Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault watched veteran Alex Caruso enter Monday's game against the Atlanta Hawks 3-for-15 from deep in his last two outings, which didn't discourage the guard's offense in a 140-129 win. While Daigneault gushed over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's growth as a scorer over the years, he commended Caruso's confidence.
Caruso finished with 16 points on a near-perfect 7-for-8 shooting, including 2-of-2 from deep. For Daigneault, Caruso's bounce-back performance is a testament to the veteran's confidence.
“He's such a competitor. He's such a pro,” Daigneault said. “He shot the ball poorly in the Spurs game. The thing about that one is he started 0-for-8, and he shot 12 of them, and there's not a lot of competitors out there that would shoot the seventh, and the eighth, and the ninth, and the tenth, and the eleventh, and the twelfth. You have to be pretty mentally tough, and you have to be lost in the competition.
“He knows those are the right shots for the team. He doesn't care about the fact that the last one didn't go in, and he just keeps shooting them. That to me, wherever he was at Christmas, that's why he's a great competitor.”
For a player averaging 7.8 points on 46.2% shooting, including 25.8% from deep in December, Alex Caruso helped the Thunder keep the Hawks at bay in an 11-point win.
Mark Daigneault's ‘strengthen' take on SGA after Thunder win
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has seen the evolution of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's offense over the years, which led to winning a scoring title, an MVP award, and a Finals MVP amid last year's championship run. And this season, Gilgeous-Alexander became the first to score 1,000 after scoring 39 points in Monday's win against the Hawks.
“He's strengthened his foundation as a player. The best guys that can score night after night after night, there's like a fixed income that they're getting every single night that's easy, that's reliable, and is always there,” Daigneault said. “I think his commitment to that — his strength — has helped with that, with some of the rebounds, and some of the stuff around the basket. Then, I think he just keeps getting better with his skills and [evolving] his game.
“The best offensive guys have a certain base, and then they've got the stuff on top of that, and I think he's starting to form into that. I think we're starting to see that with him.”
After finishing as runner-up in 2023-24, Gilgeous-Alexander captured his first MVP award last season, and is now in his third consecutive MVP race.
