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Mark Daigneault, entering his second playoff run with this young and dominant Thunder team, has created a safe distance with expectations.
“Basketball is not only not a perfect game, it’s an imperfect game,” Daigneault said before Game 1 against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. “I think just watching some of the games yesterday, you notice that people still turn the ball over, people still miss shots, people still miss dunks, miss assignments. That’s how the game is, no matter what the stage is.
“We just gotta go out there and play our game, and we understand it’s not gonna be gonna be a perfect game.”
The Thunder’s injury report is as clean as it’s been all season. Just Ousmane Dieng (calf) and Nikola Topic (knee surgery) remain out.
Asked about his expectations for rotations, Daigneault said “there’s generally a rotational script, you could call it, and then I would say pivot points that we prepare for.”
With the changes in habits since Memphis appointed coach Tuomas Iisalo, even those subtle, pivots could be necessary.
Rookie Ajay Mitchell, a significant playmaker during his minutes, likely would’ve played a bigger role had he not missed multiple months with turf toe surgery.
Still, he made his return during the final week of the regular season, and Daigneault expects him to play at least some sort of role.
Mitchell made his playoff debut entering with 20 seconds left in the first quarter Sunday.
“I’m expecting the same thing from him as I expect from everybody, which is to be ready to go bring their strengths to the table,” Daigneault said. “It’s the playoffs, we’re gonna need everybody at different times.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s live.”
Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Support Joel’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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