The Oklahoma City Thunder “sucked” in a sloppy, lopsided game six loss to the Indiana Pacers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said, but he’s confident they have what it takes to claim the title in game seven.
“The way I see it, we sucked tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, said after the Thunder’s bid to close out the Pacers ended in a 108-91 defeat in Indianapolis.
Averaging more than 30 points per game in the Finals, Gilgeous-Alexander scored just 21 to go along with four rebounds, two assists and eight of the Thunder’s 21 turnovers.
“Some of them I think was carelessness, not being as focused, not being engaged,” he said of the Thunder’s uncharacteristic turnovers.
“They played harder than us tonight as well. When a team plays harder, they turn the other team over.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s eight turnovers were more than his seven baskets, but Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said the defeat was on the entire team.
“First of all, credit Indiana,” Daigneault said. “I thought they obviously earned the win. They outplayed us for most of the 48 minutes.
“That’s the story of the game. They went out there and attacked the game.
“From our standpoint, it was uncharacteristic,” Daigneault added. “It was disappointing. It was collective. It wasn’t one guy. Just we were not where we needed to be on either end of the floor for much of the game.”
Gilgeous-Alexander admitted that the chance of clinching the franchise’s first title since it relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 was “definitely in the back of our minds.
“Now, we didn’t play like it at all,” he added. “That’s why the night went the way it did. We got exactly what we deserved, what we earned. We have to own that.”
But he didn’t think he and his Thunder teammates — who ousted the Denver Nuggets with a lopsided game-seven win in their Western Conference semi-final series — needed to find something new.
“I don’t feel like I have to do anything other than just be the best version of myself,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think that goes for everyone else in the room. We just have to bring what we bring to the table, what we’ve brought to the table all year.
“One game for everything you ever dreamed of,” he added. “If you win it, you get everything. If you lose it, you get nothing. It’s that simple.”
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
