Mark Daigneault Understands Significance for Thunder's Mental Strength in Playoffs

Leveling emotions will be key as the Thunder makes their way back to playing playoff basketball in the coming week.

Everything changes when it's playoff time in the NBA. Every game matters substantially as all 16 teams all have a common goal -- winning a championship.

The Oklahoma City Thunder is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2020, and the roster looks much, much more different since then. Finishing as a top-three seed in the Western Conference, the team has enough talent to compete for an NBA title. The only knock on the Thunder is their "lack of experience."

Still, the team is led by a smart head coach capable of leading the team through the postseason. Mark Daigneault understands the challenge of the playoffs and knows what to tell his team to prepare them for what the postseason will offer.

"In the playoffs, you play Game 1, one team wins, one team loses. The team that wins, everybody's gonna start saying they're gonna win the championship. The team that loses, everybody says that the star player is gonna get traded and you've got to be able to get yourself back, get ready for Game 2 amidst all of that noise and all that noise gets heightened around the playoffs because interest is high," Daigneault explained on Saturday.

The team plays its 82nd and final regular season game on Sunday as there is a multitude of outcomes that can happen -- whether they finish as the No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the West -- and they don't control their own destiny.

Still, the argument of the Thunder's postseason inexperience is hard to argue. Despite not having any true veteran for most of the season -- led by 25-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander both on the court and as a leader -- the team only had one three-game losing streak.

This team truly understands how to bounce back and doesn't get too caught up in the emotional highs and lows the regular season has to offer. Daigneault has done an incredible job helping the team do so but understands how the emotional aspect of the game amplifies in the playoffs.

The team is rolling and seems ready for postseason basketball, but their emotional and mental strength has to be ready to match that.

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