LEARN HIS NAME 🗣️ Brian Windhorst RAVES on Ajay Mitchell after Thunder BLOW OUT Lakers | NBA Today

LEARN HIS NAME 🗣️ Brian Windhorst RAVES on Ajay Mitchell after Thunder BLOW OUT Lakers | NBA Today

You’re watching NBA Today. Two of the games most electric scorers took center stage last night on ESPN, but it was the Thunder defense that stole the show. SGA and the Thunder hosting Luca Donuch and the Lakers. OKC’s defense came out to play. In the first quarter, OKC turned the Lakers over six times in the first quarter, leading to easy buckets in transition. And then SGA came out hot, getting to his spot, scoring with ease. He scorer assisted on 16 of OKC’s first quarter points and they led 38 after the first quarter. But that depth is crazy, especially when it comes with Alex Cruz. Yes, sir. Two-time champ getting it done, doing what he does best. Making winning plays, knocking down threes. It’s always a bonus when you can get a stop and then you can get a score. That’s like a fivepoint swing. But SJ is just unguardable right now. Perfect. Oh, best score in the game. Hands down. The mid-range king leads the league in mid-range makes. Look at the footwork. Look at the ink. Look at the old school finger. I know JJ Re broke broke the TV at the back. You’re gonna say, “Can I have this dance, young fella?” He had 30 points, nine assists. OKC wins this one easily. Our assist Malikica Andrews with the MVP postgame. Two good teams, high level opponents with talent, with experience, playoff teams obviously. Um we just want to come out here and throw our best punch and see where we stood uh this early in the season. Uh we did a pretty good job in a backto back. Uh but yeah, we we definitely got better the last two days and that’s the main goal. If this is pretty good, then it might be scary. What very good is Shay? Thank you so much for the time. I appreciate it. All right. Appreciate it. All right, guys. ESPN. I still play basketball. I swear we got you JDub. We did not forget about you. But this OKC squad somehow hasn’t missed a beat without their AllNBA forward. They are running through the start of their repeat campaign at lightning speed. Now, if you think that they’re resting on their success, think again. Look at this. OKC was dominant last season, setting the NBA record for highest point differential per game. Now, this season, they are winning by an even bigger margin. Each win coming by over 15 points a night, but that’s not where it stops. The defense leads the way for the Thunder, and they put up historic marks last season, turning the best defense in the league into an offensive weapon. Well, this season, they are even better on that side of the floor. Oklahoma City is having the best defensive rating by any team since the 2020 Bucks, a team that had Giannis win DPOY. And with that collection of talent, it’s no surprise that the Thunder led the league in wins last season. They had a franchise best 68 wins and saw SGA win MVP. But this year has been the remix, baby. OKC is winning more than ever before because right now they’re on pace to get 75 wins. Let that sink in. 75 wins. This is the 80th season that the NBA has existed and the champs are on pace to do something no other team has done before. Now, the stats, the numbers, they’re truly eyepopping. But you know the saying, it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. So, Brian, what did that game last night crystallize for you? So, they were missing three of their best perimeter defenders and the number one scorer in the league came in and Luca Donuch and they held him to his worst offensive game of the season. They double teamed him, which by the way, in case anybody’s asking about whether the Lakers need LeBron. They need LeBron. They they double teamed him 14 times in this game. But with all those numbers, I’m just going to crystallize something here with the way they’re defending. They’re number one, okay, in defense. Then Denver’s number two. The distance between Oklahoma City and Denver is the same distance as between Denver and number 20. Denver number two is closer to 20 than they are to number one. And part of this is because they have this young guy, AJ Mitchell. Now, this is a guy was on a two-way contract last year. He doesn’t have a nickname. I’m not good with nicknames, but how about the Belgian bullet? Because this dude has been an absolute gold mine for them. This is not a stop gap measure. This guy has been awesome at both ends of the court. He is a guy that they knew was ready to have a bigger role. Last year, he started out immediately as a two-way player in their rotation. that he got hurt and they got awesome and he didn’t have a time. They knew he was ready for a bigger role. It just so happened that these injuries have opened the door for him and he is a bonafide player. Learn his name. AJ is going to be a a really differencemaking player in this league. I’m going tell you something else. The Thunder signed this guy to a three-year $8 million contract in the middle of the night in the off season just in case you thought they might had one bad day in the summer. I get so many calls from NBA fans asking me, “Hey, who’s who’s this AJ Mitchell guy?” When the Atlantic and the Pacific comes together, that’s how deep deep they are. Yeah. They Yeah. deeper than both of those oceans. Here’s the thing. Didn’t Sam Prey go into the Hall of Fame or something like that. Oklahoma. Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Welld deserved. And he’ll be in the basketball hall of fame for having one of the best eyes in the game of basketball. And when I say best eyes, yes, you want to see guys put the ball in the basket, but you also want to see guys be some hyenas and some dogs on the defensive end. And that’s exactly what they have. Check out this tape. Everyone is tied together on the string. Look at the communication. Look at look at look forcing out. Good job by Zel Hardenstein. Look where the dribble handoff takes place. Look at the hedge. Look how far Luca is. Or is that Austin Reeves? One of Luca how far he has to pass the ball. Check home Greg. Excellent shot blocker. Hell of a recovery. Here we go. Go again. Now here go the backups. They come in with five new players off the bench. You think it’s a drop off? Hell no. Alex Caruso crow crowing Luca with no f without fouling. You have Jaylen Williams coming up. Look at him. He look he staring Luca in the eyes. He’s telling them square. Look at the 29 position to help. And look at the shot that they make Luca Don take. Luca Don struggled. He have been giving everybody their work over the past this past season leading the league in scoring. This is