{"id":166651,"date":"2025-11-13T09:07:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T14:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=166651"},"modified":"2025-11-13T09:46:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T14:46:24","slug":"can-oklahoma-city-catch-the-bulls-and-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/13\/can-oklahoma-city-catch-the-bulls-and-warriors\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Oklahoma City Catch The Bulls And Warriors?"},"content":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 The Thunder<\/a> continue to shock the basketball world, not only with their dominance but with their unrelenting belief in constant improvement. Their latest win over the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> lifted them to a 12-1 record, even without Jalen Williams<\/a>, who has yet to play this season. This blistering start has reignited whispers of a historic chase \u2014 could the Thunder actually match or surpass the 73 wins record\u00a0and threaten the legendary standards set by Chicago and Golden State?<\/p>\n

Can Oklahoma City Catch The Bulls And Warriors?<\/h2>\n

A Relentless Obsession With Improvement<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Oct
Oct 6, 2025; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder Head Coach Mark Daigneault looks on during the first quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Dickie’s Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Alex Caruso<\/a> said<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019ll be better. We\u2019ll be better next year,\u201d it sounded like a routine promise. Yet, those words now feel prophetic. Oklahoma City has turned that promise into a statement of intent. Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti, the mastermind behind this roster, emphasized during preseason that the organization maintains an \u201cobsession with improvement.\u201d That obsession defines everything about this team.<\/p>\n

After a 68-win campaign and a championship, most teams would relax. Not the Thunder. Their players and coaches viewed their narrow seven-game playoff series as lessons, not reliefs. Head coach Mark Daigneault called success \u201ca distraction\u201d \u2014 a warning that complacency can erode greatness faster than any opponent.<\/p>\n

This is where the\u00a0<\/strong>73 wins record chase begins to sound legitimate for the Thunder. Oklahoma City hasn\u2019t just avoided a championship hangover \u2014 they\u2019ve gotten better.<\/p>\n

Depth, Defense, and Discipline<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Williams\u2019 absence has tested their depth, but Ajay Mitchell\u2019s<\/a> emergence has silenced all concerns. His playmaking and poise have been vital. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> has barely needed to touch the court in fourth quarters, sitting out seven so far. That\u2019s a testament to the Thunder\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n

Their defense remains elite. Last season, they led the league with a 106.6<\/a> defensive rating. This year, they\u2019ve improved that to 103.0<\/a> \u2014 all while missing a Second-Team All-Defensive player in JDub. Thunder’s chances of breaking the 73 wins record rests on such consistency. Unlike the 2015\u201316 Warriors, whose historic run was mostly driven by offensive firepower<\/a>, Oklahoma City\u2019s dominance begins with defense. They rank sixth in offense and have the best defense, a balance that creates inevitable separation.<\/p>\n

Chasing History, Defying Logic<\/strong><\/h3>\n

OKC has outscored opponents by 202 points across 123 games, an average margin of victory of 15.5. Numbers like that don\u2019t happen by chance. They happen when a young, confident team refuses to take its foot off the gas.<\/p>\n

The Bulls<\/a>\u2019 72 wins in 1996 and the Warriors<\/a>\u2019 73 in 2016 represented perfection across eras \u2014 the standard of basketball excellence. The Thunder are showing that their mix of defense, depth, and youthful hunger could join that pantheon.<\/p>\n

They aren\u2019t just winning games; they\u2019re redefining what a post-rebuild dynasty looks like. The margin for error is small, but this team\u2019s focus, culture, and cohesion make the impossible seem plausible.<\/p>\n

The Thunder’s record chase won’t be easy. The 2015\u201316 Warriors won their first 24 games before suffering a loss. For OKC to stay on track, they\u2019ll need to win their next 12 games. Those 12 matchups will feature Western Conference teams exclusively, though none are against a top-five opponent.<\/p>\n

This young team refuses to be satisfied, even at the top. And if history truly rewards obsession, Oklahoma City\u2019s story might just be getting started.<\/p>\n

Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 The Thunder continue to shock the basketball world, not only with their dominance but with their unrelenting belief in constant improvement. Their latest win over the Los Angeles Lakers lifted them to a 12-1 record, even without Jalen Williams, who has yet to play this season. This blistering start has reignited whispers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":166670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,3,22],"tags":[50244,49749,1489],"class_list":["post-166651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-news","category-thunder","tag-2025-26-nba-season","tag-nba-record","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166651"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166671,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166651\/revisions\/166671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}