Mark Daigneault's revealing take on Thunder defense in win vs. Trail Blazers

01/27/2025 10:07 AM

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault was impressed by his team's defense limiting the Portland Trail Blazers' leading scorers and its poise to remain relentless against their role players. The Thunder got it done on both ends of the floor. Isaiah Hartenstein returned from a five-game absence and made his presence felt, pulling down a team-high 12 rebounds and scoring 14 points in Oklahoma City's 118-108 win against the Trail Blazers.

After the game, Daigneault commended his team for its ability to limit Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant to subpar performances while keeping its composure in responding to being on the wrong end of a 14-4 game-opening run on the road.

"The top two guys for us are Simons and Grant," Daigneault said. "And Simons was 3-for-10 and was really quiet in the first half, even on attempts. I think he only had five attempts in the first half, and Grant was, I think, 0-for-2 or something like that. 2-for-5. I don't know what he was but it was really low attempts, and that's a good way to start. Take away those guys. Take away the rim.

"We were good on the defensive glass in the first half, [in the] second half, they started crashing more."

Grant finished with two points on 1-for-5 shooting, and Simons added 14 points on 3-for-10 attempts. Deni Avdija scored a team-high 28 points, including 4-of-9 from deep, and Toumani Camara added 24 points, including connecting on a perfect 5-for-5 from three.

"We wanted to make those other guys make contested shots, and they did," Daigneault added. "So, that's why I said it tests your conviction. But we stuck with it and let it win the day. And had a good enough night defensively and a good enough night offensively to come away with a win."

The Thunder scored 39 points in the second quarter, pulling ahead by 13 at halftime (66-53) and keeping the Trail Blazers at bay throughout the second half.

Isaiah Hartenstein on Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

After the win, Isaiah Hartenstein revealed what makes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander special. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault watched Gilgeous-Alexander finish with 35 points, five rebounds, and three steals. The MVP candidate's two-way game stands out the most, but for Hartenstein, it's also that he's a team-oriented leader, per Thunder reporter Nick Gallo.

"We have an MVP player playing great defense night in, night out," Hartenstein said. "He leads the league in blocks from a guard. He makes the hustle plays. He's a team guy."

The Thunder will continue their two-game road trip against the Warriors on Wednesday.

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