Teams also turned their attention to exploiting Giddey’s inconsistent three-point accuracy by putting a slower big man on him and having that player stand off and dare him to shoot. It took Giddey time to adjust to both situations.
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Daigneault gave Giddey time to adjust to the ploy along with making a few tactical tweaks to allow the Australian to go to his strength of driving and creating rather than having to shoot from outside.
“He’s getting schemed a different way than he has before and that takes time to learn,” Daigneault said after the Celtics game.
“What he’s done that’s made him confident and decisive is that he’s developed a more predictable style of play around controllable things like movement,cutting and we’ve added a couple of things for him where he can facilitate and then screen and he did that well tonight.
“When you have that sourcing on offence,then you don’t just have to rely on making and missing shots. I also think he has really competed defensively.”
Giddey also went down with a nasty looking sprained ankle against the Clippers in mid-December,but missed just one game.
The Thunder are 23-9 and sit in second spot in the western conference,beating several of the top contenders in the opening 32 games of their 82-game season.
Giddey’s statistics were expected to take a haircut this season with No.2 draft pick Chet Holmgren taking the starting centre spot after missing last season through injury,while all-star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and forward Jaylen Williams would continue to need their shots as well.
Giddey’s three-point shooting percentage of 36.5 per cent is better than last season,up from 32.5 per cent.
In the last eight games including the Boston win,Giddey has shot 42 per cent from the three-point line while averaging at least three attempts per game. His field goal (56 per cent) and free throw (90 per cent) shooting have also been noticeably better.
Giddey has been working with the Thunder’s highly regarded shooting coach Chip Engelland for more than a year and their work is starting to bear fruit.
“He’s adjusting to the NBA adjusting to his style of play. He works hard,I expected it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Giddey’s form.
With 13 of the next 21 games leading up to NBA All-Star weekend on the road,Giddey will receive more boos and teams will deploy more tactics to try and unsettle him.
Daigneault praised his side’s resilience,something that has been built over the past three seasons as they have gradually assembled their talented young roster.
He could have been talking about Giddey when he spoke about what he liked in his Thunder team.
“They have an uncommon ability to just block out the noise and stay focused on what we need to get better at,” Daigneault said after the Boston win.
“They tend to respond well to adversity,they turn the page and move on to the next one.
“They also respond well to when we have a win like this,but they will look at these plays and the game in a sober manner that will allow us to get better.
“If we want to continue having success,we have to get better and our group understands that.”
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