Thunder HC Mark Daigneault Dishes Compliment to Pelicans HC Willie Green

Mark Daigneault shared praise to opposing head coach Willie Green ahead of the Thunder's Game 2 matchup against Pelicans.

The Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New Orleans Pelicans first-round series poses a matchup between two incredible head coaches. Mark Daigneault -- finalist for Coach of the Year after leading the Thunder to the No. 1 seed -- is facing a former Thunder staffer in Willie Green.

Green's capability of coaching at a high level has been proven during his time with the Pelicans, specifically against the Thunder. The matchups he throws at the Thunder and pace he has his team play with slows things down and makes life on offense difficult for Oklahoma City.

Ahead of Game 2, speaking with media members, Daigneault was complimentary of Green as a head coach.

“He was very focused on becoming a good coach the minute he decided to pursue that and he has," Daigneault said.

The Thunder edged out the Pelicans 94-92 thanks to a late shot by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 28 points.

One coaching decision both teams are making is the decision at the big man position. Pelicans' Jonas Valanciunas is a big with incredible size and strength, while the Thunder plays more "small" with more versatility. Both have their trade offs, but Daigneault is fine as they as the Thunder is on the beneficiary side of things.

“You never want to concede anything. You don’t want to hand out points or rebounds to anybody. We have to keep the cost-benefit equation tilted in our favor… The minute the cost outweighs the benefit that’s when you have to adjust," Daigneault said.

Oklahoma City defeated New Orleans 2-1 in the regular season series, and now hold a 1-0 playoff series lead. The tradeoff seems to be going in favor of the Thunder and it'll be interesting to see if Green makes any adjustment at the big man position heading into Game 2.

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