Mosley dissects early struggles: turnovers, offensive rebounds, and missed shots fueled the Thunder's rout, hindering their desired game plan execution.
On the first-quarter stretch where the opponent jumped out to an early advantage:
"The start of it was turnovers and offensive rebounds. Turnovers leading out to easy early baskets for them. And then when we did get a halfway of a stop, they were able to come up with the offensive rebound. And I think those are just the small details within the game that when you play a team like this, you've got to know that that's what they do. It's enough to watch it on film. You walk through it in the morning. You can show it to them. We've watched it. We walked through it. We touched it. When you get out there, you've got to go and you got to produce when you see it when you play a team like this."
On the quality of shots the team was getting early:
"I didn't like all of them. I think we could have done a better job of getting downhill to make them have to collapse, which we know this is a team that does a great job of protecting the rim. But I think as we move the ball side to get it from one side to the other to get downhill, I think that creates those feet-set threes. I think that's what we got to continue to work on and look at as we move forward."
On why the team has struggled to make the open shots they've gotten:
"Yeah, I mean that's a great question. I think these guys are putting the work in. I think they're knowing where the shots are coming at in times and I think we just got to continue to stay with that focus level, that workload of just getting in the gym and be ready to knock shots down."
On how frustrating or difficult it is as a coach when the game plan is discussed and repeated but execution isn't there:
"Yeah, I mean, you got to give OKC a ton of credit. They're the champions for a reason. They're the number one defense for a reason. Offensively, they do a great job of getting guys involved in certain areas. You just you can walk through it. You can watch film. You can talk through it. But when we step on that floor, we've got to be ready to go from the opening tip. The second game in a row that we haven't come out the right way and given ourselves a big deficit to start the game."
On the importance of the upcoming extended home stretch before the All-Star break:
"Yeah, it'll be great to be back home just for those four games. I think it's very important for us going into the break, but we've got to take it one game at a time. There's no easy games in this league. It's hard to win in this league, so we have to understand that and the work that we need to put in in order to take care of the home court is going to be very important one game at a time."
On what has made it difficult for the team to start games the way they want the last couple of games:
"Yeah, I mean that you look at different variations of it. Tonight it was the turnovers, then it was some of the quick shots that allowed them to get out in transition. The other night against San Antonio was very similar. They did a good job of protecting the rim, being able to get some blocks and we turned it over and then our shot quality because it was hard to get downhill on these guys. We took some early quick ones that allowed them to get out in transition. We've just got to continue to be better and more intentional in our workload as we start the game."
On whether Franz Wagner's return would solve these issues or how the team plays while waiting for him:
"Yeah, we still have to wait for him to come back. Obviously I don't think that one person solves any of this. I think we work together as a group. You win as a group, you lose as a group. And we're all involved in this. And so I think our ability to just make sure we keep working on the right things. But it starts with our mental preparation walking into a game. Once that ball goes up, we got to be ready to go."