Candidate for the title of best coach of the year, with his Thunder (45 wins – 20 losses), well established in the top three of the Western Conference since the start of the season, Mark Daigneault is a perfectionist. And a little clever with that!
During the match against the Suns, on March 3, in “money time” (two minutes from the end), Mark Daigneault almost ensured the Thunder's victory… with a challenge.
At the start, an involuntary header from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Grayson Allen during an offensive movement. The referees whistle a foul and while the Suns curse, the officials will check to see if it is a flagrant foul, the movement of “SGA” possibly suggesting an elbow gesture towards his opponent.
Finally, the referees saw that it was the head of the Oklahoma City leader who had touched his opponent, and did not make the foul flagrant. Except that Mark Daigneault has had time to study the action and he immediately asks for a “challenge”, so that the referees can verify that it is even a simple foul!
Result: the blow being involuntary, the referees cancel the fault, and validate the basket of the All-Star guard. A four-point action for a final victory for the Thunder (118-110).
“He asked for the challenge on his own, no one told him to do it”Chet Holmgren reacted afterwards in The Oklahoman. “No one knew that he had the right to request the challenge after the referees had seen the images. »
In OKC, we keep statistics on all challenges
The challenge has existed for five years now, and many coaches have not yet managed to use it correctly, using it only by default. Result: they don't use it very much. This is not the case at the Thunder, where we use it systematically. We use it to the fullest!
“I like winning possessions. I really like it. I like to be aggressive with [les challenges]. You don't keep them after the match anyway. I don't like finishing a match without using them. The guys know it. »
The Thunder staff even keeps a table that measures challenges by category. Those who earn the most points, depending on the circumstances of the match, the type of action in question, the time on the clock, the possible gain…
Nothing is left to chance in Oklahoma City.
“The NBA is so competitive, you have to use every lever possible”concludes Mark Daigneault. “And it can influence important actions. It can take points off the scoreboard, it can change the momentum of the match. I also like it because it sends a message to the referees. I want the referees to know from the outset that we will not hesitate to use it. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 64 | 34.4 | 54.4 | 37.8 | 88.1 | 0.9 | 4.7 | 5.6 | 6.4 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 31.1 |
| Jalen Williams | 58 | 31.6 | 53.9 | 44.7 | 81.7 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 19.0 |
| Chet Holmgren | 65 | 30.1 | 53.5 | 38.8 | 78.6 | 1.6 | 6.2 | 7.8 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 16.8 |
| Josh Giddey | 64 | 24.7 | 45.7 | 33.0 | 82.8 | 1.4 | 4.7 | 6.1 | 4.4 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 11.5 |
| Luguentz Dort | 63 | 28.5 | 44.6 | 41.2 | 82.4 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 2.9 | 10.8 |
| Isaiah Joe | 61 | 18.4 | 45.8 | 41.3 | 85.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 8.1 |
| Cason Wallace | 65 | 20.5 | 50.6 | 42.5 | 79.3 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 6.9 |
| Aaron Wiggins | 62 | 14.6 | 56.8 | 48.5 | 77.1 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 6.2 |
| Kenrich Williams | 53 | 14.2 | 44.6 | 38.5 | 30.0 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 4.1 |
| Ousmane Dieng | 30 | 11.3 | 41.7 | 30.3 | 87.5 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 4.0 |
| Gordon Hayward | 11 | 16.8 | 39.0 | 57.1 | 66.7 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 4.0 |
| Jaylin Williams | 53 | 12.5 | 40.1 | 36.7 | 82.1 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 3.8 |
| Tre Mann | 13 | 9.2 | 50.0 | 42.1 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 3.8 |
| Vasilije Micic | 30 | 12.0 | 40.7 | 24.4 | 73.7 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
| Davis Bertans | 15 | 6.1 | 38.5 | 41.7 | 93.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 2.9 |
| Lindy Waters III | 27 | 6.9 | 44.1 | 43.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
| Olivier Sarr | 14 | 6.8 | 57.9 | 33.3 | 66.7 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 2.4 |
| Mike Muscala | 3 | 6.5 | 22.2 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| Keyontae Johnson | 9 | 7.4 | 31.3 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.2 |
| Aleksej Pokusevski | 10 | 6.0 | 25.0 | 18.2 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
| Bismack Biyombo | 5 | 6.4 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| Adam Flagler | 1 | 5.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
