Latest / Bleacher Report / Thunder Talk Game 3 Loss vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals

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Thunder Talk Game 3 Loss vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Shay Jenny Carlson with the Oklahoma and Mark said that
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: he didn't feel like their strategy defensively on you changed much,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: but their execution that he felt like their force was
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: more on point tonight. What did you see from them
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: defensively and what impact did that have on the turnovers
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: especially you had tonight.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they were aggressive, they were they were hiring the
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  Speaker 2: pick and rolls. They really were, just like Courts said,
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  Speaker 2: more aggressive, more forceful. Yeah, we gotta starts with me,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: but we gotta apply that pressure back, especially if you
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  Speaker 2: want to beat the team like that on the road,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: you gotta be the more forceful team for sure. For
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: sure here on the left.
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  Speaker 3: Say you guys going the fourth quarter up five, then
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: you're only able to score eighteen in the quarter. You
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: only got three shots up? What got you guys stuck
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  Speaker 3: in the mud? And you know what kept you from
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  Speaker 3: get going individually in the fourth.
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  Speaker 2: It's hard to say, Like it's hard to say because
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: I don't see it from like a bird's eye view
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  Speaker 2: right now. After after watching film, we'll definitely have a
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  Speaker 2: better idea. But they were like, they were aggressive, they
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  Speaker 2: were heavy in the crowd. I'm not sure how many
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: points they had, but it felt like when they scored,
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  Speaker 2: like we're going against the set defense, and it's always
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: harder against the set defense. So at the top of
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: my head, those are a few things, but I'm sure
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: there's probably more that we can weave through and once
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: you watch film for sure.
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  Speaker 4: Here on the right, Joel rains and shape, it was
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  Speaker 4: almost too many winning players to count. On the other side,
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  Speaker 4: it felt like in the fourth quarter always put back
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  Speaker 4: the stilled on the end bound like what was maybe
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: the most frustrating part of the way the fourth quarter unrivaled.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not too sure we just like you said, they
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: it felt like they won all the fifty to fifty
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  Speaker 2: plays they executed on both ends of the both ends
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  Speaker 2: of the ball. When you, uh, when you give those
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  Speaker 2: two things up and no matter what quarter, you're probably
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  Speaker 2: gonna lose the quarter, especially and then it goes back
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  Speaker 2: to especially on the road in the hostile environment and
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  Speaker 2: crowds behind them. So yeah, we gotta take care of
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  Speaker 2: those things if you want to come out a game
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  Speaker 2: for a dog. All right, second round medal?
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: What's the world? Defensive pressure seemed to really in fact,
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: you guys right there at mid court both you and
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  Speaker 5: Jay and were always sort of uh corralled up. What
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  Speaker 5: was different about tonight more than besides maybe they're just
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: playing with more force.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: They were hiring the pick and rolls. No during the series,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: No they hadn't. That's what they were hired tonight in
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: the pick and rolls, like they were above the screen.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So like when you come off it, you gotta go backwards,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: and that's a little of it goes back to a
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: little bit more force. Like if we are more aggressive
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to start the pick and roll and setting it up,
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  Speaker 2: then we get a better angle. Things like that usually
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: come down to, like who throws the first punch, and
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  Speaker 2: I think that's what that was.
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  Speaker 6: Right, first row, far left, Nick Gallo, Casey Thunder Shayeh.
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: What do you guys do as competitors here for the
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: next forty eight hours? I know you probably wish you
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: could get right back out there and play those guys
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  Speaker 6: again right now, But how do you win these next
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: forty eight hours?
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, learn from your mistakes, rest recovery, do everything we
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: can to be a better basketball team some next game. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I would see those things. Second row on the.
• 3:44
  Speaker 7: Left, Yeah, McConnell steels three in bounds, and you guys
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  Speaker 7: had a few more I think Russo called them pick
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  Speaker 7: six type turnovers where it's just you know, run out dunks.
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  Speaker 7: As you look at a game like this, how detrimental
• 3:57
  Speaker 7: are not only those points, but just how it feels
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  Speaker 7: when a guy just like you know, steals the inbound
• 4:01
  Speaker 7: lay up.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, those plays hurt, especially because they're very like controllable.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: You can take your time in them, mount the ball,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: but you make mistakes in basketball no matter the stage,
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  Speaker 2: and we definitely had opportunities to cover those things up.
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  Speaker 2: But also you also don't let plays like that happen.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, like it just goes back to being tighter,
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  Speaker 2: being more focused, being more forceful all night, and things
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  Speaker 2: like that really hurt for sure. Last question, fourth through
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  Speaker 2: the Middle.
