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Thunder coach's risky Shai Gilgeous-Alexander move backfires in Game 6 loss

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated May 15, 2025 11:34 PM ET

Mark Daigneault was feeling like a gambling man during Thursday’s Game 6.

The Oklahoma City Thunder coach Daigneault pulled a very risky move with his star player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the second-round playoff contest at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo. With OKC leading 49-44 in the second quarter, Gilgeous Alexander picked up his third foul of the game at the 3:59 mark.

While most coaches would immediately pull their star for the rest of the quarter in that situation, Daigneault chose to ride with Gilgeous-Alexander. The MVP frontrunner proceeded to score six more points to close out the half … but did so at a cost.

With 1:29 left in the second quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth foul of the game, having reached in on Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. It was only at that point that Daigneault decided to bench Gilgeous-Alexander.

SGA picks up his 4th foul before halftime pic.twitter.com/2yw4YQEDF4
— ESPN (@espn) May 16, 2025

The ESPN broadcast noted that Thursday’s game marked the first time (regular season or playoffs) since 2022 that Gilgeous-Alexander had picked up four fouls in a single half.

You have to go back to October 2022 the last time Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 4 fouls in a 1st half pic.twitter.com/1QpDFHDafv
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 16, 2025

OKC took a slim 61-58 lead into halftime. That meant Gilgeous-Alexander would have to gut out 24 minutes of intense action with only one more foul at his disposal (if he didn’t want to pick up a disqualifying sixth foul).

Daigneault was the NBA’s Coach of the Year last season after his team’s 57-win campaign and outdid that this year by leading the Thunder to 68 wins (though Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson took home Coach of the Year this time around). The 40-year-old Daigneault has done a magnificent job with OKC and is especially adept at coach’s challenges and managing his deep roster. But the dice-roll with Gilgeous-Alexander in Thursday’s Game 6 ended up backfiring for him, just as another decision by Daigneault earlier in the series against Denver notably did too.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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