Discover the Thunder's most dominant victories and thrilling comebacks, from buzzer-beaters to statement blowouts, at the season's crucial halfway point.
The Oklahoma City Thunder finally beating the San Antonio Spurs after three unsuccessful tries is one of the best OKC wins at the midway point in the season. Especially given the blowout fashion in which it happened. But was the 119-98 drubbing the best win of the first half of the season?
The Thunder sit atop the NBA standings with a 34-7 record. That's a lot of wins to dig into, but let's see where that Spurs victory ranks among the very best.
Top 5 OKC Thunder Wins at the Halfway Mark of the Season
5. Thunder 121 Lakers 92 on November 12. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves had the Lakers rolling and were hoping to use this matchup with the champs as a measuring stick. Well, they came up short. 29 points short to be exact. Sure, Los Angeles didn't have LeBron James. But OKC didn't have Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins. Instead of validating any sort of contender status, the Lakers looked like they did not even belong in the same conversation as the Thunder.
4. Thunder 113 Timberwolves 105 on November 26. A rematch of the Western Conference Finals had the same result as most of the games in that short lived series: a convincing OKC win. Both superstars showed up as Anthony Edwards scored 31 points on 9-19 shooting and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander one-upped him with 40 points on 12-19 shooting. OKC fans spent their Thanksgiving Eve watching their team beat a West contender and go to 18-1.
3. Thunder 117 Grizzlies 116 on January 9. No Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. No Chet Holmgren. No Isaiah Hartenstein. No Cason Wallace. No problem. Well, eventually. But at one point there was indeed a big 21 point deficit problem. Enter the much (unfairly) maligned Jalen Williams. OKC's second All-Star led his shorthanded squad to an improbable 1 point win in a raucous road environment.
2. Thunder 125 Rockets 124 on October 21. Opening Night. The Championship ring and banner ceremony. Kevin Durant in the house. The return of the NBA on NBC after two decades plus. The entire basketball world watching. The defending champs and a buzzy new contender. And somehow the game itself still lived up to all the hype. It took two overtimes but Gilgeous-Alexander and his 35 points eked out a narrow opening night win.
1. Thunder 119 Spurs 98 on January 13. The defending champs versus the rising young contenders who beat them three straight times. Thunder fans hoped desperately to see their team prove that the Spurs were not their kryptonite. Given the context of the prior games and the national television audience and the recent struggles, this felt like the most important test of the season thus far. And OKC responded with a convincing 21 point San Antonio smack down. The Thunder defense stifled young superstar Victor Wembanyama and Gilgeous-Alexander reminded everyone why he is both the reigning MVP and the runaway favorite for this year's MVP.