After a 143-101 Game 3 loss, the Oklahoma City Thunder will spend Sunday looking in the mirror. It’s one thing to drop the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s the Western Conference Finals. These are the NBA’s best four teams. It’s another thing to lose in the way they did with a franchise-worst postseason destruction.

As OKC fans look around for answers, one adjustment many have hoped for is a changeup in the starting lineup. The Thunder have stuck with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein as their starting frontcourt. But the results have been mixed.

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The Holmgren-Hartenstein duo has a 2.3 net rating in the playoffs. Decent and positive. The Thunder have won their minutes with those two. But when it’s just Holmgren alone at center, that jumps to an eye-popping 21.3 net rating in the playoffs.

Interesting data. The Thunder have won their minutes with the double-big lineup, but have destroyed the competition with Holmgren at his more natural position. That’s been a season-long theme that has continued in the playoffs.

Against the Memphis Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets, it made sense to go with them. The Grizzlies had Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey. The Nuggets had Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. But against the Timberwolves, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert likely aren’t a deadly enough duo to justify it.

The Thunder are a smart organization. They clearly see the numbers, too. When asked about the possibility of shaking the starting lineup, Mark Daigneault didn’t fully rule it out. Hartenstein’s minutes have dwindled in the playoffs and replaced by Isaiah Joe at halftime in Game 3 as a last-ditch effort for another miraculous playoff comeback.

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“We keep everything fluid for a reason so that it’s not these seismic events when we change a lineup at any point in time. We changed the starting lineup during the season, coming out of halftime,” Daigneault said. “We changed the rotation almost nightly in the regular season and playoffs. We try to normalize that for situations where we can be opportunistic.”

If push comes to shove, the Thunder have that card to pull out. But considering their historic playoff success — even with a 42-point loss — they could stick with what’s worked for at least one more game. But if the Timberwolves tie it up at 2-2, they could finally push the button.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Could Mark Daigneault go away from Holmgren-Hartenstein lineup?