The league-best 68-14 Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder discover themselves in a pickle in opposition to the Denver Nuggets and head coach Mark Daigneault’s blunders within the clutch are among the many causes they’re on this place.
Now trailing 2-1 within the collection after a tense, 113-104 extra time loss in Sport 3, the Thunder are pressured to play with some desperation in Sport 4.
Among the many 293 to groups take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven collection, solely 13 have have did not win.
However ought to the Thunder be confronted with this predicament within the first place? They led by 13 with below seven minutes remaining in Sport 1. Additionally they led by three with below a minute remaining in regulation with possession of the ball in Sport 3. Ending up on the shedding aspect of each eventualities just isn’t reflective of a 68-win staff.
MVP favourite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ought to shoulder a large chunk of the blame in Sport 3 for an underwhelming efficiency. The league’s main scorer completed with simply 18 factors on 22 subject objective makes an attempt and solely bought to the free-throw line 5 instances.
A few of the tactical choices in each Sport 1 and Sport 3, although, stick out like a sore thumb.
What Was Daigneault’s Sport 1 Blunder?
Probably the most weird side of the Sport 1 loss was how early within the clock the Thunder dedicated to fouling the Nuggets to forestall a 3-point try.
The primary state of affairs was when Denver was popping out of a timeout trailing 117-114 with 13.9 seconds remaining. Alex Caruso dedicated an intentional foul on Nikola Jokic 35 ft away from the basket with solely a second coming off the clock.
Shortly after Jokic made each free throws, the Thunder inbounded to Gilgeous-Alexander and he had a transparent path to the basket. He dunked the ball with only one.8 seconds coming off the clock when he simply might have killed off one other three our 4 seconds. As an 89 % free-throw shooter, it wasn’t a lot of a big gamble.
Then got here the worst mistake of all. The largest profit that emerged from Gilgeous-Alexander scoring earlier than getting fouled was Jokic was off the courtroom and couldn’t verify again in. Christian Braun inbounded with 11.1 seconds to Aaron Gordon, who Caruso fouled with simply 0.4 seconds coming off the clock.
So, in impact, Denver was in a position to rating 4 factors in 2.2 seconds, regardless of not having any timeouts remaining. The Nuggets’ largest enemy on this second was the clock and Oklahoma Metropolis’s early foul technique made it their buddy.
Now, there have been 9.5 seconds remaining when Chet Holmgren went to the road as a substitute of what ought to have been fewer than 5. It took 5 seconds from Holmgren’s second missed free throw to Gordon’s launch for the game-winning three.
Keep in mind, this was a Denver staff coming off an exhausting seven-game collection in opposition to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Thunder had per week off and had each motive to be the staff that completed stronger. They couldn’t discover one in all them.
I hate how Mark Daigneault has managed these finish video games for the Thunder.
Blew Sport 1 with the fouling technique.
And he ought to’ve referred to as a timeout on the finish of regulation in Sport 3. Beginning OT with out Chet was terrible too. And what was that bizarre problem earlier within the 4th? https://t.co/p5vuehozvI
— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) Might 10, 2025
What Was Daigneault’s Sport 3 Blunder?
Coming down the stretch of this one, the Nuggets more and more regarded a staff exhibiting championship pedigree and poise. In the meantime, the Thunder have been getting more and more slowed down on the offensive finish and exhibiting a scarcity of verve.
Daigneault had two timeouts and each carried over unused into extra time.
There was a chance with below 50 seconds remaining and the Thunder up three holding possession he let go. Then, there was one other when Oklahoma Metropolis was holding for the ultimate shot with the sport tied.
Gilgeous-Alexander had grow to be more and more targeted on producing offense on his personal down the stretch. He might have on the very least used a reminder Jalen Williams was having an amazing sport and had 16 fourth-quarter factors.
If that wasn’t sufficient, Daigneault additionally inexplicably selected to start out the extra time body with Holmgren on the bench. He missed the primary 90 seconds, which the Nuggets used to go up 5.
OKC’s offensive possessions in final 5 minutes of the 4th:
SGA missed PU2 vs Murray (0 passes)
Jalen Williams made layup vs AG (1 go)
Jalen Williams miss at rim + 2 OREB misses (0 passes)
AFTER A TIME OUT, SGA missed SB3 vs Murray, 1* go (Jalen Williams introduced the ball…
— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) Might 10, 2025
Can Daigneault Rise To The Event Transferring Ahead?
Oklahoma Metropolis has truly performed effectively sufficient to guide this collection 3-0. There are definitely different sides of the sport the gamers have to carry themselves accountable to. Daigneault embraced that actuality post-game.
Mark Daigneault:
“What I might say is like we’re within the strategy of changing into a fantastic staff and we’ve checked plenty of bins in that course of and one factor that it takes to be a fantastic staff is you get taken to the restrict within the playoffs” pic.twitter.com/cqECGFZXRV
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) Might 10, 2025
On the finish of the day, none of those “bins” can be below a magnifying glass if Daigneault hadn’t made these clear blunders. There’s a stage of urgency required within the playoffs he hasn’t fairly proven but.
It’s one factor to be cool and calm within the face of adversity nevertheless it’s solely one other to be oblivious to it.
If the Thunder are going to bounce again on this collection, Daigneault has to point out he can rise to the event.
