3 days ago
Mark Daigneault pays respect to Rick Carlisle ahead of Pacers-Thunder 2025 NBA Finals
Mark Daigneault pays respect to Rick Carlisle ahead of Pacers-Thunder 2025 NBA Finals
For the first time in the 2025 NBA playoffs, Mark Daigneault enters as the freshly-faced rookie. He coached against two interim coaches in the first two rounds with Tuomas Iisalo and David Adelman. And while Chris Finch was in last year's Western Conference Finals, that didn't matter as OKC was a buzzsaw.
But Rick Carlisle is on a different level. He's been an NBA head coach since 2001. This will be his second NBA Finals. He was the Dallas Mavericks' head coach when they upset the Miami Heat in 2011. The 65-year-old hopes history repeats itself.
The Oklahoma City Thunder enter the 2025 NBA Finals as the heavy favorite. They were the league's best team all season and continued their dominance in the playoffs with a 12-4 record against the West to reach the championship round.
Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers have caught fire at the right time. Tyrese Haliburton is the headliner, but the East's fourth seed is rich with depth. Pascal Siakam has stepped up as the second-best player. Myles Turner and Andrew Nembhard have been complementary pieces.
It's also helped to have Carlisle as their head coach. If anybody can bring their squad an advantage from the sidelines, it's the future Hall-of-Famer. He helped take down the Miami Heat in their first year with LeBron James. It'll take a similar David-esque approach to slay the Thunder.
'I have a lot of respect for him. He's had an unbelievable life in basketball. When you look at all the things he's experienced in his playing career and his assistant coaching career and his head coaching career. He's forgotten more about the game than most of us have seen," Daigneault said about Carlisle. "I have a lot of respect for him. He's the president of the Coaches Association. He's got 29 really good relationships with the coaches and is in constant communication with us."
Besides a few blips, Daigneault has made the right decisions in the playoffs. Let's see if the national spotlight and the highest stakes possible in a basketball game will change that. Meanwhile, Carlisle should know what to expect at this point in the year.
