Oklahoma City Thunder and before Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors have a number of similarities.
- A superstar point guard who won his first MVP and first title two years after his first All-Star selection.
- Shooting guard and second All-Star (Klay Thompson And Jalen Williams).
- Dominant defenses are built around equal sized switches and the pressure they apply.
- Hidden gem in Draymond Green (drafted in the second round) and Lu Dort (undrafted).
- Acquisition of a defensive ace (Another Iguodala And Alex Caruso).
- First time head coach.
These Warriors felt the cynicism surrounding their first championship. They've heard critics point out the luck of the opposition due to the injury they've enjoyed on their way to the postseason. Nobody called it outright luck. But to say that this team was universally recognized as the best in the league would be a lie.
People pointed to the Warriors' 2-1 tie against Memphis in the second round and the fact that Kyrie Irving And Kevin Love teamed up to play one game in the final, proof that they weren't actually as dominant as they were made out to be. The Warriors heard it all and used it as fuel to bombard the league the following season, starting 24-1 en route to an NBA-record 73 wins in 2015-16.
Same with these Thunder, whose dominance was called into question after it took them seven games to get past Nuggets in the second round before finding himself to the right of Tyrese Haliburton's blown Achilles in Game 7 of the finals. Was there thunder In fact best team?
Yes, they were. And like those Warriors, they used this season's stage to drive that point home. No championship hangover. No mercy. Their very victim was Sunwho suffered a 49-point loss (the most lopsided Phoenix loss in team history) in NBA A Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday night that left OKC's record at …24-1.
These Thunder have mirrored these Warriors at nearly every turn, which begs the question: Is Golden State's 73-win record in jeopardy? Yes, it is.
Personally, I would even say that I would be surprised if the Thunder didn't break the record. The odds don't match. Caesar Currently, these Thunder's over 73.5 win mark is +325 and the bottom is -500, which makes sense since we're talking about a win total that has never been reached. Stuff happens. Players get injured. A graph of losses will appear.
I get all that and still say I'll be surprised if Oklahoma City doesn't win 74 games. This is a team that entered Wednesday outscoring its opponents by 15.9 points per 100 possessions, which would break the current NBA record. And that was before they beat Phoenix by 49.
Injuries are an obvious X-factor, but ask yourself, who would get hurt if this hampers Oklahoma City's offense? Jalen Williams is the second best player on the team and they have started the season 18-1 with him in street clothes. Not even one loss was supposed to happen, as the Thunder required a 22-point lead over the Blazers to do so.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the league's MVP by crying out loud, and on paper the Thunder don't even need it to him bury you alive. Seriously, the Thunder are holding opponents to 16.2 points per 100 possessions when SGA No on the floor, according to CTG, this is a number that no logical mind can grasp.
Speaking of crazy numbers, the Thunder have outscored their opponents by 439 points this season. This is the highest point differential in history over 25 games by an almost ridiculous margin.
Last season, the Thunder outscored opponents by 12.9 points per 100 possessions, the best net rating in history. This season they are destroying their own record with an absolutely absurd +17.5 mark in 25 games.
As noted in Recent article by Michael Pina for The RingerOklahoma City entered Wednesday's game having played 18% of its minutes this season with a lead of at least 20 points. On Wednesday, the Thunder held a 20-point lead for the first time less than a minute into the second quarter, and they played the entire second half with a lead of at least 26 points.
The Thunder blow the doors off their opponents so often that Gilgeous-Alexander has only had to play the fourth quarter in 12 of his 24 games so far, and yet he still leads the league in total clutch points.
There is no hole here that can be used. No player, not even SGA, dominates the ball, so OKC isn't afraid of its superstar having an off day if he ever plans to have one. He has scored at least 30 points in 19 of 24 games this year and has scored at least 20 points in 97 straight games since last SGA regular season.
This guy averages almost a point per minute. This is Wilt's territory (and Giannis, who is averaging 0.99 points per minute this season, according to NBA.com).
Having arguably the best offensive player in the world combined with the best defense in history is like putting the best Aaron Rodgers on the 2000 Ravens roster. That's what we're talking about with the Thunder, who have so many “next guys” that it literally doesn't matter who goes.
At the very least, even if everyone freezes on the same night, a defense that is currently running about 12 points above league average, by far the largest gap in league history, according to PBP statistics – this happens every night. To call this defense a machine, even a monster, is to say nothing. There are no words to describe such pressure.
And by the way, the idea I expressed about the whole crime going cold on the same night is essentially just a theory put forward for the sake of argument. This won't happen. OKC ranks third in field goal percentage. Fifth in three-point percentage. They create more turnovers than any defense in the league, but never actually manage them themselves (only the Celtics have a lower offensive turnover rate).
Remember those first Warriors teams. You'd at least have some hope of catching them on a sloppy night, or perhaps you could outsize them. This almost never happened because they fought off every mistake. and this Thunder team? Firstly, they make almost no mistakes.
Think about how many things would have to go wrong for them to lose even one game. To begin with, the opponent must play brilliantly. Also, the Thunder have to shoot poorly, which they almost never do, or force SGA to put up an average night, which they never do, and which also doesn't even matter because they kill you even when he doesn't play at all, or the defense plays poorly (funny), or injure like five players at a time because two or three don't even factor into their depth.
And that's just to lose one game. The Thunder could lose eight total, seven more, and still break Golden State's record of 73 wins. Now ask yourself, how likely is it that all of this will happen seven more times?
No, you cannot explain the unexpected. The ball bounces in the wrong direction. One disappointment after another. Big bad lead. It will happen. It happened once before against the Blazers. But it was like being struck by lightning, and lightning does not strike seven times. I think this record is going down.
