Mark Daigneault reveals how OKC held Anthony Davis to 2 points in huge win

Oklahoma. and home – Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault reacted to his defense’s stifling Dallas Mavericks‘ Anthony Davisholding the 10-time All-Star to two points on 1-for-9 shooting in a 132-111 victory. The Thunder extended their winning streak to 13 straight.

Daigneault singled out Thunder forward Kenrich Williams and center Jaylin Williams as Davis’ primary defenders amid a team effort that led to one of AD’s worst shooting performances of the regular season.

“It’s not (easy). J-Will did a good job on him, Kenrich did a good job on him — those two guys, in particular, were the primary matchups,” Daigneault said. “And with him, you’ve got to really fight him, you know? For spots. And those guys brought a lot of energy to the match. Then, it’s a five-man defense against a player like him. He missed shots that could have been scored.”

“I think it was kind of an outstanding game for him. So we can’t take full credit for that. But we can take credit for making him earn everything. So that’s why we were able to get the kind of night out of him that we did.”

Mark Daigneault on holding Anthony Davis to 2 PTS on 1-of-9 FG: “It’s not (easy). J-Will did a good job on him, Kenrich did a good job on him — those two guys, in particular, were primary matchups.

You have to really fight him, you know? Those guys brought a lot of energy” pic.twitter.com/eh9ohhIVes

— Joshua Pavon (@joe_svai) December 6, 2025

After the Thunder defense held the Clippers to 24 points in the second quarter, outscoring them by nine before halftime, Oklahoma City scored 38 points in the third quarter to win by 19 points. Shai Giljus-Alexander led the Thunder with 33 points and six assists. Chet Holmgren (15 points, eight rebounds) and Jaylen Williams (15 points) combined for 30 points and 16 rebounds.

How Thunder teammates helped Cason Wallace’s defense

When the Thunder’s Cason Wallace and his teammates started a competition to see who could lead the team in steals, it resulted in the third-year guard averaging the second-most steals (2.2) per game in the NBA. Despite the obstacles from having a shortened Thunder roster against the Mavericksincluding Lou Dort, Alex Caruso or Isaiah Hartenstein, the defending champions won.

Thunder All Star Jalen Williams revealed how the friendly turned into Wallace’s best career start.

“It’s more just fun. Maybe we just started joking around. He’s such a good defender, I’ve been trying to get him to do more in his first year,” Williams said. “Then last year he started trying more and more, and he was getting a lot more steals. I just saw different ways that he could get steals that I probably couldn’t, and vice versa. So we just matched each other up.

“Then adding AC, another first-team All-Defense, then Lue, who doesn’t get any steals. It’s just a friendly competition. But we’re just trying to challenge ourselves more to be great in that regard, every day, and not get bored, trying to play defense.”

The Thunder will face the Jazz on Sunday.