Mark Daigneault denies the Thunder having the Lakers matchup circled on their calendars

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Mark Daigneault denies the Thunder having the Lakers matchup circled on their calendars originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Oklahoma City Thunder got a massive 139-96 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. It was an impressive win for the Thunder, especially since the Lakers have been one of the NBA's hottest teams over the past month.

From the outside, it looked like the Thunder were overly focused on beating the Lakers. However, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault felt this was only a sign of his team's consistency.

Daigneault felt the Lakers matchup was just another game​

The Thunder have been the best team in the league again this season. They are not only superb on offense due to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but they also remain one of the most dangerous defensive teams in NBA history.

Daigneault has his players performing at their peak, and they are ready to repeat as champions. It will be challenging, but beating one of their rivals is great news ahead of the Playoffs.

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The Lakers have been playing out of their minds recently, especially Luka Doncic. Before he went down with a hamstring injury on Thursday, the Lakers were already down big against the Thunder.

It just showed that there is still a gap between the defending champions and the Lakers. The result is proof that OKC deserves its spot as the favorites, and they want to keep playing at a high level, no matter the opponent.

"Not really. This team is surgically consistent with the approach. They’ve been like that for years. You can’t tell, if you’re in our gym, if it’s October or March. You can’t tell if we’re playing the Lakers... So I didn't sense anything different, but we were obviously ready to play," Daigneault said after the Thunder beat the Lakers.

Some people might feel that the Thunder were playing hard because it was against the Lakers. That was not the case, as the Thunder remain superb against all of the tough matchups they play against.

More NBA news:​

• Cason Wallace speaks about how he could be part of the All-Defensive First Team
• Carmelo Anthony gives his reasoning behind choosing SGA as the MVP
• SGA denies to make his case to win a back-to-back MVP
• Gilgeous-Alexander finds the positives in the many MVP debates
• Jalen Williams' importance revealed by Gilgeous-Alexander

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