SGA and JDub after advancing to NBA Cup quarterfinals | Post Game Media | November 28, 2025

SGA and JDub after advancing to NBA Cup quarterfinals | Post Game Media | November 28, 2025

of uh your first game action since game seven and I just wonder how you were able to get into a playmaking rhythm and just how you felt generally out there. Uh just pass the ball to the guys that have been playing was the was the goal for tonight. But um yeah, that’s an adjustment. Like you said, game seven was like what five five months ago almost six. So trying to like adjust to the physicality of that to now was a little different. And then a lot of it was just like rhythm, like trying not to like do too much but still find the spots where I was comfortable five months ago. Shay, they they put some heavy game pressure on you all. What did you like best about just the overall response in the final minutes there? Yeah, throughout the fourth quarter like they had made some like tough shots, a lot of threes. They like banged one in and I feel like no matter what happened, some like unlucky bounces to a three. No matter what happened, we just like stuck with it and like turn the page, turn to the next position and focus on that. And because of that, we got pretty good looks offensively and was able to like make some threes back and sustain their run. Um, a lot of times you get caught up in like the dev the the travesty of like them making shots and you uh you lose sight of of what’s important which is the next possession and we didn’t do that. Um, and it gave us a chance to uh extend lead at one point and be able to walk out with a W. Doug, while you were out you were coaching guys on on the bench and actively talking to the refs and the coaches. What What did being out do for do for your leadership skills? They don’t listen to me, man. I just try and be like our group is really fun to be around. So, I wouldn’t even call it coaching. It’s more like just saying saying stuff that we talk about as a team when I see that we’re kind of like off track and then we have a good group of guys. They like nod their head like they’re listening. I don’t really care what I’m saying. But for the most part, it’s just about like being engaged and whenever another guy’s out, they do the same thing. Um, and yeah, we just kind of go from there. I think it helps me stay engaged the game, too. I think I’ve never been out that long, so that was just kind of like my way of like feeling like I’m a part of the team. Shay, you’ve seen a little bit more emotion from you last few games. Is there anything driving that? Nah, just excitement sometimes. Um yeah, just getting lost in the competition and um showing a little bit of emotion. Nothing driving it though. Just having fun out there. And then you just talk about the way that you guys are able to to switch things up as quickly as you guys are. You get dubbed back, AJ goes out, iHeart goes back, but it seems like you guys don’t miss a beat. Yeah, it was a little clunky. um our rot rotations obviously having to change on a dime like that. Uh but one of the muscles like coach has built for us over the past couple years is like he’s so random with lineups and throwing guys in the game and having different situations out there and guys playing in different spots that when things like that happen, it’s it’s seamless for us. We don’t even notice it. We just go out there and do our job no matter who’s on the floor with us. Um, and it’s probably why we’ve got off to the start we’ve got out to in the past couple years with having some big injuries. Jaylen, seemed like um, your defense seemed like it was there more so than your offense. Is that true? And then it seemed like also the second half you kind of found some things offense. You had the lob dunk, you had a shot from the right wing, whatever. Yeah, defense is very like defense is very easy compared to offense, especially when you lose your right hand for five months. So, yeah, I can I can always play hard defensively and figure it out from there. Um, yeah, that’s all I got for I feel like. What about your offense? Um, yeah, it’s going to take some time. Like I said, I haven’t played in forever and there was just a lot of like behind the scenes as far as like what was actually going on with my hand. had two hand surgeries. Like I’m still trying to like figure my way out through like my jump shot and dribbling and like trying to get my touch back and like that’s just something that’s got to progress throughout the season. But defensively my feet feel fine. My wind is actually really good. So um I can always do that and then I can find cuts until I like get a lot more of like my offensive rhythm back. I’m also joining a team that’s 18 and one up until when I played. So you try not to like you try and like fit in a little bit offensively and not mess up the rotations. And then obviously