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INDIANAPOLIS — Ahead of Game 4 of the NBA Finals, trailing the Indiana Pacers 2-1, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is entering the biggest game of his young coaching career. However, he’s not concerned about the potential emotional toll that can resonate through an NBA team competing for a championship. Never too high after a win, never too low after a loss, Daigneault’s Thunder squad knows how to bounce back in the postseason.
Even on the NBA’s brightest stage, Daigneault is confident his Thunder will enter Game 4 with their emotions in check.
“We stay pretty emotionally even, you know? In all of the different experiences, and you really see that when we win,” Daigneault said. “If you’re gonna get high on the wins. Then, the natural opposite of that is to get low on the losses, and this team doesn’t really swing violently between those two things. Never has. I think a lot of that is just the personality of the players, and they do a great job of that. These are new experiences for us, but we’re experienced enough to know what this is going to come down to.”
Frustrations from a loss rarely carry over for the 2024-25 Thunder. The last time Thunder coach Mark Daigneault’s team lost two games in a row this season was back on November 19.
“We gotta take a look at the film from yesterday. We’ve gotta understand, first, what happened in the game, and be able to define that accurately, and then, look at the things that we can improve on, and go apply those forward in Game 4,” Daigneault added.
“And, we try to do that win or lose, and we try to make that our way of operating, regardless of the individual outcome, and it just gives you the most consistent approach through all of the emotional ups and downs of a season, of a playoff series, and the team does a great job of that,” Daigneault concluded.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander fires back at Thunder reporter
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While some believe Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard’s defense got under Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s skin in Game 3, Gilgeous-Alexander vehemently denied growing frustrated with Nembhard.
After the reporter claimed SGA was visibly most frustrated we’ve seen him throughout the entire postseason, Gilgeous-Alexander dismissed the observational inquiry entirely.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gilgeous-Alexander replied. “I don’t feel emotionally agitated at all, so I don’t know what’s going on.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will look to even the NBA Finals, 2-2, against the Pacers in Game 4.
