Mark Daigneault makes urgent plea to Thunder amid Chet Holmgren injury
11/18/2024 05:06 PM
Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault knows life without Chet Holmgren‘s been challenging for his team, but up until Sunday’s loss against the Dallas Mavericks, it hadn’t gotten in the way of winning. Holmgren fractured a pelvic bone in the first quarter of a 127-116 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Since then, Daigneault’s guys had rattled off three consecutive victories before the Thunder’s 121-119 loss to the Mavericks.
For Daigneault, it’s enough proof to show how dominant the Thunder’s defense remains despite missing its seven-foot center in the starting five.
“It started on the perimeter. That’s where our strength has to be right now. We’ve got really good defensive players. We’ve been really good all week. I thought tonight they were just a better perimeter team,” Daigneault said. “I thought they drove us and were able to kind of get the best of us there. And we’re going to give up other advantages right now. So, we really have to be able to able to really bank those at the moment. But they were two points better. It wasn’t a huge score. So, we were just a couple of plays away, obviously, from being able to win the game.”
Mark Daigneault addresses Thunder’s perimeter defense
Before Sunday’s loss, without Chet Holmgren, Mark Daigneault’s Oklahoma City Thunder were defending the perimeter at a high level. After limiting the New Orleans Pelicans’ starting lineup to 6-of-22 from deep in a 106-88 win, the Thunder held the Phoenix Suns to 24.3% shooting from behind the arc in Friday’s win.
Without superstar Luka Doncic, the Mavericks connected on 11-of-27 threes (40.7%). PJ Washington scored a team-high 27 points, including 3-of-4 from deep, and Kyrie Irving poured in 23, including 3-of-6 from three.
When a reporter asked Daigneault about the Thunder’s point-of-attack defense, he was honest in sharing his disappointment with Oklahoma City’s approach.
“Not great. That’s probably one of the things that we got to get to the drawing board on. We’re going to give up some plays around the basket; we’re going to give up an offensive rebound here or there. We have to win the perimeter right now. And what we’ve done all week is we’ve won perimeter, and I thought Dallas won the perimeter tonight.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 36 points on 13-of-19 attempts and made 9-of-11 free throws. Jalen Williams finished with 27 points, five assists, and five rebounds, and Lu Dort added 18 points, including 4-of-9 from deep and five rebounds in Sunday’s loss.
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