like Hart and um AJ don’t play tonight either. So it’s like now our rotations are even more different. So just trying to like pick and choose spots and kind of like mesh with what the team is doing. Sh uh since you and Dylan play, you know, national team doesn’t even help. Does he irritate you less? Does he bother you off? Because he seems to bother other people, but does he ever get to you? No. I love playing against Dylan. He um like you said, I played with him national team a couple years now. He’s Yeah, you got to stop doing that. Does he sneeze? No, he just coughs while I’m Oh, it’s like that old man cough though, you know. They can’t help it. TK be doing that. Um it’s okay. Yeah, he is one of the the better competitors I’ve ever been around and he um honestly speaking like brings a great fire to every game he plays. Um like whether you want to or not, you have to compete against Dylan or he’s going to take advantage of you. And uh that’s a skill of his and and why he’s been so good in this league for so long. Um, so yeah, love playing against a guy like that that um brings energy and brings brings fire to the game every night. Yeah, Shay, from a uh leadership standpoint about Dub, just having a teammate that um first game back in 20 games, well, 19 games, not like going out there to get that big like euphoric big shot to start the game. His his his first focus was to get teammates involved. just you talk about what it means to have a teammate like that and um speaks to his leadership. Uh yeah, I think um with Dub, I’m not even sure it’s as deep or as conscious as what you just described. I think he just honestly goes out there and tries to win and no matter what it looks like, he’s going to do. Um and we’ve seen it throughout his career. He’s been a center for us. He’s played point guard. He’s played the one. He’s played two. He um does whatever it takes for his basketball team to win. Um and he comes down the floor every time and makes the right basketball play. And because of that, he’s a really good player. So, I don’t I don’t think it was like a conscious thing for him like tonight, I’m just I’m going to get my teammates involved. I’m not going to go for a big home run. I think he just was reading the game. He was himself. Um he’s a really good players and when you play against really good players, you try to make them pass and he was uh he was passing the ball and and he took what they give him tonight. Nothing that I haven’t seen from Dub. He just um like he said, he’ll get his feet underneath them with the touch and things like that, but he affected the game at a high level tonight like he always does and uh no surprise there. And then Dub, um that first dunk, how’d that feel? Um, were you yelling at the crowd or were you yelling yelling at your parents? My parents probably, I think. I could hear my mom. Like, you know how like when your parents go to your AU game and like just growing up like you just know what your like mom’s yell sounds like? I could hear my mom. So, that’s probably why it was cool though. That was a nice first point. Uh, Shay, can you tell me what you saw in that last sideline out of bounds play at the end of the game? The one where I got it stolen. Mhm. Um, I didn’t see him. So, I tried. I didn’t see him. I didn’t hear him. Good steal. Um, yeah. And then, thank God AC got the loose ball, passes to Dub. Dub passed to me. Thanks, Dub. Made two free throws. Um, won the game. But, yeah, it just plays like that happen so fast. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t even It’s just It wasn’t even You guys clinch West group A. And you’ll play Phoenix again in the first round of the knockouts. What does it What does it mean to to win your group? Play them again. Yeah. So the wild card. Oh. And then if we win that game, we go to Vegas. Then you go to Vegas. Oh. How does that work? They’re in our pool. So wouldn’t we play someone from the other pool? No. So there’s a wild there’s a wild card and the highest point differential everybody else. So they’re the wild card. You have to play somebody again to go to Vegas and we’re four and0. Yeah. Remember last year we had to play Dallas at home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there’s rules we don’t know. They know. Um. Uhhuh. Yeah. Good job to the team. One step closer to uh winning the uh in season tournament. It’s called in season tournament. Vegas cup. Cup. Cup. Cup. Nice. Uh yeah, one step in the right direction. Uh all those things are are cool, but we just of course I’m going to sound like a broken record. Just try to focus on getting better and winning basketball games. And if we do so, all the fun stuff will take care of itself. Thank you guys. Nice. All right, guys. Good night.

Hear from Shai and JDub after the Thunder’s NBA Cup win at home against the Phoenix Suns.

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