Latest / Bleacher Report / Chet Holmgren Joins NBA TV to Talk Thunder Game 2 Win vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals

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Chet Holmgren Joins NBA TV to Talk Thunder Game 2 Win vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up Chet, good game tonight. So Chris, you started
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: off and we'll finish it up.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: So Jet we talked during the Western Conference finals and
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: good to see you here make it to the NBA Finals.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: But after that game.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: One, two for none from the field, and we talked
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: the past about your struggles and what you've been through
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: to bounce back. In the first quarter, you came out strong.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Did you have it as a point of emphasis to
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: make sure you got off to a good start. Let's
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: down points in the first My point of.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Emphasis has really just come out and compete, worry about
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: all the things that matter towards winning, and let everything
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: else take care of yourself. I didn't want to put
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: too much focus on you know, shots this and that,
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: because you know, if they don't go down early, that
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: can kind of take you out of your game. And
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: I feel like I let that happen in game one,
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: So I had to correct that game too.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: As one of the main factors on this team. We
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: know when you're big three players, well you guys are
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: doing them seven You had six points. How were those nights?
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: You probably took it on yourself side and play well,
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: that's why we lost. That's what great players like yourself do.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: How did you sleep and what were you thinking about
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: those three days off?
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: And I didn't sleep very well, but you know I
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: was just thinking, you know, about gratitude and how grateful
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I am to be here. You know, if anybody can
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: speak on it not being promised or guaranteed to you,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: I can speak on that. So uh, you know, I
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: know how a bad game game one still feel like
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  Speaker 3: I can be better after this game too. And that's
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: you know, getting back at watching the film seeing where
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: I can do that for to get ready for the
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: next games. But you know, I just thought about where
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I could be better and just thought about coming out
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: and competing hard.
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: You know, Chad, I followed your whole career. You know,
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: since high school and high school you had the ball
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: in your hand. You were a playmaker. Then you go
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: to Gonzaga, you have to change your game up a
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: little bit. Now you get hit to the pros, you
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: got to even change a little bit more. So I
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: want to congratulate you on, you know, shifting your game,
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: not being a playmaker that you used to be. But
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: when you get the opportunity to be as you were tonight,
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: how does that feel? For you knowing that you are
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: more involved in the offense as opposed to just standing
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: and waiting, catching and having to shoot the excuse me
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: when I say this, those bomb shots.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: It comes down to understanding that, you know, I like
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: to look at myself as a winner. Everybody's a winner
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: until it's inconvenient. You know, you gotta can't shoot this
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: shot anymore, can't shoot as many shots, can't dribble as
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: much as you want, it doesn't It's not about that
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  Speaker 3: to me, at the end of the day. It's about winning,
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  Speaker 3: especially going through some of the stuff I've been through,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: and how good our team is as well. You know,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: it's not about coming back and you know, trying to
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: force my will on you know, what I want to
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: do out there at the end of the day, It's
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: about figuring out how we can win and trusting that
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  Speaker 3: over time things build out, you know, as I continue
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: to work on my game, as I get better at things,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: as the team you know, continues to improve and find
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: different areas to be better. But at the end of
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  Speaker 3: the day, you know, winnings at the forefront.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: So yeah, congratulations firstly, but you you made a great
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: comment check.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of players.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Hear it impact winning, be specific on what chet Holgrim
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: does that impacts winning.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Uh, it's it's a million things out there.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: You know, from defense, you know, having your guys know
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: that you got their back when they get beat, you're
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: at the room to have their back and that allows
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: them to pressure up, you know, play to get some steals,
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  Speaker 3: get us out in transition. Uh. You know it could
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: be uh, you know, spacing the floor, moving without the ball,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: attacking a bad close out, shooting when they close short.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: You know, it's it's a million things. Talking that's a
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: big one in the game, out of the game, doesn't matter,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: you know, getting your guys on the same page. There's
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: I could sit here and talk all night about the
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: things that really matter to winning. At the end of
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: the day, you got to have the dudes that can
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: go get buckets and put up points. That's what the
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: league's about. And h you know, everybody knows we got that,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: we got the MVP clearly so. Uh. But at the
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: end of the day, it's a five, five man game.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there's a lot of m vps that never
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: win a ring. Uh. Not only it's not all on them.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: There's five dudes out there and everybody collectively got to
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: get it done. So you know that's my mindset, that's
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: our mindset as a team. All seventeen are locked in
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  Speaker 3: on that and that's what we're trying to do.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: We know you play with the MVP, but do you
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: say to yourself, like, for example, I need to average
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: fifteen a game, ten rebounds, three blocks. Do you set
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: goals like that for yourself or the.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Just of course I set goals for myself. And you
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: know I even said it tonight. I don't feel like
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: I had a great game tonight by any means. You know,
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: I was impactful in areas, but I got to continue
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: to get better and overtime, at the end of the day,
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: you know, you can't just look at numbers be like
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: I want to put up these numbers. Is you know
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: you got to work to be able to do this.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: And let that follow.
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: Chick talk about the emphasis tonight on rebounding. You guys
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: were you know, severely out rebounded the last game, and
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: it seems like there was a concerted effort by everyone
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: to rebound the basketball vetter limited Indiana's offensive footbacks.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was.
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: That A focus on under on avoided on the game
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: playing tonight.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's always got to be a focus on the boards.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: At the end of the day.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: You can't get out and run and try and score
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: points if you can't close possession, especially the way we
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: play defense. Uh, you know, sometimes there's some really tough
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: shots shot at the end of the shot clock. So uh,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: you know, there's some tough rebounds coming off. You know,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: we got to track them down. But I don't think
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: the stats tell the full story. And in the last game,
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: you know, we forced a lot of turnovers, and you know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: when a team turns the ball over, there's no shot
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: on the rim to go get the rebounds. So I
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: don't think it tells the full story there. But every game,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: no matter what the last game looked like, there's got
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: to be an emphasis on the glass. We got to
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: close possessions out so that we can get to the
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: other end.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Lastly, with there are guys in the league that we
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: call unicorns or been called unicorns. You're one plus ingis
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: winbin Yama. And if you tell shot.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Bobo Bobo, it's bobo.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: If you said but in this era of basketball, how
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: impactful do you feel that you have to show all
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: of your versuity and be that mismatch every time. Do
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: you pay attention to who's guarded you and win they're guarding.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, at the end of the day, whether you're on
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: offense or defense, you gotta know who your guarding at
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: that point in time. Especially against a team like this,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: you get cross matching transition. You gotta know what they're
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: trying to do on both ends. How certain players close
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: out to you. Slower players will usually close short, try
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: to gap the drive and get a late contest on
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: the three. Some of the quicker players will try to
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: close out quicker, but they're usually shorter, so you got
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: to think shoot over the top. But it's just that's
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: why the game is so quick, and there's so many
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: things that you know, the average fan wouldn't wouldn't think
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: about that's going on out there, But you got to
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: be able to kind of figure all that out on
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  Speaker 3: the fly.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: And Minnesota, Yeah ched Holten Gratton just three years removed
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: from being the second pick in the draft. I just
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: three wins away from potentially being an NBA champion.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Thank you, sir, three time we appreciated Chap Proud.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: You may