Through the first two games of their Round 1 series, you're seeing differing philosophies between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns when it comes to gaming the system. And perhaps, it also exposes just how wide the talent gap is between the first and eighth seeds.
The Thunder have let their game do the talking. They've dominated their way to a 2-0 series lead with an eye-popping plus-48 point differential. So far, the Suns have looked out of their element. But Jalen Williams' latest hamstring strain opens a crease in the window for some competition as the Round 1 matchup commutes to Arizona.
The Suns hope that returning to their home crowd can influence the next batch of NBA referees to give them a friendlier whistle. Even though the foul calls and free-throw attempts have been pretty even through two games, Phoenix has gone off the rails to call out the officials — specifically, James Williams.
Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green have all taken turns to do some classic postgame politicking. Booker ate a hefty fine for singling out Williams. Let's see if they get their money's worth in Games 3 and 4. On the flip side, though, the Thunder kept their status quo.
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault refused to get involved in the gamesmanship. It aligns with their comments over the years about officials. At the top of it is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who's always sympathized with them as they deal with a highly ridiculed profession.
"I don't want to get into it. It's just another one of the things I mentioned that is a potential distraction," Daigneault said. "We're focused on Game 3 and what we need to do to try to win Game 3. Anything outside of those things is not in our focus. We want to be ruthlessly focused on the things we want to control."
Instead, the Thunder are more focused on controlling the controllables. Not only is it a sound strategy in basketball — OKC's recent success speaks for itself. But it's also probably a healthy way to live life in all facets. Can't stress too much over stuff that's out of your control.
"When you get to a place where there's more distractions, there's more noise, there's more human nature, you're able to transcend that with these muscles you built," Daigneault said. "That's what we need to do in this situation. Psychologically, we need to understand that tomorrow is a new game and we need to throw our best punch tomorrow. It's the biggest game of the season."
The Thunder have looked like the best team through the first couple of games in the 2026 NBA playoffs. Let's see what they look like without Williams for an extended period of time, but the reigning NBA champions have shown this year that they can still run their opponent out of the gym while juggling injuries.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Mark Daigneault unfazed by Suns' criticisms over NBA referees in playoff series