The last team standing last season is the last team to remain undefeated this season.<\/p>\n
So much for that championship hangover.<\/p>\n
Jalen Williams hasn\u2019t played yet, Chet Holmgren is dealing with a balky back, Lu Dort just missed a game because of illness \u2026 and the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder are still just rolling along, off to a 7-0 start despite using four different starting lineups in those seven games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a DNA,\u201d said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder\u2019s reigning NBA MVP, NBA Finals MVP and scoring champion. \u201cWe have an identity. We understand how to play basketball. We understand how to win. Win games, big moments and it\u2019s done with all five guys on the court on both ends and that\u2019s engraved in us. That\u2019s something that is almost a habit now and every night we try to implement that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such was the case last year, when the Thunder went 68-14 and won the Western Conference\u2019s No. 1 seed by 16 games. Put that into some perspective: Oklahoma City could have ended the season on an 18-game losing streak and it still would have won the No. 1 seed at 53-29, or one game better than Houston\u2019s 52-30.<\/p>\n
Add the 16 playoff wins from last season and the 7-0 start this season, and Oklahoma City is 94-22 since October 2024. That\u2019s 20 wins or so more than any other team in that span, and all by an average of about 12 points per game.<\/p>\n
It is a historic level of dominance, as proven by how last season\u2019s 12.9-point-per-game differential in the regular season smashed the existing NBA record that had stood for more than a half-century. And then after Sunday\u2019s win over New Orleans, Gilgeous-Alexander sounded an alarm that the NBA probably didn\u2019t want to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like we\u2019re a better team,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cIt feels like we\u2019ve had a year to get better, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Thunder had the amazing ability last season to impress onlookers and remain unimpressed by their own success. So far, it looks like the same rings true this season.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve trailed by more than 10 points only once; they faced a 12-point deficit in the season opener against Houston, and that was for only 61 seconds. They survived a pair of double-overtime games to start the season \u2014 the opener against Houston, then the NBA Finals rematch two nights later against an Indiana team that is very different than the one that played a Game 7 in Oklahoma City for the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy 4 1\/2 months ago.<\/p>\n
They have faced a deficit of no more than five points in five of their games, winning two wire-to-wire. They led New Orleans by 36 on Sunday, led Washington by 24 on Oct. 30, led Atlanta by 24 on Oct. 25, led Dallas by 22 on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it has not been like smooth sailing through the first seven games,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. \u201cWe\u2019ve played a lot of close games that we\u2019ve had to kind of grind out. We\u2019ve played some games in the mud; you have to be able to win a lot of different ways and so embracing the game when it\u2019s a little ugly, I think, is important. We\u2019ve got some injuries and so we\u2019ve had to lean on our depth and different combinations of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next week or so doesn’t figure to be particularly easy for the Thunder. A four-game, six-night road trip starts Tuesday at the Los Angeles Clippers. After that, it\u2019s a home back-to-back with Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers coming in. At some point, of course, they\u2019re going to lose a game.<\/p>\n
But it bears noting that only seven teams have won a championship one season and started better than 7-0 in the following season. The champion gets everybody\u2019s best shot, without fail. The Thunder have a giant target on their backs and haven\u2019t seem bothered.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re dealing with some injuries to start the year, but because we\u2019ve gotten better 1 through 15, we were able to plug and play and figure it out on the fly and still have good results,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cSo yeah, we\u2019re definitely a better team than we were a year ago. \u201c<\/p>\n
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Around The NBA analyzes the biggest topics in the NBA during the season.<\/p>\n
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