The OKC Thunder surprised everyone at the beginning of these 2025 NBA Finals when they decided to shake up their starting rotation by inserting Cason Wallace in at the two and sliding primary pivot Isaiah Hartenstein down to a reserve role.
Despite coach Mark Daigneault's insistence that the move deserved to be celebrated, not condemned, on account of the fact that it highlighted the team's incredible "optionality," after three games and while trailing the Pacers 2-1, the headman decided to revert to his typical first-five consisting of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Hartenstein.
Two games later, Oklahoma City now finds itself on a two-game win streak, with a 3-2 series lead, and, more importantly, just one win away from an NBA Championship.
Though this turn of events understandably should have all of Thunder nation hitting all-time high levels of excitement, in an odd way, it also warrants even more criticism to be thrown in coach Daigneault's direction.
3-2 lead further highlights boneheaded move to shake up Thunder lineup
Whether it be the argument for a desire to improve their speed in an effort to match Indiana's elite pace or, as Daigneault put it, to win "the possession battle," there's really no excusing OKC's initial decision to tweak their rotation in such a drastic fashion.
With the default lineup mentioned earlier, the Thunder boasted a ridiculous winning percentage of 69.2 throughout the regular season and, leading into Game 1 of the NBA Finals, had gone 12-4 in the playoffs.
However, the highly unnecessary decision to insert Wallace into the mix clearly threw the team out of their rhythm, especially when it came to their bench squad that, while once arguably the top two-way second unit in the league, was completely outplayed by the Pacers without the self-creation abilities of the sophomore guard.
Wallace's presence in the starting lineup also allowed Indiana to frequently hunt defensive matchups, particularly on switches that forced him onto much more physically dominant players such as Pascal Siakam.
Now, back to the assortment used during the first three rounds of play, the Thunder have rattled off two straight wins, and Game 5's 120-109 triumph truly showcased why reverting to their old ways is so vital to this team's success.
They won the second-chance battle (19 offensive rebounds compared to 18), swatted away a ridiculous 12 shots, and forced 22 turnovers on the night while Hartenstein pulled down six crucial offensive rebounds (one, in particular, coming during a frightening late-game push by the Pacers) and Wallace had perhaps his best game of the postseason with 11 points and 4 steals on 80.0 percent shooting from the floor and 75.0 percent shooting from deep.
With all this in mind, while some may be praising coach Mark Daigneault for adjusting his title-round strategy and going back to his double-big sets as the Thunder are now on the verge of a championship, others may find it hard to fully commend the man.
After all, based on how they played throughout the playoffs previously and over these last two games, there's a chance OKC may have already taken home the Larry O'Brien Trophy had there been no shake-ups to begin with.