Mark Daigneault Taking Too Much Heat For Game 1 Loss

The NBA Finals began on Thursday with the Indiana Pacers pulling off an upset of the Oklahoma City Thunder. That is why they play the game. Despite the Vegas odds, pundits and statistics favoring the Thunder, Indiana earned another shocking road win. The Pacers have been typecast as underdogs all postseason and they are method acting as villains in every series, spoiling historic seasons en route to a 1-0 lead in the race to four wins in the 2025 NBA Finals.

After the Pacers stole the opening game of this series, 111-110, only leading for 0.3 seconds on Thursday, people had to scramble to find someone to blame. That's life in professional sports. The cost of doing business is facing the music after poor showings, and the Thunder learned that lesson in their first game on the big stage.

From heavy favorites to fielding questions about its future, life moves fast in the association. Mark Daigneault has caught most of the flak from the Thunder's Game 1 letdown, undeservedly so.

Did Daigneault coach a perfect game on Thursday? No. Was his decision-making the reason the Thunder finds itself behind the eight ball? Not even close.

The critics were loud before the ball was even tipped as the Thunder bench boss shuffled the starting lineup to place Cason Wallace in the first five over big man Isaiah Hartenstein. Despite Wallace starting 43 games this regular season and taking on the pseudo role against the Minnesota Timberwolves, as Hartenstein was a starter in name only before being relegated to bench-level minutes in the five-game series.

This decision is being viewed as a panic move, despite Wednesday's talk being centered around how Oklahoma City could struggle in the double-big lineups and quizzes lofted to Daigneault about how he would adjust.

Sure, the Thunder lost the game, but that starting lineup wasn't the reason why. Oklahoma City was tenacious on defense from the word go; its stacking of stops led to a 7-0 run to start the game despite the Bricktown Ballers' laboring offense. In fact, minutes with one big on the floor flanked by elite point of attack options were what kept OKC in control of this contest and swelled a 15-point lead on Thursday.

After the airing of grievances of the starting five, the attention turned to the number of players Daigneault tossed onto the floor, including rookie Ajay Mitchell, to start the second quarter. This is what the Thunder do, it's their identity.

On one hand, people lambasted Daigneault for "going away from his identity" of the double-big lineups while also crucifying him for sticking true to his feel-out-game principals in the series opener, flipping through his rolodex of a roster at a point in the game the Thunder were keeping the Pacers at bay. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Had the Thunder done enough to win this game, these wouldn't be talking points. It shows that these are reactionary feelings rather than analysis.

The Mitchell move could've worked, it was worth testing out. Co-star Jalen Williams is entrusted with running the show to start the second frame, and at that point, hadn't figured out how to be productive. Adding a playmaker to aid him was a solid thought process, the players didn't execute.

So, excusing the elongated rotation and starting lineup, you are left with two true questions of Daigneault. Why did Oklahoma City close small and why did superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not return to the floor in the fourth quarter quicker than his typical regular-season rotation?

These are fair gripes. The lack of size on the floor hurt the Thunder on the glass down the stretch of this game, which could've been valuable as the offense stalled and rebounds were available. It's the NBA Finals, while agreeing with the first game being a test tube for the best-of-seven set, the only thing that doesn't need experimentation is the league's MVP playing 45-plus minutes in a quest for a title.

However, the bottom line remains: This loss was on the players, not the quarter zip czar. If his All-Star swingman or Chet Holmgren show up to play in Game, the Thunder put the Pacers away and are off to a 1-0 start in the Finals. If his team finds the bottom of the net on simply one of its five open triples in the fourth frame, the crisis is avoided.

If Oklahoma City parlays the Pacers' 24 turnovers into more than 11 points as the best fastbreak finishers in the league, there is jubilation in Oklahoma City, not dejection. If his troops travel into the lane and leave with a better showing than 55% at the rim, the Thunder are crowned after Game 1.

There is plenty of blame and questions to go around, but too much of it is laid at the feet of Daigneault in the fallout from the series opener.