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Mark Daigneault delivers hard truth about Thunder in loss to Raptors
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- Mark Daigneault delivers hard truth about Thunder in loss to Raptors
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OKLAHOMA CITY — After Mark Daigneault and the Oklahoma City Thunder lost by three to the Indiana Pacers , they followed it up with a two-point loss (103-101) to the Toronto Raptors at the Paycom Center. Daigneault watched the Thunder's two-point lead turn into a four-point deficit in 33 seconds when Immanuel Quickley connected on back-to-back threes with 1:16 left in the final frame.
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The Thunder fought back to pull within two points (101-99) before Scottie Barnes swatted Chet Holmgren's pull-up jump shot with 28.6 seconds left to play, sealing the Raptors' fourth consecutive win. After the loss, Daigneault reflected on Toronto's late-game execution .
"They obviously made some shots and some plays. We didn't. When you get down to that point of the game, it comes down to time management, clock management. I thought we did a decent job of that and gave ourselves a chance," Daigneault said. "But when you get into a game that's that close, it's going to come down to makes and misses. And the trick is: can you play a floor game throughout the 48 where you have more control of it to that point?
"But we've found ourselves in that situation the last couple of nights. We've done a decent job of trying to give ourselves a chance to win. It hasn't gone our way, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from it."
Mark Daigneault keeps it 100 about late-game execution
Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault's postgame comments after losing at home sounded similar to his take on Friday's loss to the Pacers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 47 points were not enough against the Pacers, nor were his 11 of 24 points in the third quarter, as the Raptors spent the night double-teaming the reigning MVP, who mustered up nine points in the first half and finished with two points in the final frame.
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Playing a full 48 minutes has been an issue for the Thunder in its two consecutive losses, as Daigneault noted after a game in which his team failed to make game-winning plays down the stretch of a tightly contested game.
"They made enough plays. Zooming out, the lesson is: when you're in a deficit like that, that's what a deficit does to you," Daigneault said. "It really limits your margin for error for the rest of the game. It doesn't mean you can't come back and win. It's a 48-minute game. It was obviously a winnable game for us tonight.
"But when you go down that much in the first half, it takes a lot of effort to get back in, and then, it comes down to a play here or there, and obviously, they were more than two plays better than us tonight."
The Thunder will close out its three-game home stand on Tuesday against the Pelicans .
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