going to admit it. The guy has perfect answers in this press conference.
Give us a taste of that.
One of the things that he mentioned was how nice it is to be on a team like the Spurs that plays ethical hoops. And I can't help but think that that's a shot at the Thunder.
Yeah, it absolutely is. And the Thunder are where the Spurs team want to be. Yeah. No, look, it's one of those things where he knows, he understands the messaging. And he was like, look, It's so great. The question was, hey, are you happy to be back against the Oklahoma City Thunder? Was it like an extra little bit, the fact that you're playing against them?
He's like, it's just great to be back, but it's also good to be playing pure, ethical basketball. That is intended. Wimby's part of the problem now.
Oh, no.
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Chapter 4: How did Victor Wembanyama's return impact the Spurs' performance?
Aggression defensively is non-negotiable for them. For them to use that to get out in transition, run offensively. I mean, this team is finding an identity without Wemby, too. Let me ask you this.
How many teams can you count on one hand? It's going to be one hand. That can get that many paint touches from guards on penetration against the Thunder. This is, again...
The answer is the Oklahoma City Thunder. That's the other team because it's SGA who's the best.
That's what I want to ask you, Andrew. Even coming into this game, I already knew I was excited for this game, especially after watching the Lakers game because of how well they matched up and just their speed. We saw the Slash Brothers. And, of course, the Slash Brothers has been this maybe Stephon Castle, De'Aaron Fox, maybe De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper.
Now you've got to add in Devin Vassell in that mix, but... Going into this game, I was like, this is going to be such a great matchup because of this guard play and the defensive aspect of these games. But what do you feel like it felt like for OKC to kind of look in the mirror tonight and get to play against the Spurs?
Yeah, they hadn't really played against a team that was this competitive and that has this much size on the wing. I think that was a huge part of it is that there's so many disruptors throughout the Spurs roster that they weren't quite ready for it. And so I think that once they got up 16, I feel like maybe they like took their foot off the gas a little bit.
Like the attention to detail wasn't quite there. They thought that they were, it had a similar feel to most games. Right. They were just going to kind of coast to another win. And the Spurs, once Wimby got in the game, it was life for them.
What did you say?
I said this exact same thing.
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Chapter 5: How did the Spurs' defense challenge the Thunder's offense?
The classic Step Brothers picture. Somebody like homemade?
Yeah. Everyone was clearly here to see the new Spurs mascot, Sarah V. Oh.
What was that? Yeah, what was that? Sarah V is a lotion brand.
Sarah V is a lotion brand. Right, but they have a Spurs mascot now called Sarah V. And I don't know if it's spelled like Sarah that we know or like the brand. It's both. It's both.
It's with a C. And they made this mascot play defense and I really thought we were going to see a mascot tear their Achilles. You know, like injuries are way up this year and your star mascot going down would just be awful.
I'm sorry to derail us.
No, it's okay. Speaking of derailing, I do want to derail us just a little bit because this game was awesome. It was a great game. Wait, before we get to that. Oh, sorry.
I just really want to quickly say it was interesting to hear of the Slash brothers. In post-game, I asked Devin Vassell, like, what does practice look like for you guys to be pushing each other this way, et cetera? He was like, what's funny that you mentioned is that we haven't practiced together. The four of them had not practiced together yet. They haven't been healthy.
First game that they've all been healthy. That's crazy to think about that. OKC also. No, they were missing Isaiah Joe. They're still missing Isaiah Joe. Yeah. Would have made the difference. It would have made the difference. I mean, shooting would have helped. Every single player on the Thunder might be a star. So maybe it makes a difference.
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Chapter 6: What insights did Victor Wembanyama share in his post-game interview?
He's not really close to what he was last year. And it's just going to take time.
I was going to say, I think that's part of this whole next little phase for OKC, next few weeks, is getting him up and going. Because they need him so much offensively. They're 24-2. Yeah. They get to just kind of do whatever they want.
They're fine. If they lose half their games, they're still probably the one seed. It's pretty incredible what they're doing. Although I do think that the Nuggets are getting overlooked. All right. But let me derail us real quick because as good as this game was, again, the finish was awful. Awful. There's too many fouls. I'm tired of watching end of games come down to a free throw contest.
And the league has to do something because the watchability is awful. I don't get to see teams attempt threes even to tie the game up because of strategy. I understand. Listen, I'm a basketball coach. I get it. You want to win the game. And I'm not even knocking the teams for doing it. Although the Spurs, even Mitch Johnson said this was the first time.
Greg Popovich was anti-fouling up three ethical hoops. Is fouling up three ethical? I don't know, Mitch. We got to find this out. That's big. But Something has to be done from the league because it's taking away from the excitement of the games. This is an entertainment product no matter what. And also, how about it's not competitive?
Not just is it not fun to watch, it's a little anti-competitive. It's like winning on administration.
The thing that is competitive is to foul.
Yes, I understand.
It's to win, but I mean it's anti... I hear what you're saying. It's anti-game.
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