OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault was fed up with NBA officials subconsciously giving Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets the upper hand. Something similar had happened against the Golden State Warriors years prior. Before losing All-Star Jalen Williams to a hip injury, Daigneault attempted to impose a tactic he was prepared to use all night against the Nuggets.
Daigneault sent Thunder rookie Dillon Jones to the scores table where he stood for a while but never checked in. After the win, Daigneault explained the meaning behind his tactic.
“If a ball goes out of bounds in the NBA, the officials are the ones in charge of the pace of how fast the ball gets inbounded. Jokic is savvy, and if I were coaching Jokic, I’d appreciate him doing this, too, because he gets the ball very quickly from them, and he starts the fast break,” Daigneault said. “And the officials start the fast break for him because he demands the ball, they had it to him, and then he zips up the floor.”
Mark Daigneault’s explanation as to why Dillon Jones stood at the scorers’ table in the 1Q and never checked in. It had everything to do with the officials getting the ball to an eager Nikola Jokic on the inbound pass.
Refs hit Daigneault was hit with a delay of game call https://t.co/pZc6ASSdlS pic.twitter.com/ZICllXlaC7
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A similar situation happened with the Golden State Warriors a couple of years ago. This time, Daigneault was prepared.
“So, I put a sub up tonight,” Daigneault added. “I was like, hey, you’re going to have to call him in every single out of bounce in order to slow the game down if you guys are going to give them an advantage by handing them the ball fast. They delayed a game that. I don’t know if there’s a rule against doing that. I think you can get the sub up there and choose not to put him in the game. But it was something that I went to.”
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Mark Daigneault on Nuggets’ defense on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault talks to an official after receiving a technical call during the first quarter at Paycom Center
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Outside of his tactic against Nikola Jokic, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault commended the Nuggets’ defense on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“They had a good scheme there,” Daigneault said. “They threw us off rhythm to a degree. We scored enough in the game to win. I do want to note that. With the defense, it’s not like typical denials that you normally get out of man-to-man, like you see against Houston or New Orleans. It was a little different. They’re like zoning, trapping him when he’s got the ball, denying him when he doesn’t. It was specialize for him.”
The Nuggets’ defense catapulted their offense to score 140 points in a 13-point win (140-127) against the Thunder.