‘We have to be better': Chet Holmgren vows to bounce back for Thunder's game 7 in quest for NBA title

Hindustan Times

5 hours ago

After a quiet performance in Game 6, Chet Holmgren must step up if the Oklahoma City Thunder are to capture their first NBA championship on Sunday. Chet Holmgren walks of the court after losing the Indiana Pacers in game six of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
The former Gonzaga player had a tough time scoring, finishing with just four points on 2-of-9 shooting. He also had the second-worst box plus/minus (-11) of his young playoff career in OKC's 108-91 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
"We have to be better at kind of course correcting, getting ourselves back on the right track," Holmgren said after Game 6. 'I personally could be better trying to help us get things going in the right way, so we're going to watch the film and see where we can be better.'
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With Game 7 coming up, here's what Holmgren said about making changes and dealing with the ups and downs of the Finals.
He shared, 'Just like any playoff series that we've been through so far, there's a lot of ups and downs. It's the end of the world when you lose and it's like the greatest moment in your life when you win every time, but you kind of have to take the emotions out of it, even though it's everything you dreamed of, and you just have to try and do what you can to continue to prepare how you've prepared all year, to put yourself in the best chance to win each game,' as reported by Gonzaga Bulldogs. Holmgren on playing in an NBA Finals Game 7:
Holmgren revealed, 'It's all special. Every game all the way through. When you're in the moment of it, it's hard to kind of grasp it." He added, "But thinking all the way back to the first game we played this year and how long ago that was, and now you know we're going to play the last game of the season tomorrow. You know it's crazy to think about, but we kind of have to put all our focus on just preparing, being our best.'
"Obviously this is an opportunity that isn't guaranteed. There's been a lot of work put in by everybody in this organization to help us get to this point, and it wasn't by accident. But there's obviously a lot of grace that's happened as well to help us get here, and we're fortunate for that. But at the end of the day, we believe in the work that we've put in and why we got here. And we're going to continue with that all the way through." OKC's focus for Game 7
Holmgren shared, 'A few X's and O's things, some tactical things that you know we could do better; execute better on both ends of the floor. And then also, there's some plays that the X's and O's don't matter if you don't just want to make the play. Either you're going to make the play or you're going to watch the play be made. And I feel like we watched a lot of plays be made in Game 6, so we got to turn that around.'
He continued,"I'd say just focusing on what we can control and what we can focus on. We can control how we prepare [and] what we do to put ourselves in the best chance to win the game, and focus on that. Not focus on anything that doesn't kind of matter toward trying to win."