LAS VEGAS — The Thunder were scheduled to attend a team dinner and Jaylin Williams was encouraging his teammates to shower so the festivities could begin.
There have been jokes about how soft Oklahoma City is… “hazing” is too strong a word, but there is a wheel in the team’s practice facility listing the tasks recruits must complete if they are forced to spin it. It was Alex Caruso’s idea Saturday night that the rookies had to spin every time the team lost.
Which is not too common.
Because the Thunder are the reigning NBA champions, and the reigning MVP and Finals MVP are on their side, and because they have an all-time stifling defense, and because they are off to one of the best starts to a campaign in league history, what happened Saturday night in Sin City, before the team dinner, was a real shock.
The Thunder’s franchise-record 16-game winning streak was snapped Saturday by the San Antonio Spurs. a 111-109 defeat in front of 18,519 fans during an NBA Cup semifinal at T-Mobile Arena.
The last time Oklahoma City lost (November 5), Shedeur Sanders wasn’t a starting NFL quarterback, Notre Dame was in contention for the College Football Playoff, the federal government was still shut down and LeBron James was still weeks away from starting his 23rd professional season. That’s a lot to happen between losses in an NBA season.
The atmosphere in the Thunder locker room was relaxed, because after 16 straight wins and victories in 24 of their first 25 games, losing one to the Spurs and losing out on the full boat of $530,000 per player going to the Cup champions could only sting a little. An NBA title defense, something no one in the league has managed to do since 2018, and a real chance to win 70 or more regular season games are still on the table.
But there was at least a modicum of disappointment expressed by the Thunder stars in postgame interviews because, if they keep the score (and they do), the only thing this OKC group hasn’t been able to win is the NBA Cup. Last year, the Thunder lost in the Vegas-based championship, and this year it was a semifinal loss.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” said Jalen Williams, who shot 5 of 17 and finished with 17 points. “There’s a perspective on it, of course. I think an average team would probably say, ‘Oh, it’s the Cup, whatever, we lost one.’ What are we, 24 hours a day? I mean, we can go home and hang our hat on that, or we can look at it as a way to get better and understand that we played against a team in the playoffs that beat us and gave us a 2 on our (losing record). So that’s how we’ll look at it from a competitive perspective.
Oklahoma City hadn’t played a truly close game since November 30. His last four victories are counted by a total of 112 points. Now, you might argue that a Cup semifinal, with increased national attention, and a 7-foot-5 guy on the other team who scares would-be shooters and ball-drivers, and can also bomb 3s while serving as the most unstoppable lob threat ever, is not the time to lose a little focus.
Certainly, Victor Wembanyama, returning from a calf strain which kept him sidelined for a month, changed the situation by entering for the first time in the second quarter. The Spurs outscored the Thunder by 21 points in the impressive 21 minutes Wembanyama logged, and his presence seemed to unlock the Spurs in another way — they started making 3-pointers after missing their first 11 and played much better perimeter defense.
But the Thunder were, for them, a little sloppy. They didn’t move the ball properly against an anchored Wemby defense. Their 15 turnovers cost them 26 points – generally, the Thunder are the best team in the league at turning over their opponent and converting turnovers into points. Williams didn’t shoot well, nor did Lu Dort (1 of 7) or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (1 of 7 from 3). They led the NBA in defense, net rating, forcing turnovers, scoring on those turnovers, and players named Williams.
“We can’t get spoiled,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, the leading scorer with 29 points, his 97th straight game with at least 20. “We can’t think we’re on top of everything. We, like every team in the league, if you show up one night and don’t do what’s necessary to win, you probably won’t win, no matter how good you are or no matter how good your record. That was the case for us tonight.”
The NBA Cup, now in its third season, was created to generate some excitement during a regular-season schedule that almost everyone agrees is too long and isn’t taken seriously enough. It’s been successful because the matches seem to have a little more importance, the intensity is higher and, while the Cup may not take Prestige Commissioner Adam Silver with it yet (give him time), the extra money is an incentive, as is the idea of trying to win something.
Once the Cup is over, as is now the case for Oklahoma City and the Orlando Magic, and will be the case after Tuesday’s championship between the Spurs and the New York Knicks, monotony can set in. All of a sudden, the first days of winter on the calendar arrive, there are still 56 regular season games to play and only the top seeds remain to play until the start of the playoffs.
But by winning 24 of 25, the Thunder opened themselves up to questions (that’s a good thing) about how to get going, whether they can make the regular season count as they aim for the NBA record 73 wins set by the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, or just become the third team to win 70. Oklahoma City can do that, if it avoids a disappointment.
“Seventy-three and nine? I mean, the position we’re in right now, what are we, 24-2? My goal is to get better,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So if we get better than we are now, it should take care of itself. That’s kind of how I look at it. To me, there’s no point in trying to achieve goals when they’re so far away. You have to take everything step by step, and tonight we didn’t do that. If we pile up the nights like we did tonight, we won’t even get close.”
The Thunder will play at home against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday and play the following night at Minnesota. Next, they’ll host Memphis, which will be without promising center Zach Edey for a while, followed by a home-and-home matchup with the Spurs on Dec. 23 and Christmas.
Yes, the Thunder will circle these games, although they are still much more of a measuring stick for San Antonio. The Spurs are a younger, less experienced team trying to figure out how far they need to go to be considered a contender.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder were frustrated to lose to the Spurs on Saturday night, but they have bigger goals in mind. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
Oklahoma City, obviously, is already there. Just avoid catastrophic injuries, and the Thunder will be in great shape to have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Already, with Christmas approaching next week, the Thunder could literally be playing .500 basketball by the end of the regular season and finish with 52 wins. We know they will do much better than that.
But how much better? It’s up to them to decide. Can they maintain the focus and attention to detail that took them last year to the ultimate prize, and scare the rest of the NBA, through the first two months? Can they pursue greatness in a true attempt to join the Steph Curry-Klay Thompson-Draymond Green Warriors of the last decade and the Chicago Bulls of the Michael Jordan era? The Warriors, when they set the league record, started 24–1 as Oklahoma City, but did not lose their second game until December 30 and their third on January 13.
So if the Thunder want to chase these ghosts away, they need to return to action on Thursday urgently. If they do, they just might make the NBA regular season cool again once the NBA Cup becomes a memory.
“I think that’s why we’ve been so good this year, is holding ourselves to a different standard than looking at it from a winner’s point of view and taking our foot off the gas a little bit,” Williams said.
He added: “Obviously, every time this happens, it’s like, okay, are we sacrificing health when we’re already solidified at 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 that results in a win and we get there, then that’s cool.”
