While six first-round series limped toward potential Game 6 closeouts on Friday, the Oklahoma City Thunder spent Wednesday on a half-empty practice court doing the only thing they can do: wait. Speaking after their session, big man Isaiah Hartenstein and head coach Mark Daigneault made clear the layoff is being treated as preparation, not vacation.
"You want to take advantage of it. You just want to make sure your bodies are good, take care of that," Hartenstein said. "But Mark does a great job just making sure we're still focused and we don't rest too much. We got a good session in just focusing on details. It's kind of hard sometimes when we don't know who you're playing against, but they do an amazing job just making sure we're ready for whoever and just focus on what we can control."
The Thunder swept the Phoenix Suns in four games. Three Western Conference series and three of four in the East are still unresolved heading into Friday's slate. Hartenstein noted just how unusual that is.
"I think there are six Game 6s in the next 24-ish hours. Haven't been that many in over a decade in the first round," he said. "I think we did a good job just taking care of business. Mark is really focused in on just ending game situations. You watch a lot of these series that teams probably should have won but just didn't execute as well as they should at the end. We kind of learn from maybe their mistakes."
Asked about the Thunder's reputation as ruthless closers, Hartenstein pointed to the room rather than any one play.
"It's a mixture of things. First of all, it's a group of guys. We all come in with a sense of urgency. We all come in prepared," he said. "Mark's a great coach of just making sure we execute the end of the game stuff, end of the quarter stuff. That helps a lot, especially in the playoffs."
Hartenstein also addressed his fit with Chet Holmgren, a pairing many around the league were skeptical about when the Thunder added him last summer.
"It's been amazing to me. The first couple games we didn't think it was really going to work out, but we did a great job of just working with each other, watching film. We were together all summer," Hartenstein said. "We have a lot of different weapons, but it's another weapon that Mark can use. Now it's starting to get more to advantage, where sometimes teams have to play a little bigger."
Daigneault credited his roster's willingness to experiment without ego.
"We were pretty confident it could work because the goal is to get your best players on the court, and they're two of our best players," Daigneault said of the Hartenstein-Holmgren tandem. "The team always takes a sense of optimism to those things, and that helps. If you had a cynical or skeptical team and you tried something that didn't work right away, a more cynical team would be skeptical of it. Their heart being in it is important."
The Thunder coach acknowledged closeout games are not automatic, even for his group. "It's hard to do. We were up 3-2 twice last year and didn't do it in those games on the road," he conceded.
But the formula the Thunder lean on does not change between rounds. "In a series, you're trying to get a feel for the intentions of the other team and what they're trying to get done," Daigneault said. "Just like offenses develop a rhythm, defensively you're trying to develop a rhythm against your opponent. But your opponent is always evolving, and they're doing it as best they can."
With Lakers-Rockets and Wolves-Nuggets still to settle OKC's second-round dance partner, the Thunder will keep grinding through film and detail work until a name appears on the schedule. "We're prepared against whoever we play against," Hartenstein said.
