The thunder had to come down from their cloud

Of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Marc Daigneault, through Jalen Williams, was recognized by everyone the superiority of Spurs in this semi-final NBA Cup. Even if the score difference is small, for the Thunder coach, Victor Vembanyama and his teammates deserved to win.

“It wasn’t our best night. I think our attacks were definitely not as sharp as usual and that made our game more static. They’re a good team in the lead, you have to give them credit. They played very well. It was a very competitive game.” replies Daigneault. “But there are also a lot of controllable things that we can learn from that weren’t at the level we want them to be.”

First, the Thunder coach wanted to make it clear that Spurs played very well without Victor Wembanyama. Sure, his return had an impact, but San Antonio just won 9 of 12 games without him, and OKC’s loss can’t be explained by Wembey’s presence alone. “He has a tremendous impact on both ends of the court. He’s obviously a deterrent near the rim. He gives a lot of trouble on the rebound, especially early in the match, and then he found his rhythm offensively and made some very tough shots in the money,” he recalled. “I also found that at times they played very well without him. It wasn’t just because of his presence. It was a real collective win. A lot of their players played well, but he obviously had a big impact.”

The Thunder lost control of the match

The fact remains that Spurs’ dominance is linked to Wembanyama’s entry into the game. “We actually started well, but they won the last three quarters. They mostly dominated us tonight. It was a close game, but they were better and they deserved to win.” insists Daigneault. “I don’t know what exactly changed the game, but for the whole 48 minutes I feel they were superior most of the time. It’s difficult to control or win the match in these conditions.”

Because his team is young, but also because the season is longThunder coach is enthusiastic about all the lessons that can be learned from this defeat. “I thought we made good passes against the duo, for example, so our offensive intentions weren’t bad. On the other hand, we didn’t have enough stops on the other side of the court, which is usually a hallmark of our defense, especially during the match and at the end of the game. When you play tight games, you can’t get everything that gives us an advantage, and that usually gives us an advantage … and we create space. what made the difference was rather our execution and our accuracy, which are usually at a very high level, but which were not so much this evening.

Defeat for progress

For his part, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander laments that he and his teammates didn’t focus on the small details, like a layup screen or a better adjusted pass. “I don’t think we moved the ball from side to side well enough. A lot of that was probably my fault.” estimates the 2025 MFA. “Especially against a team that closes the paint, you have to be able to move guards out wide and into the corners, things like that. I don’t think we did that well enough. We could sit back and say we missed shots we should have taken, we had good positions. But basketball is never about shots made or shots missed, especially in those little details, they always make it. The quarter is really where they win.”

Finally, for Daigneault, “Overall, it’s a very good game that we can learn from. The NBA season is 82 games and we want to be a team that improves through all of our experiences. We can’t be perfect in every game. When there’s a slump or a game where things are not up to par, you have to be able to look in the mirror, correct that team quickly and we’ve always tightened things up. This team has always been great. we’re not at our best, but we have to analyze it, learn from it and apply it to future — not only against them, but against the Clippers in our next matchup.