Q&A: How the Thunder can carry their momentum into Western Conference finals

After a dominating Game 7 win over the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder have advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2016.

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After battling it out across seven games, the Thunder have a brief break before taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.

Before Tuesday's game, Oklahoma City Thunder reporter Paris Lawson joined the News 9 team to offer a glimpse into how the team and the city are preparing for the next round of playoffs.

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Q: As a Thunder reporter, how exciting is it to be living in this moment?

A: It's the Thunder's 5th Western Conference Finals appearance in OKC history. Just sitting in that for a moment, and recognizing how special that is, and the fact that this team has worked so hard. You won 68 regular-season games, and it earned you an opportunity to play a pivotal Game 7 in your home arena. You'll walk away with the win. That wind in your sails, and now you're heading off to the Western Conference finals. That is just so incredibly special. It was a lot of back and forth, and that's what playoffs are all about, right? Two incredibly high-level teams battling it out, and the better team came out at the end of it. The Thunder did. They worked for it, and they had to fight. The Denver Nuggets to their credit, they put up quite a battle in this series, and the Thunder did a great job being resilient, standing back up, getting the job done. 

Q: What lessons do you think the Thunder will carry with them into this next series?

A: Every single game that the Thunder went through against the Nuggets, they picked something up. They learned something, whether that was clutch game execution, whether that was defensive intensity, and it felt like from game to game, we were seeing this team learn and grow in real time. By the end of it, this team has some new experiences. They've gained some Game 7 experience now too, and you're gonna need all of that going into a Western Conference final game against the Timberwolves.

Q: No rest for the victors, tomorrow they have to gear back up, and here we go again.

A: Exactly, a very quick turnaround for Oklahoma City, but it means, again, all that work you get to go right back into the Paycom Center. You take all that momentum from that Game 7 and bring it into Game 1 against the Timberwolves, which is [Tuesday] inside the Paycom Center. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m., but doors open at 5:30 p.m., so definitely get there soon. If you want to Thunder Up even before then, you can have Thunder Up in the Park, and they're giving away free tickets at Thunder Up in the Park. It's the only place you can get free tickets. That starts at 4:00 p.m., so get there, get rowdy at Scissortail Park, and then get inside of Paycom Center and get ready to cheer on this team. 

Q: Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. What are some of the storylines moving into this series with the Timberwolves? 

A: It's definitely going to be a high-level matchup, right? The Timberwolves have had a couple of really tough series that they've gone through as well, and the thing that's always top of mind when you go up against Minnesota is, can you limit Anthony Edwards? He's such an electric. He is such a high-level scorer, and so limiting him, the Thunder against the Denver Nuggets, the defense was top-notch. We saw that in Game 7. They outscored the Denver Nuggets 37 to 7 points off turnovers. So carrying over that defensive energy into this series against the Timberwolves, I think, is going to be a big key for Oklahoma City.