The Thunder attempted to be cautious, but it ultimately resulted in a significant failure.
Manager Mark Daigneault employed a widely discussed strategy in today’s NBA as the Thunder held a three-point lead in the closing moments of Game 1.
It didn’t go as planned.
Denver capitalized with a series of free throws, matching Oklahoma City’s intentional fouls until Chet Holmgren missed two crucial attempts. With the score narrowing down to just a one-point lead, Aaron Gordon then sunk a game-winning three-pointer for the Nuggets.
The flaw in Oklahoma City’s approach lay in how little time was actually being wasted between fouls.
From the moment Denver inbounded the ball, the Thunder were quick to foul.
If they had let the Nuggets run down the clock a bit more before committing those fouls, it might’ve reduced the chances of missing free throws while giving Denver a clearer path back into the game.
But that wasn’t the sole issue.
The Nuggets had taken Nikola Jokic off the court, which created a slight opening for Oklahoma City as they had already committed five fouls.
Even as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander avoided a foul attempt from Denver, Jokic remained on the bench. However, it seemed that with no timeouts left, the team had only 11 seconds to traverse the court and make something happen.
Yet, Oklahoma City continued to foul quickly, enabling Jokic’s return.
Denver capitalized on their free throws, Holmgren missed his, and the Nuggets managed to seize home-court advantage from the top-seeded Thunder.
This marked the first time Denver held a lead since the early moments of the game.
Daigneault defended his late-game strategy.
“Generally, our plan is to commit three fouls and play that out,” Daigneault reflected post-game. “We thought we executed our fouling strategy reasonably well. We hadn’t done well tonight, but we had in the past.”
