The Oklahoma City Thunder took their first series lead against the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals on Friday night with an impressive 123-108 win on the road. It was a 30-point turnaround from how the game started, with the Spurs coming out on fire to take a 15-0 lead in the early going that had the Frost Bank Center rocking and the San Antonio faithful dreaming of turning the lights out on a potential Thunder dynasty before it even got going.
But the tide turned in OKC's favor thanks to a bench unit that scored 76 points, led by Jared McCain (24 points), Jaylin Williams (18 points) and Alex Caruso (15 points). The Thunder have continued to lean on their depth at a time of year when rotations typically grow tighter.
It's a testament to the culture the Thunder have built that on seemingly any given night, a different rotation player can become one of their stars, and there are plenty of people who deserve credit for that culture that radiates throughout the organization. General manager Sam Presti has a keen eye for talent evaluation and, perhaps most importantly, finds players who will gladly assimilate into the Thunder's established culture. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league MVP, seems to be a calming presence for his teammates, creating a comfortable environment for every player that steps on the floor by shouldering most the creative burden to get them the ball in their preferred spots. And then the entire roster of players, some of whom could possibly be bigger stars elsewhere, has resisted the temptation to disrupt the zen of the locker room by demanding a larger role, recognizing the special situation they are in.
But it's the job done by coach Mark Daigneault that sticks out with how the Thunder play, largely because it stands in contrast to what we so often see around the league. For as much as we talk about scheme and whether a coach draws up the best ATOs, the most important part of coaching in the NBA is ego management and maximizing talent. Daigneault is certainly good at the X's and O's portion of the job, but where he shines is in that latter portion that separates the elite coaches -- the ones who win multiple championships -- from the merely good.
Playing with freedom
Despite coaching the best team in the NBA, which came into the season with championship-or-bust expectations, Daigneault has managed to keep his young Thunder playing with incredible freedom. The kind of tension and fear you tend to see from non-stars in the playoffs is jarringly absent from the Thunder. That isn't to say they play perfectly, but players seem genuinely unconcerned about the ramifications of mistakes.
Daigneault is certainly aided by the roster he's been given to work with, but plenty of players on the Thunder's roster have played elsewhere and not had the same kind of impact. Or perhaps more accurately, they haven't been allowed the chance to make the same kind of impact. The most obvious example of that is McCain, who arrived in Oklahoma City via the 76ers at the trade deadline after the since-fired Daryl Morey infamously said he was confident Philly was "selling high" on the former first-round pick.
Bench boost
Point differential between the Thunder and Spurs benches in the West Finals
| Game | Bench point diff |
|---|---|
1 | OKC +34 |
2 | OKC +32 |
3 | OKC +53 |
| Total | OKC +119 |
McCain quickly found a comfortable fit in Oklahoma City, but with Jalen Williams out with a nagging hamstring injury, he was thrust into being the secondary option to Gilgeous-Alexander on Friday night. Rather than feeling pressure to take on Williams' responsibilities, McCain was empowered to play his game, just with a bigger green light to fire away. The result was a 24-point night where he was a +28 in 27 minutes, proving he's more than just a spot-up three-point threat, as eight of his 10 made field goals came inside the arc.
"The awareness of the team, awareness of his role, awareness of his strengths -- I think that's where some of the intelligence shows up tangibly," Daigneault said of McCain after Game 3. "And then the fearlessness, those two things combined, it's like if he struggles in a portion of a game or in a game itself, it gives you confidence that you can go back to him and he's gonna be in character. That's all you really want from anybody."
There aren't many coaches who are willing to take that approach and show that much trust in a bench player -- much less one who arrived on the team three months prior -- but it is incredibly telling of why the Thunder play the way they do for Daigneault. Minutes are currency for players in the NBA, earned and spent by their performance, and that's certainly still true in Oklahoma City. However, Daigneault has a shorter memory than most when it comes to giving those opportunities, and is far more comfortable to make adjustments to his rotations and try new combinations when it could benefit the team.
Variability > stability
Coaches are, by nature, control freaks who typically want to limit variables at all times, which makes Daigneault's approach so unique even in its simplicity. That starts in the regular season, where Daigneault purposefully avoids having set rotations every night, knowing the variability of the playoffs will require them to shift in the postseason and he wants the team comfortable with change.
"We're actually not a team that wants to find rotational stability in the regular season. We're trying to create variability, because that gives us some learnings and creates options for us," Daigneault said earlier this season. "It also puts guys in situations where they have to adapt to who they're on the floor with, which we think is good for their development as players and for the playoffs."
The Thunder's depth is a constant talking point because their ability to maintain a consistent level, no matter who is on the floor, is what separates them the most from their competition. The roster provides Daigneault with seemingly endless lineup combinations to solve whatever problem the other team presents, but few coaches maximize talent so consistently. Plenty of NBA rosters have talent wasting away because it doesn't fit the system -- just look at castoffs like Isaiah Joe and McCain (sorry, Sixers fans) who were once buried on the Philly bench only to thrive in Oklahoma City -- but the Thunder seem to rarely have that problem.
A big reason for that is players aren't required to do things exactly one way. As players recently explained to ESPN, they're tasked with certain things in the scouting report and to maintain certain principles, but how they go about doing that on the court is totally up to them. What that does is allow players to play fast and not end up pigeon-holed into techniques they may not be well-equipped to execute.
Friday's Game 3 was perhaps the best example of how that can come to fruition in the form of a dominant playoff road win led by the team's bench. McCain went 2 for 10 from three but was incredible attacking the basket, in spite of Victor Wembanyama's presence. Jaylin Williams came in and rained threes, punishing Wembanyama and the Spurs for trying to roam off of him to shut off access to the rim. Caruso continues to play as the Thunder's second-best player in the series, creating havoc on defense however he sees fit, while suddenly becoming a sharp-shooter from distance.
That kind of performance, especially on the road, doesn't happen often in the NBA. The "others" are supposed to help you at home where things are comfortable and familiar, while the stars take care of business on the road. The Thunder's entire roster, meanwhile, manages to find that freedom and comfort seemingly everywhere, and that might carry them to a second straight title.
