Latest / Bleacher Report / Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Joins GameTime After Game 4 Win vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Joins GameTime After Game 4 Win vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The aforementioned tough cover. This man Shay Gilders Alexander the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: rainning most valuable player in the NBA, joining us here
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: after that incredible fourth quarter where Shay goes for fifteen
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: points to eight of eight from the free throw line.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Let's start here.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Congratulations on the wind tie up the series of two,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: but the beginning of the game, noticeable changes. Starting lineup
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: changed and your rotation, minutes changed. How much of a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: conversation was those two things going into tonight and how
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: important was it to winning?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we trust coach with all those things. He's done
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  Speaker 3: such a good job of keeping us flexible all year
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  Speaker 3: with the lineup changes, the minute changes. So in moments
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  Speaker 3: like these when we need to adjust or he feels
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  Speaker 3: like we need to adjust, it's pretty seonless for us,
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  Speaker 3: and today was just an example of that.
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  Speaker 4: You know, obviously, defensively, down to stretch, you guys really
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  Speaker 4: rattled them. I mean their offense, they've been so good
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  Speaker 4: and in the game situations, the defense collectively being able
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  Speaker 4: to shut them down, clamp down.
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  Speaker 2: What was the mindset? What were you guys doing?
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  Speaker 4: Was it just sort of sticking to your principles that
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  Speaker 4: you've done throughout the season. Is it you know full
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: games in now you know them a little bit better.
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  Speaker 4: Just the thought process collectively defensively down the stretch.
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  Speaker 2: Talk a little bit about that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all about like focusing intensity for us, just
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  Speaker 3: like sticking to our principle. I think you hit it
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  Speaker 3: on the nose when we are locked in, when we're
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  Speaker 3: playing together defensively, when we're a physical, wearing end of
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  Speaker 3: the ball. Really just to our identity is when we
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: see the best version of ourselves. Tonight, we didn't have
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  Speaker 3: it as much as we liked, and that's why the
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: game was in their control for the most of it.
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  Speaker 3: But if we want to win this series, we got
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  Speaker 3: to control that end of the floor for sure and
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  Speaker 3: do a better job throughout the whole game.
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  Speaker 5: SGA, you all were down two to one going to
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  Speaker 5: Denver with a must win, it's basically game four, same
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  Speaker 5: situation here. How much did you reflect on that situation
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  Speaker 5: and what was the conversation like in the locker room,
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  Speaker 5: because you guys always seem like, no matter what, y'all
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  Speaker 5: stay calm, cool and collected.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we know we'd been here before. Now the stakes
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  Speaker 3: are a little bit different and the opponent's different, so
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  Speaker 3: you don't ever want to compare it too much. But
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  Speaker 3: every time you lose, especially the way we lost last game,
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  Speaker 3: there's things that you let slip. And our focus was
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  Speaker 3: to just try to be a better basketball team for
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  Speaker 3: the next game and take care of those things that
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  Speaker 3: slipped and weren't to our identity. And we didn't have it,
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  Speaker 3: like I said, for a full forty eight tonight, but
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  Speaker 3: we got it in time, and we were able to
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  Speaker 3: pull this one up.
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  Speaker 6: You know, Coach went back to the big big and
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  Speaker 6: y'all were able to dominate on the offensive glass because
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: I thought check. I thought the two most obviously you closed,
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  Speaker 6: which is that's that's your job as the man. But
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  Speaker 6: I thought the two big things chet on the offensive board.
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  Speaker 6: But also I thought Caruso's energy level, like it's contagious.
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: I thought that was huge. What do you think about that?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, he's been that the whole our whole playoff run.
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  Speaker 3: Make time, he stops timey steals, timy deflections, time, he
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  Speaker 3: plays big shots like he's just a gamer. He's the
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: only one on our team with the championship ring and
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: it's no coincidence. Like he knows how to win big
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  Speaker 3: games in big moments. He arrives. I told him after
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: the game, like he started our run. For sure. He
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: deserves all the praise for that. He's a big time
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  Speaker 3: performer and we're seeing it in front of our eyes.