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  Speaker 8: John Holder from the Athletic Yet nine of twenty from
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  Speaker 8: the field tonight. Did you feel happy with the shots
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  Speaker 8: you got or did you feel like you could get
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  Speaker 8: to better ones or was it more just got what
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  Speaker 8: you wanted?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like I had some good looks in
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  Speaker 2: that I missed. I usually make h there's moments where
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  Speaker 2: I could have been a little bit more aggressive, I
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: would say, But yeah, I watch film clean everything up
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  Speaker 2: and try to be better for this basketball team come
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  Speaker 2: next game.
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  Speaker 9: Juelli with the Oklahoma and Jalen I believe it was
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  Speaker 9: nineteen turnovers after it all, just how would you sort
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  Speaker 9: of characterize those and on the inbound steals from McConnell, like,
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  Speaker 9: what did those players sort of feel like they sucked?
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  Speaker 10: Just bad unforced turnovers? So those usually those usually hurt you,
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  Speaker 10: especially especially like in these games where there's like such
• 5:38
  Speaker 10: high stakes and it's going to be separated by you know,
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  Speaker 10: one or two possessions. Those are very controllable turnovers and
• 5:45
  Speaker 10: they resulted in points. So we had control of the game.
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  Speaker 10: And those turnovers are the ones where, like you know,
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  Speaker 10: they get back into it, they get the crowd into it,
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  Speaker 10: you know what I mean. So if we can cut
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  Speaker 10: those out, I think we'll be in be in good shape.
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  Speaker 10: But yeah, we had a lot of un characteristic turnovers
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  Speaker 10: that also led to touchdowns. So are points for everybody
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  Speaker 10: that doesn't know that reference, but that that hurt us
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  Speaker 10: to make for sure.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: First row Jenny Jalen Mark said that Jenny Carlson with
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the Oklahoma and Mark said that he didn't feel like
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: defensively they changed philosophy, but attack and approach was more forceful.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: How do you counter that going into four?
• 6:26
  Speaker 10: Be you said them, Yeah, they didn't. They didn't change
• 6:32
  Speaker 10: didn't change around too much. They just amped up their pressure.
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  Speaker 10: And you know, being at home, you have that that
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  Speaker 10: juice to do it. So we got to meet that
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  Speaker 10: same amount of force and exceed it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Sorry, Tim, right here, you hit that pull up at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the third. Seemed like a huge shot
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: at the time. Put you guys at five. What stands
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: out to you about what went rolling after that?
• 6:55
  Speaker 10: I missed a shot and then I fouled and they
• 6:57
  Speaker 10: were right back in the game. That's been kind of
• 7:00
  Speaker 10: the same thing. It's kind of like the thing I
• 7:02
  Speaker 10: was talking about with the turnovers, Like this team makes
• 7:08
  Speaker 10: big runs and like those little unforced errors or where
• 7:12
  Speaker 10: obviously I can't control if I missed a shot or not.
• 7:15
  Speaker 10: That's that's not really the issue. It's just more a foul,
• 7:17
  Speaker 10: give a ban one. Now they're back within two, and
• 7:20
  Speaker 10: now that shot kind of means nothing, you know what
• 7:21
  Speaker 10: I mean? So I think we can just have We
• 7:24
  Speaker 10: just had a lot of unforced errors and they capitalize
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  Speaker 10: on them because they're a good team.
• 7:28
  Speaker 11: Third grow on the right Hija Michae working off with
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  Speaker 11: the athletic. Most young teams when they try to win
• 7:34
  Speaker 11: a title for the first time kind of have this
• 7:36
  Speaker 11: inflection point or pivot moment for themselves. Now down to
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  Speaker 11: one in this series, do you view that as that
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  Speaker 11: moment for you guys? And what do you think you
• 7:45
  Speaker 11: can learn from the Denver series here?
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  Speaker 10: I mean we've been in that exact same kind of predicament.
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  Speaker 10: This Game three was a better Game three than the
• 7:55
  Speaker 10: ones we've had, so we'll take that and run with it.
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  Speaker 10: But yeah, I mean it's very pivotal. Obviously, you know
• 8:02
  Speaker 10: you don't like being down in a series, but we
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  Speaker 10: have been here before, so we'll use that experience and
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  Speaker 10: work to get better from it.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Chut Jenny Carlson with the Oklahoma and just felt like
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  Speaker 1: too many mistakes tonight and obviously fourth quarter didn't close
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  Speaker 1: the way you guys would want. What'd you feel like
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  Speaker 1: was lacking tonight?
