Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault insisted there was still room for improvement from his record-breaking team and urged them to maintain their intensity.
Oklahoma won their 16th straight game last night, a 138-89 beatdown of the Phoenix Suns that saw them advance to the final four of the NBA Cup and match the league mark for the best record in history after 25 games.
The Thunder are now 24-1 – a mark set by the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors – and will head to Las Vegas in confident mood after inflicting the worst defeat in history for Phoenix.
The challenge now is to keep focused.
Daigneault said: “Not focusing on the win streak. You just got to play the next possession, get better the next day, win the next quarter and compete in the next game. And then if you do that and you’re present in that process, sometimes you look up and you win a certain amount of games in a row. But we certainly need to understand, we still have a lot of improvement to make. We have a lot of things to sustain and a lot of competitive challenges ahead.”
SGA puts his feet up
They were much too good for Phoenix and their starters – including reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – left for good with over three minutes to play in the third quarter.
“I thought we had good mental toughness tonight,” added Daigneault.
“It’s hard to play with leads. It’s hard not to get distracted by the score. I thought the group to start the third quarter came out and threw the first punch, and that energy continued through the third. Then the group in the fourth quarter did a great job of just kind of playing the next possession. That’s how you build habits. You can take steps backwards in a game like that, even though you may end up winning the game.”
It hasn’t always been this way for the Thunder as forward Jalen Williams was quick to emphasize.
“Winning is never boring. There was a time where some players on our team were getting blown out,” he said.
“So I think a lot of guys have that in the back of their mind. Even me, my first year we weren’t winning a ton – we were solid, but I think I have that in the back of my mind. And you can’t get bored with the process.”