OKC Thunder happy to showcase physicality in NBA Cup: 'We're not gonna get punked'

OKC Thunder happy to showcase physicality in NBA Cup: ‘We’re not gonna get punked’

Posted by author December 16, 2024 NBA

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LAS VEGAS — Isaiah Hartenstein hasn’t had many chances to flash his precious new contract. At team dinners — even at busier Las Vegas tables, with OKC’s injured players rejoining the squad in Las Vegas — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tends to snatch the check from him.

From the looks of it, his money has mostly gone toward an endless supply of Timberland boots. So Hartenstein knew as soon as he saw Cason Wallace go forehead-to-nose with 6-foot-9 center Alperen Sengun late in the Thunder’s 111-96 Cup semifinal win Saturday night against the Rockets that he would foot the bill.

“I loved it,” Hartenstein said. “My son getting into it. I already got his fine, so I made sure that’s all good.

“We’re not going to back down from nobody, so I love what my son did.”

For Hartenstein, it’s money well spent. He’ll support his young teammate, who is still on a rookie contract. He’ll encourage Wallace to be fierce and stand his ground, to identify with his MMA-style defense before his teenage smile and mild manner. And Hartenstein gets to fund the Thunder’s now public campaign of pushing teams back.

It wasn’t always this way. Double technicals, brush-ups instigated by their headache of a defense. The league, forced to deal with OKC’s rise, seems to be dismissing the Thunder’s jolly postgame antics and barking as mere yipping. OKC let it be known Saturday that there’s some bite, too.

“For us, we just playing hard,” Wallace said. “And whatever happens out there happens. You know, we’re not gonna get punked or shot down by anybody.”

The Rockets are unabashed in their truculence. Unafraid to get in your face after locking you up, begging you to do something about it. Dillon Brooks seemingly lives for those interactions. Tari Eason and others follow suit, pushed by a coach in Ime Udoka who’s fostered a defense that gives out basketball wedgies.

There’s a level of toughness embedded in this Thunder team. It fuels its league-best defense. It exists, just not to the average eye. It’s not worn as loudly as a leather jacket from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s closet.

In house, there’s a brand of grit being upheld. Saturday was one of those rare times when the Thunder was asked to outwardly prove it.

“Just always match the physicality,” guard Lu Dort said. “We’re already a physical team, but just match it. There’s teams that that’s their identity, they’re gonna go out there and try and punk the other team, which we can’t let that happen to us. Whenever something happens, we just got to hold our ground and stand up.”

OKC has the personnel to bully teams, both in its defensive schemes and away from them. Dort was a linebacker in another life; Hartenstein was a bouncer.

So how come they’ve yet to truly embrace that? To be the bully and not the one turning its cheek? It’s not who it is or wants to be.

“We just play the right way,” Dort said. “We don’t really talk to other people. We don’t do anything after games. We don’t go on live or do stuff like that. We just respect the game. Every time we go out there we compete, try to win, we dap up and then we out.”

The Thunder, being tried as the wins pile and the defense suffocates, is putting its money where its mouth is — and not-so-begrudgingly in the league office.

Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @jxlorenzi. Support Joel’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.