After 2 days, Mark Daigneault reflects on lessons learned in Game 1 loss to Pacers

With a full two days between games, the Oklahoma City Thunder have had plenty of time to feel upset about dropping the ball in Game 1 and move on to Game 2. The Indiana Pacers stole a 1-0 series lead. The title favorite can't afford to let that snowball any further.

Preparing for a must-win Game 2, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault reflected on Game 1's disaster after two nights' worth of sleep. He reiterated the avoidable mistakes his squad made down the stretch.

"It's always tricky because one-point losses are emotional, and you have to be able to strip away the emotions from that. Understand there's a lot of things we did well in the game to build a 15-point lead. There's a lot of things we did well in the game that we certainly don't want to throw out," Daigneault said. "And there's a lot of things that we can improve on. We have a lot of runway here to improve. And Indiana does, too. I'm sure they don't come out of that game feeling like they played perfectly, either."

Some of the variables the Thunder likely want to keep are their turnover rate. They forced 25 turnovers against one of the ball-security squads in the NBA. But just 11 points scored off them nullified that advantage created by their premier perimeter defenders.

On the other hand, the Thunder need to improve their rebounding. They knew they sacrificed their boards when they downsized, but a 56-39 hole helped the Pacers stay in it long enough before Tyrese Haliburton's game-winner.

"That becomes the challenge after Game 1 of a series is you've now felt the opponent a little bit. You've thrown some things out there, learned some things from the game," Daigneault said. "And now we've just got to improve at some intangible things we think we can improve at. Indiana will try to do the same thing, and the better team will win."

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Mark Daigneault reflects on lessons learned in Game 1 loss to Pacers