Despite a single loss, the Thunder dominated opponents, showcasing stellar performances and securing a league-best record, setting the stage for home battles.
You know the bar is set high for an NBA team when they can close out a road trip spanning four games in six nights, end up with three blow out wins against conference opponents and the fanbase still feels an itsy bitsy sting of disappointment. Such is the life of an Oklahoma City Thunder fan.
While the Thunder did indeed drop their first game of the season to the Portland Trail Blazers, OKC still firmly sits atop the league standings at 10-1. No other team in the NBA has yet reached 9 wins. No other team in the Western Conference has yet reached 8 wins.
And now the Thunder are set to return to the friendly confines of Loud City for a high profile back to back set against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. But before we discover whether Steph Curry or Luka Doncic can be the first player to lead his team to a win at The Paycom Center this season, let's review OKC's impressive six day excursion away from home.
Road Trip Wrap Up
Thunder beat the Clippers 126-107. James Harden came out hot and Los Angles jumped out to an early 13 point lead. At the time, it was Oklahoma City's biggest deficit of the season. But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Joe refused to let OKC lose. The MVP scored 30 points and got to ride the bench the entire 4th quarter and the Thunder's sharpshooter scored 22 points on the strength of 6-10 shooting from deep.
Blazers beat the Thunder 121-119. The second night of a road back to back. The third game in four nights in three different cities. No Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort or Alex Caruso. And somehow OKC still ran out to an early 22 point lead. Portland fought hard and persevered due to a barrage of tough shot making, including a big 19-43 shooting night from 3 point range. Sure, a scheduled loss considering the circumstances but still feels like the one that got away in what could have been an 11-0 start.
Thunder beat the Kings 132-101. Sacramento actually held the lead after the 1st quarter thanks mostly to Russell Westbrook and Malik Monk combining for 6 three pointers in the opening frame. Then the Isaiah Hartenstein takeover commenced. Hartenstein scored a career high 33 points to go along with 19 rebounds and 3 blocks. It was such a dominant game that the league MVP scoring 30 points in three quarters has been relegated to the final sentence of this game review.
Thunder beat the Grizzlies 114-100. Stop me if you've heard this before. OKC was down after the 1st quarter. Then they end up coming back and winning by double digits. Rinse and repeat, copy and paste for each of the three wins on this road trip. Ja Morant figured out that he does not, in fact, have OKC figured out. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points, Ajay Mitchell added 21 points and Thunder bigs Holmgren and Hartenstein combined for 39 points and 20 rebounds.