Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault on what went wrong vs. Boston Celtics
There is a reason why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a leader in this season's Most Valuable Player race. And it is the Oklahoma City Thunder guard's ability to control the game on both ends of the court that makes his case for the league's highest honor. Yet a challenge to that status assembled quite the counterargument on Wednesday (March 25) night, as Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics flipped the script on SGA to help power the Celtics to a 119-109 win over the reigning national champs.
That dynamic was not lost on OKC head coach Mark Daigneault, who broke down how Boston limited the MVP candidate on the court. "I think part of the issue is the amount they scored tonight," he explained. "If you can get your defense in the game, and you can loose up the floor a little bit and get a little bit more pace, it’s harder for them to scheme like that.
" "But when you allow the game to become kind of their possession, your possession, their possession, your possession, it becomes far more of an execution game," said the OKC coach. "Credit them, they executed really well. I thought they executed better than we did, but I would attribute it to the stops as well.
If you get some stops, maybe you get a little bit more flow. " "I think what the game came down to is the same things that the games come down to in the playoffs," added Daigneault. "You’re playing against a high-level opponent that has talent and depth, and they execute well, they put you in tough situations, and hopefully you do the same to them.
" "And the game comes down to your ability to do that, and then your ability to execute and I thought they definitely out executed us tonight. I thought that’s why they won. " Listen to "Havlicek Stole the Pod" on: Blue Wire: https://tiny.