Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault hailed his team’s laser focus after they progressed to the franchise’s first NBA Finals berth since 2012.
The Thunder clinched a 4-1 series win in the Western Conference Finals by defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94 in Game 5 at the Paycom Center.
League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the star of the show for Oklahoma City, racking up 34 points, 32 of which came in the first half as the Thunder defense held Minnesota to just nine points in the opening quarter before going into the half with a 65-32 lead.
Gilgeous-Alexander was named as MVP for the Western Conference Finals, and became the first player to progress to the NBA Finals in the same season in which he was selected as league MVP since Steph Curry in 2015-16.
The win was the Thunder’s fourth by 30 points or more during this postseason, the most by any team in a single playoff campaign.
“The focus through the distraction of a closeout game to go to the Finals is what was most impressive,” Daigneault said.
“I mean, they were laser focused today, and that allowed our best to come to the surface.”
Gilgeous-Alexander echoed those sentiments after a performance that ensured the Thunder will face either the Indiana Pacers or the New York Knicks in the Finals. The Pacers hold a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
“It almost seemed like we did everything we were supposed to do,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
“We made it tough on the guys we were supposed to make it tough on. Well, I thought it was tough for everybody [on the Timberwolves]. We were clicking on all cylinders as far as what their tendencies are, what our game plan is, how we want to impact the game, how we want to impact the ball.
MVP x 2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/uUWguSBdCF
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) May 29, 2025
“Then from there, we were able to just run and have fun and be ourselves. It really starts with defense for us.”
But Gilgeous-Alexander was quick to stress that the Thunder must now refocus on trying to finish the job to secure a first title in Oklahoma City for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979 and made a further Finals appearance in 1996 before the team relocated to become the Thunder in 2008.
“Obviously happy for the moment, but this isn’t our goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander added.
“This isn’t the end of the road. There was no special conversation. It was just, let’s keep getting better. One more series to go.
“We are a step closer to our goal, and we’re happy about that. But there are still four more games to go win, four really hard games to go win. We need to be the best version of ourselves for four nights to reach the ultimate goal.”