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Tim MacMahon
OKLAHOMA CITY — How will the Oklahoma City Thunder handle the distractions that come along with being historically dominant?
That’s the kind of challenge the defending champions face after the Thunder have followed up last season’s title run by matching the best 25-game start in NBA history.
Oklahoma City punched its ticket to Las Vegas with a 138-89 win over the Phoenix Suns in Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinals at the Paycom Center. It was the most lopsided loss in Phoenix history and the biggest blowout of this season, but the Thunder have made routs seem routine during a 24-1 start, which had only been done before by the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors.
Oklahoma City has outscored opponents by an average of 17.4 points this season, putting the Thunder on pace to obliterate the record they set last season of a plus-12.9 average point differential. Seventeen of the Thunder’s wins have come by double-digit margins.
“Winning is never boring. There was a time where some players on our team were getting blown out,” Thunder forward Jalen Williams said, referencing a 73-point loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 2, 2021. “So I think a lot of guys have that in the back of their mind. Even me, my first year we weren’t winning a ton — we were solid, but I think I have that in the back of my mind. And you can’t get bored with the process.”
It’s an accomplishment of sorts for an opponent to push the Thunder enough for reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to play in the fourth quarter.
That didn’t happen Wednesday. After scoring 28 points in 27 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander checked out along with the rest of the Oklahoma City starters with 3:32 remaining in the third quarter. The Thunder were up by 41 at that point, a lead that swelled to as many as 53 in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we had good mental toughness tonight,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, whose team has led by 20 or more points more often than it has trailed through 25 games. “It’s hard to play with leads. It’s hard not to get distracted by the score. I thought the group to start the third quarter came out and threw the first punch, and that energy continued through the third. Then the group in the fourth quarter did a great job of just kind of playing the next possession. That’s how you build habits. You can take steps backwards in a game like that, even though you may end up winning the game.”
Oklahoma City is 72-10 over its past 82 regular-season games and has outscored opponents by 1,189 points in that span. That’s the best point differential over any 82-game span in NBA history, according to ESPN Research.
The 2015-16 Warriors’ single-season record of 73 wins seems within Oklahoma City’s reach, but the Thunder put that discussion into the category of potential distractions.
This was the 16th straight win for the Thunder, setting a franchise record for the longest winning streak.
“Not focusing on the win streak,” Daigneault said. “You just got to play the next possession, get better the next day, win the next quarter and compete in the next game. And then if you do that and you’re present in that process, sometimes you look up and you win a certain amount of games in a row. But we certainly need to understand, we still have a lot of improvement to make. We have a lot of things to sustain and a lot of competitive challenges ahead.”
Daigneault said he isn’t concerned about complacency setting in with the Thunder because the franchise’s players have consistently demonstrated the level of commitment and focus required to deal with the “competitive challenge” that comes with extraordinary success. He pointed out that the majority of the roster — including stars Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Chet Holmgren — still has developmental potential as the players approach or are early in their primes.
Multiple Oklahoma City players emphasized that the team’s priority is to remain present and not get caught up in past accomplishments or future possibilities.
“I’d say it starts with the standard that we have,” said Holmgren, who had 24 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks in the win. “It continues with the respect we have for each other and the enjoyment that we have doing this together. And then it kind of all culminates in just trying to learn from every experience — good, bad, close game, blowout, whatever it might be. Just try to keep learning from them, keep getting better and having fun while we’re doing that.”
