{"id":510609,"date":"2026-01-01T22:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/510609\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T22:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:38:16","slug":"chet-holmgren-praises-okcs-defense-after-blowout-win-vs-trail-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/510609\/","title":{"rendered":"Chet Holmgren praises OKC’s defense after blowout win vs Trail Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chet Holmgren<\/a> and the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> held the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> to 41 points in the second half, cruising to a 124-95 win at the Paycom Center. After Holmgren revealed that opposing teams defend him differently<\/a>, he swatted a season-high six blocks against the Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n

After the game, Holmgren discussed how the Thunder tightened up its defense<\/a> after halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying as a unit on that end of the floor, just being connected. We\u2019re all flying around. When you do that, you can really speed teams up,\u201d Holmgren said. \u201cBut at the same time, you have to be ready to move fast, and help each other, as well, because you\u2019re going to give up advantages. When that\u2019s happening, you just gotta be able to cover for each other multiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmgren has finished with 12 blocks across his previous three outings, all victories, following the Thunder\u2019s loss to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> on Christmas Day. Oklahoma City\u2019s win against the Trail Blazers wraps up a four-game homestand at the Paycom Center.<\/p>\n

Chet Holmgren discusses opposing teams\u2019 defense vs. Thunder\"ThunderAlonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Thunder forward Chet Holmgren feels the difference in how opposing teams defend him compared to how they defend his teammates. Coming off a win against the Hawks that came down to the wire, Holmgren reflected on how he\u2019s forced to adapt to the opposition\u2019s defensive schemes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single game is different, which, really, it is. I feel like I get guarded [differently] more than anyone else on the team, just depending on other team\u2019s personnel, how they want to scheme things up,\u201d Holmgren said. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake what the defense gives me, be aggressive, and just try to get my stuff into the game \u2014 some nights it\u2019s going to be turning over my right shoulder, some nights it\u2019s going to be turning over my left shoulder. Just got to be efficient and quick to get to my stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunder will face the Warriors on the road on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder held the Portland Trail Blazers to 41 points in the second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,366,6,179,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-510609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-chet-holmgren","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","13":"tag-portland","14":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","15":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","16":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115822245057197311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}