Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Explains Dissing Isaiah Hartenstein's Defense

The last thing the Oklahoma City Thunder wanted was to head to Texas down 0-2 to the San Antonio Spurs, so they fought tooth and nail to make sure the series was tied at 1-1 before home court advantage was snatched from them.

Heroics seen by the likes of Victor Wembanyama and Dylan Harper weren’t nearly as visible in Game 2, and it was obvious early on. They hung on in the first quarter, ending it tied at 31, but by the half, the Thunder began to pull away with a 62-51 lead despite losing Jalen Williams in the first quarter because of a nagging hamstring injury.

(The Spurs did have a few highlights, though, including when Stephon Castle posterized Isaiah Hartenstein.)

But with a spurt fueled by Wemby’s shooting and defense matched with a Julian Champagnie three, they were able to tie it up at 66 towards the middle of the third. 

Still, the Spurs would never take the lead for the rest of the game, and OKC pulled away in the fourth, eventually winning 122-113.

OKC owes part of the win to limiting Wemby, which, for the 7-footer, means holding him to 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting and to 3-for-7 on 3-pointers.

The biggest difference between the double OT classic Spurs victory in Game 1 and locking him down in Game 2—especially in the paint—was switching from rival Chet Holmgren guarding him to Hartenstein.

So it came as a surprise in the post-game interview when NBC’s Zora Stephenson asked SGA what kind of impact Hartenstein had.

“I’m not sure if it was good to be honest,” he said, and Stephenson asked him to explain further, which caused him to change his answer.

He added, “It was alright, it was good. It was good. We wanted to switch it up and give them different looks. That’s what happens when you play against really good players: you have to switch it up and make sure the rhythm isn’t the same, and we did that tonight.”

Social media was ripe with reactions from Gilgeous-Alexander’s initial harsh critique, especially given the team’s usual joyous attitude after wins. But he clarified his comments in a press conference, chalking it up to a miscommunication.

“I didn’t really hear her,” he said. “And then once I realized what she said, I gave her the right answer. Yeah, at first, I heard it wrong what she said.”

See social media’s reaction to the Thunder winning game two below.