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The NBA Cup was introduced by the league for the sole purpose of driving added interest to the league in the early goings of the season in what would otherwise be perceived as “meaningless” games. And for the Oklahoma City Thunder, they managed to book a spot in the quarterfinals of the competition after demolishing the Utah Jazz, 133-106, to finish top of their group with a point differential of +45 — knocking the Phoenix Suns out of contention as a result following the Dallas Mavericks' comeback win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Point differential rarely matters in the NBA in the scheme of playoff positioning or anything of the sort; usually, this only indicates how dominant a team has been through the course of the regular season. But the NBA Cup's format has incorporated point differential into the mix, therefore incentivizing teams to run up the score to gain a more favorable position in the group standings — something that Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault isn't particularly fond of.
“Zero [temptation to run up the score]. Number one because of player health,” Daigneault said, per Brandon Rahbar of Daily Thunder. “I don’t love the design because it incentivizes that.”
For the Thunder head coach, there is a certain level of integrity that he wishes to uphold on any given night — win or lose. And he doesn't want to test the basketball gods by doing something that would require cosmic comeuppance.
“There’s a certain grace you win with.. they’ve created an incentive that flips that on its head,” Daigneault added. “There’s an angel and devil on your shoulder, we’re going with the angel.”
Upholding the unwritten rules of the sport seems to be working for the Thunder, as they need to win just three more NBA Cup games to get themselves quite the nice payday.
The league better be terrified of the Thunder
Even without Chet Holmgren, the Thunder look every bit of the championship contender many had them as heading into the year. Their two-way prowess is phenomenal, and their defense is reaching historic levels of greatness — with everyone doing their part to propel the team to great heights.
The Thunder are currently allowing just 103.9 points per 100 possessions, and their defense can mess up other teams in a multitude of ways. They have lengthy defenders across every position, and their defensive range is creating havoc — forcing 19.2 turnovers a contest. And they will be even better once Holmgren and Alex Caruso return to the rotation.
