Stiles Points: OKC Thunder On Door Step of 50 Wins, Which Happened More Recently Than You Think
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The Oklahoma City Thunder sit at 47-20 on the brink of another 50-win season. A milestone that signifies an outstanding regular season.
While this season feels out of no where, Oklahoma City has been a 50-win caliber team more recently than you might remember. You do not have to look in the distant past to see the 2019-20 Thunder squad was on pace to reach the milestone before the COVID-19 League shut down when the Utah Jazz were in town.
That team caught the league by surprise with ESPN projecting them to have just a 0.2 percent chance to make the postseason in the preseason. Instead, they were set to battle the Jazz for home-court advantage out West on March 11, 2019.
With Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way for Billy Donovan's squad Oklahoma City would have had their sixth 50-win season, with four more campaigns ending with 47-49 wins.
As memories flood back from that March night that headlined the start of the Global pandemic, it also illustrates just how quick of a turnaround this has been for the Bricktown boys.
From a 50-win pace in 2019-20 to a rebuilding season the following two years the Thunder made it back to the NBA postseason a year ago and are now in line for yet another 50-win campaign battling for the top spot in the Western Conference.
As the Thunder surprise the world again, after no one thought they could build a core that would rival the first era of basketball in Oklahoma and few thought they could be this good this fast, it is important to remember just how dominant the Thunder's run has been since 2008.
Stiles Points:
- The OKC Thunder had nearly 200 members of their organization show up to the Service Project at Infant Crisis Service with a community event that included the Thunder and Blue rosters.
- At practice on Tuesday, Mark Daigneault gave an interesting perspective on Gilgeous-Alexander's ability to rack up steals.
- Lu Dort opened up about his improved efficiency on Tuesday admitting "I used to take some crazy shots," as the Arizona State product cuts those bad shots out of his diet it has naturally increased his shooting percentages.
- Dort highlighted an underrated part of Gilgeous-Alexander's development, his leadership skills. The star guard has taken on more of a vocal role to "get the team going" which has helped them throughout this season.
- Darius Bazley's Utah Jazz roll into town for the first game in three days for the OKC Thunder.
Song of the Day: Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen.
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