Lakers News: Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault Reacts To LA Win Over His Team

The Lakers snapped a four-game skid last night.

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is looking like a major Coach of the Year candidate through the first third of the 2023-24 NBA season. He has pushed his Thunder to an 18-9 record on the year, good for second in the Western Conference.

But the Thunder were no match for your ninth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers last night, who on the road managed to survive a fourth quarter rally to secure an eventual 129-120 victory. The win helped Los Angeles end a four-game losing streak and improve to a still-less-than-ideal 16-14 record on the year.

Daigneault had nothing but praise for the opposition after the fact, as Cliff Brunt of The Associated Press details.

“They they came out like a team that was desperate for a win,” Daigneault said. “I didn’t think we came out like poor or sloppy or soft or anything like that, but we just didn’t amp it up to the level that we needed to, in that first half especially. And we allowed them to kind of get to a groove. And I thought that was really the game right there. So it’s a good lesson for us.”

Next up for LA is a Christmas Day bout against historic rival the Boston Celtics, who like the Lakers are pegged for major postseason glory this spring, but unlike the Lakers have looked like world beaters already. At 22-6, Boston owns the best record in the East.