Subscribe
Follow Us
For an Oklahoma City Thunder team that captured 68 regular-season wins and swept their first-round series before facing the Denver Nuggets, there’s a downside to dominating the competition. While setting an NBA record with 54 double-digit wins, they lacked experience in close-game situations. Four of their seven games against the Nuggets were decided down the stretch, an experience that led the Thunder to the cusp of winning the Western Conference Finals.
The postseason has forced the NBA’s youngest team to grow in critical moments. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault discussed his team’s maturation process, per The Athletic’s Sam Amick.
“It’s our approach before the game,” Daigneault said. “It’s the huddles in the games. They’re very poised, rational — like, it’s not emotional. And I think they understand what’s going on. They understand when the other team’s on a run. They understand when the game is being officiated a certain way, or whatever. They just can put it into a quick perspective. They talk in a very productive way to each other. It’s the sign of a mature team.
“These experiences are so rich for us. I mean, we’ve had to respond to some great adversity the last couple of weeks. I thought the Denver series made us a lot better. This series is making us better. It’s a huge step forward for us.”
After a 121-119 loss in the Thunder’s series opener against the Nuggets, Oklahoma City responded with a blowout win in Game 2 before suffering a gut-wrenching overtime loss on the road. Then, the Thunder handed the Nuggets consecutive losses in two tightly-contested games.
Thunder continues to improve on the brink of reaching NBA Finals
Article Continues Below
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault saw a different approach in Game 4 against the Timberwolves that he didn’t see in Game 3 from his team. For Thunder veteran Alex Caruso, it’s a testament to his team’s continuous growth from its series against the Nuggets.
“We’re learning, and we’re getting better,” Caruso said. “I talked about that a little bit at the beginning of the Denver series. They were a team that was going to push us to execute, because they were a good, smart, championship-caliber team. And I thought we did that through the series. I thought we got better through the series, especially in the late-game situations, just executing, getting to the stuff we want.”
With an opportunity to close out the Eastern Conference Finals, the Thunder will host the Timberwolves in Game 5 on Wednesday.
