It has been two days since the Oklahoma City Thunder punched its ticket to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 with a beat down of the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night inside the Paycom Center.
After two days off, the OKC Thunder returned to the practice court on Saturday where Mark Daigneault and Chet Holmgren spoke to the media.
Daigneault detailed what the last two days have been like for Oklahoma City, leading up to their return to the hardwood.
“We’ve had to manage these week-long blocks between series. There’s obviously challenges with it, but there’s a lot of benefits to it as well. We’ve tried to strike the right balance of resting and getting ourselves physically ready for the upcoming series while also staying as sharp as we can, staying in as much rhythm as we can,” Daigneault detailed on Saturday afternoon.
This has been an intense few weeks for the Bricktown Ballers, playing every other day en route to finishing off the Nuggets in seven games and the same format with the Timberwolves in five tilts.
However, these long layoffs are nothing new to the Thunder. Oklahoma City had to wait a week for the NBA Play-In Tournament to wrap up before sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies and waiting on the Nuggets-Clippers first round set to finish up.
Holmgren offered the player prospective on these stretches without games awaiting its next opponent.
“Just like any any other experience that we’ve had to go through, I feel like we’ve learned from them and figured out how we can be better for the next time we see that challenge. This is just another part of the playoffs, another thing that you have to maximize and make the most of, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Holmgren added.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, where the Pacers hold a 3-2 series lead. The Thunder will hold home court advantage in the Finals, beginning on June 5.
