Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan was asked a handful of questions in the pregame press conference how the team is preparing for Game 7.
Was his routine different? How are players and coaches who have experienced this type of game helping? What about his last Game 7, the 2016 series against the Golden State Warriors?
Eventually, Donovan issued a reminder, one that he may or may not have given his team: As high-stakes as this win-or-go-home game is, everything is physically still the same.
“I understand the moment. It’s Game 7. But it’s still a 48-minute game,” he said. “I get the stakes. I get (that) the game ends, somebody’s going home, I get all those things. But the reality is the 3-point line’s still the same, the free throw line’s still the same, the court dimensions are still the same. The time of the quarters are still the same.
“Everything is still the same.”
Even Donovan’s routine today was still pretty similar to normal, he said: Team meeting at 10 a.m. Then a walk-through. Some media availability for the coach. Film and some notes. Work out, shower, and then pregame press availability.
In other words, the only difference is mental.
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“Sometimes you can conjure in your mind, ‘Oh it’s Game 7, Game 7, Game 7,’ all you do is think about Game 7 – no, we have to play. It’s what you’re trying to build up to, and you’ve got two teams that are playing to continue to advance,” he said.
“All of us, coaches, players, we all have got to be locked in on how we’ve gotta perform and how we’ve gotta play, the things we’ve got to do considering that fact that this is the 10th time we’ve played these guys this season.”
While not tangible like the stripes on the court or the ticks on the clock, that mental aspect still exists. Donovan harped on the importance of paying attention to detail of what is happening on the court at that moment.
Sure, the final buzzer will mark either something entirely positive or the end of the season, but what they do – or fail to do — at this moment can alter that outcome.
“You can get caught thinking about the end of game, or get caught thinking about later down the line,” Donovan said.
“You have to stay present to what’s going on in front of you. Time and score becomes a factor as the game goes on … but just being able to play, and being able to move from one play to the next, and staying present on what’s going on.”
He said the team can build that habit up through the year. Experienced players who have been in many elimination games have probably found ways to do so.
Wing Darius Bazley said there hasn’t been a message from the veteran players coming into this game.
“I think everyone kind of understands what this is. It’s win or go home. There’s not more of a message than that,” he said. “It’s whoever wants it the most. We understand what’s at stake. We just gotta go out there and go take it.”
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