OKC Thunder Magic Number Trimmed to 3 For Top Seed

It is rare that an off day bears fruit in the NBA. Most of the time, you are forced to handle your own business. Though, as in life, a little help never hurts.

On Saturday, the Oklahoma City Thunder had a "low-impact," practice as described by head coach Mark Daigneault this afternoon. They exited the gym just in time for the biggest game on the NBA slate to tip off in Denver.

As the Nuggets hosted the San Antonio Spurs this contest had major playoff implications.

San Antonio is right on the heels of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Bricktown Ballers are aiming for their third straight No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with 61 wins already on their resume.

The problem in Oklahoma City's once two-game gap? The Spurs hold the tiebreaker after dominating the five-game regular season series against the Thunder.

That cushion grew on Saturday, while the Thunder sat at home scoreboard watching, as the Denver Nuggets fought back to earn an overtime victory over the red-hot Spurs. This 136-134 win in the Mile High City for the home team snapped San Antonio's 11-game winning streak.

Both the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are 9-1 over their last ten games. Now the Victor Wembanyama-led Spurs sit two and a half games back of Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Standings.

This dwindles the OKC Thunder's magic number for clinching their third straight No. 1 seed in the Western Conference –– and second straight year owning the best record in the entire NBA –– to three games.

Oklahoma City needs any combination of three wins or three Spurs losses to sit atop the conference at next week's regular season's end. This would grant Oklahoma City home court advantage throughout the entire postseason as the Thunder look to be the first team since the 2018 Golden State Warriors to go back-to-back and win a championship.

The Thunder have one of, if not the best, home court advantage in the entire association and a year ago needed a pair of Game 7s at home to win their first NBA Championship. This feat is made even more critical when factoring in that their toughest competition is an inexperienced Spurs team that doesn't have many flaws. Perhaps having home court, one way or the other, will be the difference.

Oklahoma City needs to go 3-2 in its final five games of the year to clinch the league's top billing. Their slate features two more home games starting Sunday against the lowly Utah Jazz and ending next Sunday against the Phoenix Suns. Between those two bookend home games, the Thunder head west to take on the Los Angeles Lakers, L.A. Clippers and these contending Denver Nuggets fresh off a massive win against San Antonio.

The Thunder will attempt to go for the regular season sweep of the Nuggets, Clippers and Jazz.

San Antonio takes on the 76ers, Trail Blazers, Mavericks and Nugets before the regular season comes to a close.