Oklahoma City Thunder Bungkam San Antonio Spurs pada Game 3

Oklahoma City Thunder sukses menumbangkan tuan rumah San Antonio Spurs dengan skor 123-108 pada Game 3 Final Wilayah Barat NBA Playoffs di Frost Bank Center, Jumat malam.

Kemenangan tersebut membuat Oklahoma City Thunder kini memimpin seri dengan keunggulan agregat 2-1 atas San Antonio Spurs. Tim tamu berhasil bangkit setelah sempat tertinggal 15-0 di awal kuarter pertama melalui performa gemilang barisan pemain cadangan mereka.

Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder, Mark Daigneault langsung menganalisis rekaman pertandingan malam itu untuk mempersiapkan strategi menghadapi laga berikutnya.

"I usually watch film the night of the game. I’m usually pretty wound up after the game anyways." kata Mark Daigneault, Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder.

Daigneault menyadari bahwa performa maksimal sangat dibutuhkan untuk bisa mengamankan kemenangan pada pertandingan keempat yang krusial.

"We had a great win last night, and you just know Game 4, you’re going to have to really earn it if you want to go get that game, and so the gears just start turning on that." ujar Mark Daigneault, Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder.

Keunggulan di laga tandang menjadi modal berharga bagi Thunder yang sejauh ini belum terkalahkan dalam lima pertandingan tandang selama babak playoff.

"It’s hard to win playoff games on the road. As you saw last night, that took all of our best punch to win that game the way we did last night. And it still wasn’t easy despite the fact that it was a 15-point win. It’s challenging. You don’t graduate to it. It’s going to be just as hard (Sunday) night." kata Mark Daigneault, Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder.

Daigneault menambahkan bahwa kesiapan mental dan fokus yang tinggi menjadi kunci utama bagi skuadnya untuk mengatasi tekanan di markas lawan.

"You’ve got to have a presence of mind, emotional regulation and the ability to cut through distractions and execute with poise and confidence, and this team has that, and that does grow the more that you’re in the situations and this team’s done a great job of that." ujar Mark Daigneault, Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder.

Di sisi lain, Pelatih San Antonio Spurs, Mitch Johnson menyoroti performa timnya ketika sang bintang, Victor Wembanyama, harus diistirahatkan di bangku cadangan.

"We can’t play him 48 minutes, so you can’t lose by 20 in those minutes. There’s a combination of who are we playing, what are we running, what’s the game plan during that time, and I’ve got to make sure I help that group, and the group when Victor’s in there has to be better, too." kata Mitch Johnson, Pelatih San Antonio Spurs.

Johnson juga mengakui perlunya adaptasi taktik karena beberapa pemain pilarnya tidak berada dalam kondisi kebugaran yang sempurna akibat strategi pertahanan lawan.

"Vic creates our advantages for us more than anybody else. That’s very easy to observe. The way we execute those advantages throughout the season has been with our three guards (De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper) mostly with the basketball in their hands. Just being blunt, those guys aren’t 100% right now. So we have to adjust while not changing how we play but understanding how we can continue to take advantage of those things. … We have to continue to evolve and that’s what goes into being in a chess match and they’ve done some good adjustments." ujar Mitch Johnson, Pelatih San Antonio Spurs.

Bintang Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander memuji kontribusi masif dari para pemain cadangan seperti Alex Caruso dan Jared McCain yang mencetak poin krusial.

"We have a really good basketball team. 1-15 can really play at the highest level. … No surprise for us, we know what we’re capable of," kata Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pemain Oklahoma City Thunder.

Gilgeous-Alexander memimpin perolehan angka dengan mencetak 26 poin dan 12 assist. Game 4 antara kedua tim dijadwalkan berlangsung kembali di San Antonio pada hari Minggu malam.