By Michael Kinney
While the players won’t admit it, Monday’s 100-96 victory for the Oklahoma City Thunder was a must-win. A loss to the Dallas Mavericks would have put the youthful squad down 3-1 and needing to win three straight to come back and take the series.
Instead, the Thunder was able to return home with the series tied at 2-2 and the proverbial wind at their backs heading into Game 5 Wednesday night at the Paycom Center.
In Monday night’s game, forward Kendrich Williams came off the bench and gave the Thunder an energetic eight minutes and a spark that the team needed. Whether he is playing big minutes or spot duty, that has been a part of his resume throughout this season.
Ahead of Game 5 he met with the media for a Q&A and discussed a variety of topics. They include the Game 4 victory, his role with the team and the Thunder fan base.
Question: It just seemed like you were primed and ready for the opportunity to go and just bring energy. Mark (Daigneault) said that really stood out. How did it feel getting into that type of environment?
Kendrich Williams: It felt really good just to get out there and compete. Just being competitive and just miss kind of competing and being out there with the guys and it was good to get out there and just bring some energy.
Question: There were so many moments throughout last night’s game where it just felt like neither team was making much forward progress at all. How did you as a group kind of battle through those moments enough to keep the game within reach?
Williams: We just stuck to what we were doing. They had it rolling for the first three quarters or the first two quarters for sure, but we just trusted it. We went to have time and just basically told each other to kind of just stick with it and just trust the game plan and trust what we’ve been doing. And you see in the second half, the tables turned a little bit.
Question: We hear the word trust a lot, between you, Chet (Holmgren), Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), everybody brought up how important trust was in that game in particular. Can you kind of explain what you guys are referring to when you mean that trust is just so important for you?
Williams: I think for last night’s game it was trusting just each other as far as early, the shots weren’t going down. We were getting some good looks, guys were making some good passes. We were passing up open shots to get better shots and Shay was making some great passes for open shots as well. And that’s just a part of trusting each other. In the first half, shots weren’t falling for us, but in the second half when we started to trust, when we trusted in the first half, it kind of carried on to the second half and no shots fell for us.
Question: You got that whole stat about having the most comeback wins being down double digits. Is that a mental thing? Is that a competitive thing? What is that that translates throughout the team?
Williams: I think it’s both mental preparation and just being tough and staying in the moment, not getting too down, not getting too high up on our horses. We know what’s at stake. We’ve been in those positions before and also our coaches do a very good job of encouraging us when we’re down and just reminding us that we’ve been in situations like this before and we came out on top.
Question: What did you learn about this team going through these last three games?
Williams: Not necessarily learn anything new. I feel like it’s been a while since we lost two in a row. We lost two in a row and the whole vibes, it’s a different feeling when you lose and when you lose two in a row, that’s a different type of feeling. And the guys were very positive. I can say that they were very positive going into this last game.
Question: You had that kind of welcome-back party last night at the airport. You’ve been a part of a few of those now for the last couple of years. What does it mean to just have that special connection with the fan base that they’re willing to stay up that late on Monday?
Williams: Yeah, I mean that’s crazy. Just to be a part of an organization like this with a fan base we have is truly grateful. It’s something that you don’t take for granted. Those guys coming out in the middle of the night on a weekday, I’m pretty sure some of them got to work and some of them got school homework and stuff. And when the fans are doing that, it just makes you extremely grateful for where you’re at and the type of people that you’re playing for and the type of people you’re playing with. So we’re extremely grateful as a group.
Question: What do you think is your role on this team?
Williams: I think my role is what you saw yesterday. Just whenever my number is called, come in and bring energy, continue to be a professional every day, and show up every day. Try my best to lead these guys. And just like I said, whenever my number is called, just stay ready. That’s my role with the team and I’m extremely grateful for where I’m at right now and my role with this team.
Question: Through eight games so far, what do you think is the biggest thing that you’ve noticed about this team?
Williams: I think that the thing that stands out is we’re a hungry team. I think that we know we belong here at this stage outside of our age, we belong on this stage and we’re a hungry group.
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