It may be nearing the end of the regular season, but the Oklahoma City Thunder have this huge collective chip on their shoulder that they continue to dominate every team that comes their way. On Sunday night, it was the Milwaukee Bucks’ turn to be on the receiving end of a loss from the Thunder, with the best team in the Western Conference moving to 56-12 on the year with a 121-105 win.
This 16-point victory is the Thunder’s 43rd double-digit victory of the season, which bodes well for their goal of winning an NBA championship. After all, as pointed out by Shane Young of Forbes, the Thunder have already won more games by double-digits than the championship-winning 2023-24 Boston Celtics did. And just to put the cherry on top, they are eight double-digit wins away from securing the all-time record for wins by 10 points or more in a single season (50 such wins — a record the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers set).
With 14 games to go in the season, the Thunder will have to win over half of their remaining games by a convincing margin. The remaining schedule for OKC is a mixed bag, as they have a few contests coming up against teams still jockeying for playoff positioning and then they have six games against teams with a sub-.500 record.
Those six games will be coming against the Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls, and Phoenix Suns — all of which should be winnable for the Thunder by double figures. The Suns game could be tricky considering that team’s desperation, and that game will be coming on the second night of a back-to-back as well, which means a rest day for OKC’s key players could be in order.
Will the Thunder chase records or play the long game?
With the playoffs set to begin in a little over a month, there is no reason for the Thunder to put even greater wear and tear on their key players heading into the final few games of the regular season. They virtually have the one-seed in the West locked up, although they are still competing with the Cleveland Cavaliers for homecourt advantage throughout the postseason.
The key for the Thunder will be to enter the playoffs at full strength. With all of their weapons present, it’s hard to pinpoint a more complete team than OKC’s. They have excellent defenders at every position, the likely MVP (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) leading the way for their offense, and they patched up their biggest weakness last season, which was rebounding.
While setting the all-time record for wins by double digits in a single season would be an incredible feat, expect the Thunder to play the long game instead and let the chips fall where they may.
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