"They're not going to like me. They shouldn't.

I get it. It is part of the game.

They're doing their part in making the game exciting," tambahnya.

Meskipun sempat tertinggal jauh di awal laga, Thunder mampu merespons dengan ketenangan taktis yang matang. "They obviously jumped on us early," kata Gilgeous-Alexander.

Ia mengakui atmosfer pertandingan pertama di kandang Spurs sangat luar biasa. "First game in their building.

The crowd was going to be behind them. They were going to be excited to play.

We just wanted to make sure that we competed from that point on," tambahnya.

Meski tidak mengawali laga dengan performa terbaik, fokus tim segera dialihkan pada penguasaan bola berikutnya.

"We obviously didn't give our best effort to start the game, but you can't do nothing about it.

It's behind us. So all I could do was focus on the next position, and we did that," lanjutnya.

Cedera De'Aaron Fox Jadi Perhatian

Guard San Antonio Spurs, De'Aaron Fox, harus berjuang mengatasi cedera pergelangan kaki kanan.

Cedera ini didapatnya setelah pemain Thunder, Lu Dort, terjun mengejar bola liar di akhir kuarter ketiga.

Cedera keseleo pergelangan kaki tinggi ini memperparah kondisi Fox yang sebelumnya sudah mengalami masalah serupa. Insiden dengan Ayo Dosunmu di babak kedua melawan Minnesota Timberwolves menjadi penyebab awal.

Fox sempat kembali bermain di kuarter keempat.

Ia menyelesaikan laga dengan kontribusi 15 poin, enam assist, tujuh rebound, dan empat turnover dalam waktu hampir 31 menit.

"Ya, maksudku, ini benar-benar sulit," kata Fox setelah Game 3.