OKLAHOMA CITY — With nine games left in the regular season, the San Antonio Spurs are trailing the Oklahoma City Thunder by 2.0 games atop the Western Conference standings. The Celtics snapped the Thunder's 12-game win streak, leaving the defending champions with a 57-16 record.
Ahead of a five-game home stand, which includes marquee matchups against the Eastern Conference's first and third-placed Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, and the Los Angeles Lakers, who are now third in the Western Conference standings.
Still, playoff positioning isn't a source of motivation for Daigneault and the Thunder, of which he reminded reporters during his pregame media availability.
“If your sense of urgency increases based on the standings, then your sense of urgency wasn't high enough to begin with,” Daigneault said. “We try to have a sense of urgency about improving and building our habits, competing together every single opportunity we get. And, if you need external forces to increase that, then, like I said, your bar is not planned enough in the first place.”
Daigneault has always preached the importance of keeping his team focused on what they see in the mirror rather than on outside noise, whether positive or negative. For the Thunder, it's an approach that led to its first championship run in franchise history.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Thunder, the No. 1 seed
Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander discussed having home-court advantage throughout last year's title run and how vital it was for the defending champions. Amid the Thunder's race against the Spurs, Gilgeous-Alexander hopes to secure the No. 1 seed.
“It's very important. And not just in the west, in the whole playoffs,” Gilgeous-Alexander. “We needed Game 7 at home against Denver, which was at the top of the West. If you want to come out of the West, you have to compete with them. Then, we needed it against Indiana to win a championship. So, it's as important as everything.”
The Thunder will host the Bulls at the Paycom Center on Friday.
