Stiles Points: OKC Thunder 0-0 Mindset Never Been More Important Than Now

The Oklahoma City Thunder having a 0-0 mindset has been preached for years but the lesson has never applied more than it does on Wednesday.

Inside the Thunder's facility, it is hard to move without running into someone eager to spread the good word of the 0-0 mentality - A mindset that has trickled down to every crevice of the organization.

This has been a constant staple of Mark Daigneault's verbiage, describing the ebbs and flows of an NBA season.

No matter if the Thunder were licking their wounds from a 73-point beat down on Beale Street or enjoying one of their 57 wins during the 2023-24 campaign, Daigneault was ready to throw out his 0-0 quip.

The applicability of the Thunder's fable has never been more obvious than on Wednesday. After edging the Pelicans by two points to go up 1-0 in their first-round series, they have to understand today is a new day.

Despite the win, there are more things to clean up than maintain from their opening round overture that saw the Thunder only muster 94 points.

Eventually, open looks will fall, someone will catch fire and their magician-like scorers will pull rabbits out of their hats again.

Although the offense labored at times, it's not the right moment to make sweeping changes for Oklahoma City. While many call for Daigneault to tighten the screws on his rotation, the real remedy is falling back on their 0-0 mentality.

Sure, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn't have an MVP-level performance, Chet Holmgren did not play Jonas Valanciunas off the floor, Josh Giddey did not pelt the Pelicans with triples, and Jalen Williams did not take over the final frame.

But that just makes the 0-0 mentality even more important. There is a much larger sample size of all those things happening than not.

So if you were to predict Wednesday's outcome, a lot of that success would be in the forecast for Oklahoma City.

By the same token, just winning Game 1 is not enough if Oklahoma City wants to avoid joining the short list of No. 1 seeds to fall to a bottom-line squad.

Sweeping the opening pair of home games would nearly put the nail in the Pelican's coffin and go a long way in earning OKC's first series win since Kevin Durant called Bricktown home.

Stiles Points

• The Oklahoma City Thunder saw Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander receive votes for the NBA's Most Improved Player award, tabbing Williams as fourth for the honor. While the Santa Clara product had a solid case for the hardware, he falls to Tyrese Maxey of the 76ers.
• The NBA released a rule advisory on the clunky Game 1 Challenge that cost the Thunder a timeout and green-light decision on Sunday. This outcome is inconsistent with the league's ruling from Jan. 18 in Utah when Mark Daigneault triggered the same replay with a carbon copy result but a different punishment. This blunder could've altered the series.
• While Oklahoma City went 11 players deep in the Playoffs, do not expect that method to change exclusively due to April traditions. Daigneault projects to buck trends.
• It will be another white-out with free tee shirts draped on the seats in the Paycom Center again with a white base for a two-tone blue design front and center. However, the contrast will be different as the Thunder will sport Blue threads on the court against the Pelicans' Red get-up.
• Oklahoma City received a lot of love from their peers in the Athletic's anonymous Player poll, which speaks to their impressive leap.

Song of the Day: I'm So Tired by the Beatles.

Want to join the discussion? Like Inside the Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.