the second team that they have embarrassed. The Golden State Warriors had a meltdown after their game. And then last night we saw the frustration not only on Luca face but JJ ranting up and down the sideline. Yeah, you would think that a Luca Donas or Austin Reeves, they did a great job of playing without fouling, but they would have high IQ high enough to pick that defense apart or be patient. They still turned them over and they got Luca frustrated. Um, but you got to give them a lot of credit, man. And you don’t see this type of maturity, this type of growth with a young group. They reminded me of the young dynasties we’ve seen in the past. When you go back to the Lakers, you go back to San Antonio Spurs, the Golden State Warriors, they are up and coming. And for them to still be hungry and that focused and locked in this early in the season, most teams get fat and happy, get relaxed, might drop a game or two. They’re they’re really trying to make a statement and getting better this year. Let me ask you a question. You played on a great defensive team with the Spurs. I played on a great defense. Have you ever seen anything like this? They got to have something on the board in the locker room where it’s a competition of who get the most deflections and steals. I’ve never seen nothing like this in my life. We’ve had like one through seven, one through eight. They have like 1 through 15 guys off the bench. You see that they’re making them feel you getting up in the body. Lucas at half court making full court like passes to DeAndre Aiden getting shot blocked on the glass. Did you guys know that they have the Clippers pick this year? The rich get richer. The biggest story of this past week has to be the firing of Nico Harrison. Harrison was fired after four seasons in Dallas. That was defined by the decision to trade Luca Donic to the Lakers. Last night, Luca Donic spoke about the Maverick’s choice to part ways with Harrison. City of Dallas, the fans, uh, players, they always have a special place in my in my heart. You know, I thought I was going to stay there forever. Uh, but I didn’t. Uh, so they’ll always be a special place for me. Always I can call it home. Uh, but right now I’m focused on the Lakers, you know, trying to move on. Uh, but obviously always there’s going to be part of me in there. Uh but just trying to move on uh focus on what we doing here. Well, the Mavericks were looking to turn the page last night hosting the Suns. Suns visiting the Mavericks. Of course, Dallas plays their first game since Nico Harrison was fired. And this play right here gives you a lot of hope for Dallas because hopefully get up. Deon Booker drives. Man, look at that extension. But Deon Booker is a professional scorer, guys. He is. And look, surprisingly, the Phoenix Suns are right there in the thick thick of things. They’ve been balling in the thick of things. The Suns lead by six in crunch time. And I love seeing defense. Oh, Musa Cis with a huge block. And then that’s the type of plays that you love to see. Working on one end, heading to the other. Max Christie. Yep. 40 seconds left in the game. Suns lead 117 12. There’s an option to cut it to a one possession game, but did not work out. Devin Booker daps up the Suns fan as they went on to beat the Mavericks 12314. Happy Thanksgiving, little guy. Now joining us from the Mavericks practice facility, senior reporter Tim McMahon. Howdy, Tim. The Mavericks are now unfortunately 0 and one in the post Nico era. What has the reception been from the fans around the team? Howdy, Chen. It is a bright sunshiny day in your home state of Texas. And I got to tell you, those were the vibes in the American Airlines Center last night. Fourth quarter, Mavs trying to pull off a comeback. Let’s go Mavs. Chance defense. Oh, clap clap. All woo. The fans were rallying behind the team. And let’s be honest, it was not standard stuff, but it was notable. It was such a far cry from Fire Nico when the home team’s at the free throw line trying to protect a one-possession lead. And in all seriousness, Jason Kidd basically pleaded for the fans to get behind the team. Nico’s gone. Get behind the team. And you know, the players felt disheartened that their fans were basically rooting against them. That’s how badly they wanted the GM gone. Uh Jay Kid went so far as to say those chance when they’re at the free throw line were disrespectful. But hey, they also these players, they know they weren’t the target of the animosity. It was just hard to live in that environment. But they appreciated, as Cooper Flag said, the loud crowd last night, the positive crowd. He said he wants to just look forward and give them reasons to continue to be positive. As Klay Thompson said, I can feel the fans wanting to rally behind us, but they have been through a lot. Thank you, Tim. I know I’m from Texas and I’m very optimistic about them, but it seems like those vibes are definitely improving, but they still have a long way to go. We appreciate it. Adios, my friend. Uh, your thoughts? Yeah, I mean the fans have been through a lot. I think Clay has been through a lot as well. Um, you know, he’s the guy that took cut to play with Luca there. I mean, he’s done a lot to get there and now it’s been a tough season for him going and seeing also your ex playing very well. It it’s not it can’t be great for him. Trying to talk about feelings, Kirk. You you you have something to say on Clay. About who? The M. Oh, or the M or No. No, I just look I just want to see them healthy. I want to see Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis on the floor at the same time. That’s all I’m asking. You might have to wait. That’s the Phantom. The Phantom wants to see the help, but the GM is saying, “Press that button.” The scariest button, that reset button. Why you over there with your arms? My thing is they’ve had kind of an easy schedule so far. It’s going to get worse. Challenges ahead, but at least the vibes are high. We appreciate you. Malikica Andrews will be back tomorrow. [Music] [Applause] me with the heat. I’m on fire on the

On NBA Today, Brian Windhorst, Danny Green, Kendrick Perkins and Chiney Ogwumike react to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 121-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. Then, Tim MacMahon joins to detail the feelings that Dallas Mavericks are having after they fired GM Nico Harrison.

0:00 Thunder vs. Lakers
1:40 Chiney Ogwumike breaks down OKC’s stats
3:09 Brian Windhorst on Ajay Mitchell
4:38 How deep are the Thunder?
7:24 Suns vs. Mavericks
9:15 Tim MacMahon joins
10:45 The panel’s thoughts

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