Subscribe
Follow Us
The Oklahoma City Thunder are coming into Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers in what’s essentially a must-win situation. Although they have Game 5 at home, a 3-1 deficit is not something the Thunder want to face. During his pregame press conference, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault spoke about what they want to limit from the Pacers, as per Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
Pacers star Pascal Siakam has had success against the Thunder throughout this series so far, and Mark Daigneault was specific in terms of how they want to guard him in Game 4 to try and limit his effectiveness.
“You try to neutralize their advantages as much as possible. That could be in transition, that could be in the pick-and-roll game, it could be any other way to try to do it, post-ups,” Daigneault said. “When you allow advantages. . .Siakam post-ups, we allow a deep post-up in transition and [Bennedict] Mathurin gets a cut. A lot of times it’s less about the cut and more about what created the initial advantage. But we’re trying to take away as much as we can obviously from a really good team.”
Article Continues Below
Following the Pacers’ shocking Game 1 comeback win off a Tyrese Haliburton game-winner, the Thunder responded with urgency in Game 2 to even the series up at one game apiece. But Game 3 belonged to the Pacers who took a 2-1 lead as the NBA Finals shifted to their home court.
As Daigneault mentioned, it’s not necessarily Siakam’s one-on-one scoring in the post that’s hurt the Thunder, it’s the play that comes after. Siakam is a good passer for a big man and has been averaging 3.3 assists in the playoffs. He’s up to 3.7 assists in the NBA Finals. The Pacers’ movement has allowed for him to find cutters and slashers around the basket when he draws the defense on deep post-ups.
