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As the NBA playoffs rolled around, everybody sent the same warning — expect a tighter whistle. That's been conventional wisdom for anybody who's lived in the basketball world long enough. The calls made in the regular season are not the same as the postseason.
The Oklahoma City Thunder love to hear that. They had one of the worst foul discrepancies. They committed the sixth-most fouls and drew the eighth-fewest fouls. That reflected their free-throw numbers as they were bottom five in attempts per game.
If the Thunder can play their league-best defensive style without a tax, they could dominate the playoffs similar to the regular season. The first seed are proud of their physical brand of basketball. It's their identity. They cause havoc in passing lanes and force turnovers.
For comparison, the Thunder were called 18.2 fouls in the playoffs compared to the 19.9 they called in the regular season. On the flip side, they drew 20.8 fouls in the playoffs compared to 18.1 they drew in the regular season.
It's rubbed some folks the wrong way — from NBA coaches to fanbases — but it's led to one of the greatest regular season campaigns ever, followed by another Round 1 sweep. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault talked about the general rule of thumb that teams are allowed to get more physical in the playoffs.
“If you look at league trends, I actually think they’re calling more fouls right now than they did in the regular season. They’re calling more off-ball fouls, they’re calling less shooting fouls, they're calling less illegal screens," Daigneault said. "We're tracking it closely. I think the games are a little more physical, but there's probably more actual fouling going on. The whistle hasn't reflected that, perse. It's not like they're calling less than they did in the regular season. They're right about on par with what they call."
Regardless of referee trends, Daigneault said all the Thunder want is a consistent whistle. If they're going to rack up the foul count and lengthen NBA games, call it both ways. If they're going to hold their whistle in their lip and let the players decide the outcome, maintain that through 48 games.
"We really don't care, to be honest with you. We just want it to be fair and consistent," Daigneault said. "We want to know what we're getting night to night and we want to know what we're getting end to end."
The Thunder continue to rest up for another week. They await their Round 2 opponent between the Denver Nuggets or the LA Clippers. As OKC became the first team to advance past the first round, it remains a popular pick to win the championship.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Mark Daigneault voices opinion on 2025 NBA playoff whistle
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