Every NBA season, the true championship contenders make themselves known by producing what can only be called “statement” games.
When a team really gets up to play another team it sees at its level, and brings it for all 48 minutes. The Oklahoma City Thunder now boast three of those games. The latest example of this came against the Los Angeles Clippers, where OKC won 129-107, and played some of the best basketball its played all season.
Coming out of the all-star break, the Clippers were one of the NBA’s hottest teams, rapidly rising the standings after a shaky six game start to the James Harden era. The game was close in the first half, but as soon as the second half started, OKC made the Clippers like silly.
Behind a slew of emphatic blocks, the Thunder expanded its lead to as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter. Everyone was getting in on the block party. Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and even Josh Giddey had blocks during a dominant 13-0 OKC run. Not only was the Thunder turning away what seemed like every LAC attempt at the rim, it was turning the takeaways into points.
OKC continued its dominance in the fourth, keeping the lead at double digits throughout the quarter, with Gilgeous-Alexander eventually coming back in and putting his former team away. Gilgeous-Alexander had one of his most impressive games of the season, scoring 31 points while also dishing out 8 assists.
It was a monstrous win for the Thunder, which put another game between itself and the Clippers, and took care of business in its last game of the season against any member of the Western Conference’s top four.
OKC has had two other wins like this throughout the season. Wins where a team that is considered a title contender hits the Thunder with it’s best shot, and it just doesn’t matter.
Before Thursday’s game against the Clippers, the most recent example of this was OKC’s January 2nd game against the Boston Celtics. Similarly to LAC, Boston came into that came as one of the hottest teams in the association. Behind a huge game from Gilgeous-Alexander (shocker), OKC edged out the streaking Celtics, firmly establishing itself as a true contender, going blow-for-blow with the perceived title favorite in the NBA, and eventually delivering the knockout.
OKC had another display like this against the Denver Nuggets on the road. Led by Gilgeous-Alexander’s 40 points (noticing a trend?), the Thunder ripped the reigning champs to shreds, winning 119-93 just days before it’s aforementioned win over the Celtics.
This may seem redundant, but I promise it’s not.
The national discourse around OKC has largely revolved around its youth. The thought process has been that while the team is clearly “something” in the end, it’s lack of experience will be it’s downfall.
All that discourse could be true, but games like these show that it doesn’t matter who, when, or where they play the NBA’s elite teams, they can go toe-to-toe with anyone.
Playoff basketball is undeniably different, everyone who follows the league knows that, but the Oklahoma City Thunder is declaring itself in real-time, and if anyone thinks they are going to be intimidated or think they are to young to make a real run come playoff time — they are sorely mistaken.