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  Speaker 4: You know, Sga, sometimes as a great scorer, you have
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  Speaker 4: an easy thirty five points. You know, tonight it felt
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  Speaker 4: like a hard, sort of physical thirty five and particularly
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  Speaker 4: down the stretch closing out there you sat there in
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  Speaker 4: the fourth quarter, maybe seven minutes, six minutes left in the.
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  Speaker 2: Game, just in those moments.
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  Speaker 4: Take the people at home, like when you got to
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  Speaker 4: come out, you gotta be big for your team.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: What is your thought process?
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  Speaker 4: How are you approaching things, particularly in a big game,
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  Speaker 4: in a big moment like.
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  Speaker 3: This, Yeah, catch my breast, come in, be aggressive above all,
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  Speaker 3: no matter what's going on. I think I had missed honestly,
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  Speaker 3: like six shots before I got hot late. But like
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  Speaker 3: Chuck just said, my job to close, It's my job
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: to be aggressive. It's my job to make players and
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  Speaker 3: trust my work down the stretch. And no matter what,
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  Speaker 3: I'm gonna go out swimming. I'm never gonna I mean swinging. Sorry,
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  Speaker 3: I'm never gonna shy away from those moments and it
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  Speaker 3: paid off tonight.
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  Speaker 2: My mentality, sga.
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  Speaker 5: J dub this is he has not come up in
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  Speaker 5: this conversation yet, and I just think throughout this entire season,
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  Speaker 5: we have to give him his flowers. For the regular season,
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  Speaker 5: he had on the defensive end, offensive end, he had
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  Speaker 5: the ball in his hands a little bit more today,
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  Speaker 5: can you talk about that trust that you own him,
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  Speaker 5: have established through the losing initially and then now playing
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  Speaker 5: for a championship.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's been the reason why where there's deep he's
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  Speaker 3: been so impressive just handling the ball, controlling the pressure,
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  Speaker 3: controlling the game, timely baskets and then I don't even
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  Speaker 3: get started.
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  Speaker 2: On the defensive end.
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  Speaker 3: He's he's thirty year in the NBAS and all NBA
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  Speaker 3: players and all defensive players at All Star, like not
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  Speaker 3: a lot of guys do that. He's a talented guy,
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  Speaker 3: and the guy's the limit. He's like twenty three to
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  Speaker 3: twenty four years old and has a bunch of room
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  Speaker 3: to grow. But hell of a player. You know, kind
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: of looked like us.
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  Speaker 6: They made a conscious effort because they were they guarding
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  Speaker 6: you the entire court banging. They think glask and they say,
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  Speaker 6: put seven different guys on you did y'all make a
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  Speaker 6: conscious effort, let Jada and Caruso bring the ball up
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  Speaker 6: more so you didn't have to do all that heavy lifting.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, above all, it's important to like just trust my team,
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  Speaker 3: especially in the biggest moments, their battle tests, that they've
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: been through so much with me without me, and we
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  Speaker 3: built that muscle all year to be able to trust
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  Speaker 3: them in the biggest moments, and they came through the night.
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  Speaker 3: But that was definitely a conscious epic for sure.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: As she gave last one for you here. What's it
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  Speaker 1: like knowing you are now two wins away from a championship?
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  Speaker 1: It's a best of three series and potentially two of
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: those games are going to be on your home court,
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  Speaker 1: arguably the loudest arena in the NBA.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a lot better feeling than three to one
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  Speaker 3: going home. But with that being said, there's so much
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: more to do. We're still so far from the finish line.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: It's a really good team on the other end, and
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  Speaker 3: two wins against them is really hard, and we got
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  Speaker 3: to focus on one win, one position at a time,
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  Speaker 3: one quarter at a time, stack it all up and
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  Speaker 3: then when we get there. We'll get there, but we're
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  Speaker 3: still so far from the finish line.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Well, we know you're going to run through the tape
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  Speaker 1: of that finish line. These three, unfortunately, this is their
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  Speaker 1: you know, last hurrah. Here they're done after this tonight,
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  Speaker 1: Chuck's going to do some extra homework. He's got like
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  Speaker 1: two and a half hours more broadcasting. So if you
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  Speaker 1: want to stick around with him, he's gonna go at
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  Speaker 1: your homework. Good, he got some other way appreciate you.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Back for Game five in Oklahoma City, a thirty five
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  Speaker 1: point performance by Shake. You'll just Alexander