LAS VEGAS — The last time we saw the Oklahoma City Thunder was in a dramatic NBA Cup loss to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
That dropped the Thunder to 24-2 on the season, “only” a record pace of 76 wins. They are off to the second-fastest start in NBA history, behind the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who were 25-1 and set an NBA record 73 wins this season.
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How important is it to eclipse that regular season winning record?
“Absolutely,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Winning matters, in whatever form it looks like to me. So absolutely.”
They absolutely can do it too. The first part of chasing a record like that is the “want” factor: do they want to chase it? In speaking to some Thunder players in Las Vegas, the answer was yes, but that has to come as part of their season-long improvement and health. Beyond the desire to do it, the Thunder have the talent — a defense that is the best in the league by a national mile, the fifth-ranked offense and a +16.4 net rating that would set a league record.
There are a lot of similarities between the 2015-16 Warriors, who set the league record with 73 wins, and these Thunder. Both teams were coming off their first titles and were looking to break out as a dynasty, both are led by superstars who just won their first MVP (Stephen Curry and Gilgeous-Alexander), and both teams have a deep talent pool around those stars, talented guys who want to win.
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Plus, these 2016 Warriors and Thunder are willing to talk openly about chasing that record. However, these Thunder also remember that the 73-win Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the finals and blamed that, in part, on fatigue from the record chase.
“Yeah, because we’re competitive, you know what I mean,” Jalen Williams said when asked if they were going for the record. “You could say we’re chasing it, but it’s also one of those things that we’re not going to lose either. So if it happens organically, then that is it.
“Obviously, every time this happens, it’s like, okay, are we sacrificing health when we’re already solidified at No. 1 or wherever? You ask yourself these questions, we can answer them later.
“But a lot of it is about seeing how good we can be every game and if it results in a win and we get there, then that’s cool. But once you get to the playoffs, everyone, your season really doesn’t matter. So that’s kind of how we look at it.”
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The loss to the Spurs in a big national game was not seen as a setback but rather a learning experience in the Thunder locker room.
“What do we do, 24 hours a day?” » Williams said. “I mean, we can go home and just hang our hat on that, or we can look at this as a way to get better and understand that we played a team in the playoffs that beat us and gave us two (second losses) on our thing. So that’s how we’re going to look at it from a competitive standpoint.”
The other competitive view: The Thunder will have two more shots against the Spurs next week. The two will face off Tuesday night on NBC’s Coast 2 Coast and Peacockthen they will play again in a favored slot on Christmas Day.
Take these two games from an exceptional Spurs team, and the Thunder’s threat to surpass the Warriors’ record 73 wins will be in even greater jeopardy.