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  Speaker 12: I wouldn't even say, uh, there's a feeling of something
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  Speaker 12: being lacking. There's a lot of areas we can clean
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  Speaker 12: up myself personally every day on the roster that got
• 8:39
  Speaker 12: in tonight, can look in the mirror and see where
• 8:42
  Speaker 12: they can be better. Everybody's stepped out there can be better,
• 8:44
  Speaker 12: and you know it starts with me. I gotta be better.
• 8:48
  Speaker 12: There's a couple opportunities that we gave away on the inbounds,
• 8:52
  Speaker 12: just you know, taking care of the ball. You know,
• 8:57
  Speaker 12: there's you could look at every single breakdown and see
• 9:02
  Speaker 12: opportunity to be better. We got to understand that no
• 9:06
  Speaker 12: game is gonna be perfect. Next game is not gonna
• 9:08
  Speaker 12: be perfect. But you know we have to watch the
• 9:11
  Speaker 12: film and see what we can do to put ourselves
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  Speaker 12: in a better position to win the game.
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  Speaker 8: Fourth throw in the center, Yeah, John Hollingder from the
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  Speaker 8: Athletic Yeah. Chat the fourth quarter in particular, you guys
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  Speaker 8: scored eighteen points, miss nine of your last ten shots.
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  Speaker 8: What do you what do you think happened to you
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  Speaker 8: guys down the stretch that caused you to struggle so much.
• 9:34
  Speaker 12: I'm gonna have to go back and watch the film
• 9:35
  Speaker 12: and that when I don't want to say something without
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  Speaker 12: being able to see the whole picture. Obviously, you know,
• 9:43
  Speaker 12: to win games of this magnitude, at this level, you
• 9:48
  Speaker 12: know we have to be better than you know. The
• 9:49
  Speaker 12: statue just threw out there. You know, we need to
• 9:52
  Speaker 12: close games, close quarters, close possessions. You know, it doesn't
• 9:56
  Speaker 12: it doesn't just come down to the end of the game.
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  Speaker 12: We gotta figure out how to put ourselves in a
• 10:01
  Speaker 12: better position, you know, for the whole forty eight minutes.
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  Speaker 5: Second row here, Yeah, Chet Barry Trample Tulsa World. You
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  Speaker 5: score thirteen in the first quarter, struggled after that? What
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: was working so well for you in the first quarter
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  Speaker 5: and what went awry after that?
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  Speaker 12: Yeah? I think you know, I was playing aggressive, but
• 10:31
  Speaker 12: you know I kind of got more to two feet
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  Speaker 12: when I got in the painted area, and then you know,
• 10:36
  Speaker 12: the plays that didn't go my way. You know, I
• 10:39
  Speaker 12: felt like I got a little sped up at times,
• 10:42
  Speaker 12: and you know, I got a little bit out of
• 10:45
  Speaker 12: control in the paint, you know, which is again another
• 10:50
  Speaker 12: one of the areas where I need to clean up
• 10:52
  Speaker 12: and be better for the next game, you know. And
• 10:55
  Speaker 12: I think there's more than just that. I gotta you know,
• 10:57
  Speaker 12: watch the film and improve.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: Fourth throw on the right Juell Laurencey with the Oklahoma check.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: We just asked Alex in the locker room. It just
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: feels it all similar to the way the DeVos series
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: sort of unfolding, and he was just saying it, it
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: is probably more frustrating because it is the finals. I
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: just wonder what's sort of the most frustrating part about
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: the way these finals have unfolding it And do you
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: feel their similarities to the Devo series.
• 11:26
  Speaker 12: I wouldn't say that now is the time for emotions
• 11:30
  Speaker 12: to be thinking about how you're feeling emotional this emotional that, like,
• 11:38
  Speaker 12: you know, you kind of have to cut that out
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  Speaker 12: and just kind of look at the substance of what
• 11:45
  Speaker 12: it is. We have a great opportunity to hear and
• 11:50
  Speaker 12: you know, the great thing is we have another game
• 11:52
  Speaker 12: coming up, game four, So we can't be thinking about
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  Speaker 12: frustration or anything, no matter how good is going, how
• 12:00
  Speaker 12: bad it's going. Uh, you know, the focus can't be
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  Speaker 12: on on your emotions. Has to be on uh, you
• 12:05
  Speaker 12: know what we're trying to accomplish task at hand.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: All right, thank you, check MHM.