Alex Caruso's Impact in This Series Against the Pacers

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00:00One guy who has really killed the Pacers over the first couple games is Alex Caruso, believe it or not.

00:07He has been talked about a lot by all the Thunder guys, huge contributions.

00:12Here's Mark Deneau agreeing with all that.

00:14One thing we talk about with the team is the leader is the person doing the right thing,

00:18and that's why he's a great leader because he's always doing the right thing.

00:22He's always competing. He's always present.

00:24He's always engaged, and he's always inside the team.

00:27And when you do the right thing and walk the walk and operate the way Alex does,

00:32it gives you an incredible platform to lead both through example and, in his case, with his voice as well.

00:39But we have leadership all over the roster.

00:41We have a lot of different leaders that do so in different ways,

00:44but he's certainly got his fingerprints all over the team.

00:47I think when they got Caruso and Hartenstein, and we saw it in New York what this guy's capable of,

00:54when they got those two guys, I think it put them over the top.

00:57It certainly did.

01:00It's the veteran presence that you needed around this young group that they had all drafted.

01:06I know they didn't draft SGA, but they got him when he was obviously very young from the Clippers.

01:10Great trade.

01:10So you needed to have this.

01:12It's one of the most ridiculous trades, really, in NBA history.

01:17Speaking of SGA, I know Indiana's, you know, listen, it's not Vegas or New York in terms of excitement.

01:26I don't know if this guy just, if he's just not having a bad day,

01:29or if he caught some bad shrimp at that Elmo's, that shrimp cocktail at Elmo's that everyone talks about.

01:35So, but SGA looks like it's like the last, the last place he wants to be is in Indiana.

01:40The way I see it is like, the series is 1-1.

01:48The goal is to win four games, and after it being 1-1, it's now the goal is to get to three games,

01:55and it's first team to three.

01:58What is happening here?

01:59So, kind of like it's a blank slate.

02:02It's a scratch, 1-1-0-0, and it's first to three.

02:07Well, there you go.

02:08Yeah, he seems thrilled.

02:09This goes back to, you know, we talk about all the time, you know, superstars,

02:15who are the biggest, you know, who's going to be the guy who takes the torch.

02:19We talk about Ant about it a lot.

02:21Like, this guy's got the game.

02:23But you need to have that other side of it, too, right?

02:27You know, that little bit of personality and somebody that, he don't have that yet.

02:31And maybe he don't want it like Ant.

02:33Maybe he don't want to be the guy that's face of the league type of stuff.

02:37He has his sunglasses on and the bling and the fashion,

02:41and usually he's in a more receptive mood than he was right there.

02:45Look, let's face facts.

02:47These two markets both suck.

02:50This is not like Vacationville here, Oaks City and Indianapolis.

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