{"id":64057,"date":"2025-05-29T15:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/64057\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:33:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:33:14","slug":"thunder-coach-mark-daigneaults-sincere-request-to-fans-ahead-of-2025-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/64057\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder coach Mark Daigneault\u2019s sincere request to fans ahead of 2025 NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/oklahoma-city-thunder\/thunder-news-mark-daigneault-sincere-request-fans-2025-nba-finals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Thunder coach Mark Daigneault\u2019s sincere request to fans ahead of 2025 NBA Finals;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Thunder coach Mark Daigneault\u2019s sincere request to fans ahead of 2025 NBA Finals<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:ClutchPoints;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/mark-daigneault\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Mark Daigneault;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Mark Daigneault<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nba\/oklahoma-city-thunder\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Oklahoma City Thunder;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> advanced to the 2025 NBA Finals after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. It\u2019s the franchise\u2019s first conference title in 12 years. All-Star <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/shai-gilgeous-alexander-wins-2025-031209325.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named MVP of the series;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named MVP of the series<\/a>. Then, Thunder head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/mark-daigneault-calls-thunder-players-035253442.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Mark Daigneault delivered a memorable speech for fans;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Daigneault delivered a memorable speech for fans<\/a> in jubilation at the Paycom Center.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>After reflecting on the franchise\u2019s long journey over the past dozen years and beyond, Daigneault <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Joe_Sway\/status\/1927956163871596811\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:had one request;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">had one request<\/a> for the passionate Thunder fanbase that stood by its team through thick and thin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust one thing for our fans: rest up this week because we\u2019re going to need you Thursday,\u201d Daigneault said.<\/p>\n<p>The Paycom Center was deafening throughout the Thunder\u2019s blowout victory in Game 5. Oklahoma City closed out the opening frame leading the Timberwolves, 26-9, and essentially never looked back. The Thunder outscored the Timberwolves 39-23 before halftime, keeping a 20+ point lead intact until Daigneault emptied his bench in the fourth quarter as Thunder fans rejoiced.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Daigneault, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s tribute to Thunder fans<img alt=\"Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/fde49819069c0c65e4b34b8035442c42.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Clinching the NBA Finals against the Timberwolves was a unique moment for the franchise and its fans, which Thunder All-Star Gilgeous-Alexander <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Joe_Sway\/status\/1927941255452926317\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:admitted during his postgame media availability;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">admitted during his postgame media availability<\/a>. Closing out the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday was a motivating factor for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder, rather than potentially heading back to Minneapolis for Game 6.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t want to go back to Minnesota, travel-wise. I wanted the fans to enjoy the moment with us,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cI wanted them to be able to see it unfold in front of their eyes. I wanted people to celebrate tonight in our building. Go home. Get drunk. Whatever they do. I want them to have fun with the moment, and it was good. I just wanted to make sure that above all, I could give my energy and my effort to try to give these guys what they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder will host Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 5.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Thunder coach Mark Daigneault\u2019s sincere request to fans ahead of 2025 NBA Finals appeared first on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,1622,152,6,1220,11,475,179,209,15604,3460],"class_list":{"0":"post-64057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-mark-daigneault","10":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-finals","13":"tag-nba-playoffs","14":"tag-oklahoma-city","15":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","16":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","17":"tag-thunder-head-coach","18":"tag-western-conference-finals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114591852522947659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}