Justin Martinez
@Justintohoops • 6,168 subscribers
OKC Thunder beat writer for @TheOklahoman_. Ball isn’t life, but there are parallels.
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Videos
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on how difficult it is to shoot over Victor Wembanyama and if he figured out some things he can take into Game 2: "The second part of your question, I probably wouldn't want to say in public because I don't want to give any answers away. But yeah, it's obviously challenging. He's very tall, very long and he deters a lot of things at the rim. You've got to be smart when you go in there. Be patient, but also be aggressive and don't be too timid in there. I think you get caught worrying about it too much and you lose aggression, and that's when they really get a stranglehold on the game. You've got to be able to be aggressive but also be smart."
Justin Martinez970,645 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
Asked Cason Wallace what it was like to see his girlfriend, Kiki Rice, help the UCLA women’s basketball team win its first NCAA championship: “That was great. It was fun just seeing her live out her dreams. She was very excited and happy. She works every day. It’s a lot of work and she’s consistent with it, so for her to have those achievements and her hard work paying off is great.”
Justin Martinez764,743 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
Mark Daigneault opened his postgame press conference by praising the Lakers: "Obviously, they played excellent tonight. It's been an impressive run they've had with (Luka) Doncic out and with (Austin) Reaves out for part of that Houston series. They've been unbelievably resourceful, and I have high respect for JJ Redick and their staff. Every series seems to teach your team lessons. They threw a lot of pitches at us, and I think we're a better team at the end of the series than we were at the beginning. That's a credit to them. Just a tip of the hat to them. Deep respect."
Justin Martinez479,188 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
Asked Alex Caruso about his shoe block: "I've never been in that situation before. And, I don't know, it came to me. I just thought I was gonna block it, and I honestly don't know what I thought the call would be. I didn't know it was going to be a goaltending and a tech. If I would've known that, I probably wouldn't have done it because it's three points. It's an automatic bucket, and he didn't even put the ball above the rim. As soon as I had my shoe in my hand, it crept in my mind to use it. Not like in a malicious way, but like 'Let me try to make a play to stop the ball.' It's just one of those weird NBA plays that probably won't happen for like another 10 years."
Justin Martinez591,222 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
Minnesota attempted 47 free throws compared to OKC’s 30. I asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander if the narrative that OKC has a special whistle bothers him, especially on a night when the stats don’t support that: “I don’t care, not one bit. I can’t control how the refs blow the whistle ever. I’ve never been able to. Never been a ref. All I can do is play basketball, and that’s all I focus on. Try to win games and win championships.”
Justin Martinez677,822 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
Jalen Williams gave a great answer on OKC’s mindset after a loss: “I think an average team would probably be like, ‘Oh, it’s the Cup. Whatever. We lost one. We’re 24-2.’ We can go home and just hang our hat on that, or we can look at it as a way to get better. … I think that’s why we’ve been so good this year, is holding ourselves to a different standard.”
Justin Martinez622,545 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
OKC's players talked before the series about enjoying being challenged. I asked Chet Holmgren just how much the team is being tested by San Antonio: "You can either love winning or love competing, and this series is all about competing. You can't go out there and be lackadaisical. There's no guaranteed win in this series. You have to go out there and grit out and grind for every single win. That's what we have an opportunity to do."
Justin Martinez167,618 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
Asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander about Dillon Brooks’ personality off the floor. The Team Canada teammates will face off Sunday when OKC visits Phoenix. “Dillon is one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. He’s just a really good guy. Super polite. Easy to talk to. Personable. No ego. As crazy as he is on the court, he’s the complete opposite.”
Justin Martinez276,979 görüntüleme • 6 ay önce
Here’s Mark Daigneault on Ousmane Dieng, who was traded to Charlotte and then Chicago today: “We won a championship last year, and he was a part of that. He added when he could, but he certainly didn’t take anything away even though he might not have had the role that he wanted all the time. I certainly respect that about him and appreciate that. He knows that from us when I saw him today, and we wish him all the best. He’s a guy that we’ll be rooting for because of the way he handled himself with us.”
Justin Martinez194,892 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander covered his eyes for most of OT while sitting on the bench. I asked him what was going through his mind: "I hate watching pressure moments when I'm not in them. I hate it. It's not that I don't have faith in my teammates or anything like that. It's just that I can't stand the pressure when I'm not involved. When I'm involved, I love it. But when I'm not involved, I hate it. The moments I was watching, it was pretty impressive."
Justin Martinez166,265 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
Jared McCain on OKC’s unselfishness: “Credit to Sam Presti. He knows how to get players here that just play for one another. I really love these guys, you know? Even this quickly, they’ve really helped me and gave me that confidence to go out there and be myself. When I see that in others, you want to help the other person out. … We play for one another. I think that’s being in this organization and that’s the Thunder way.”
Justin Martinez144,309 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
Asked Chet Holmgren about facing former Gonzaga teammate Drew Timme and what he has learned from him: “I’m extremely happy for him. He’s a helluva player and a helluva worker. I’m happy to see him get some opportunity and make the most of it out there. We were both extremely focused on the game, but lots of jokes going back and forth up and down the floor. I kind of learned how to be a professional when it comes down to being on the court. Obviously, Drew is very known for being a goofy and not-take-life-too-serious kind of guy. But when it came to basketball, he was all business with how he prepared for it and how he played the game. It was great to be able to watch that and learn from him. I’ve just tried to apply that to my journey.”
Justin Martinez112,631 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
Asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander about former Thunder teammate Chris Paul, who retired yesterday: “Chris was special for my career. Off the court, he was the first person that I was around to really take care of their body and show me the importance of the weight room. His life was really like a regimen, and it allowed him to be successful on the court. Chris was like the first point guard for me. He was the first point guard that I studied. I was in high school, and I was watching how he read the pick and roll. I was watching how he controlled the game. He was the standard for a point guard. And obviously, fast forward a couple of years, he’s one of my closest friends.”
Justin Martinez152,567 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
Asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander what was going through his mind as he sat on the bench down the stretch of a loss for the first time this season: “I could feel it out there, how the game was going. Just on both ends of the floor, (we were) not getting done what we need to get done. By that time the game is over. You just learn the lesson and chalk it up.”
Justin Martinez185,952 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
Asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander about the fans, who stayed and chanted "OKC" until the final buzzer tonight: "It's amazing to know that, no matter what, they have our backs. Oklahoma really feels like home for me and my family. There's no place in the country where I'd rather live and raise a child and build my family and things like that. The community is amazing. We'll them again next year and the year after that. Thank you to them for who they were all season long."
Justin Martinez52,071 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
