Oklahoma City Thunder Still Exhibit a Highly Important Trait Amid Rough Stretch

Oklahoma City's going through a portion of the season where it hasn't looked like its usual self, and the whole league is watching.

We're not even close to panic mode as this team still sits with the best record in the entire NBA, but the internal standards this team holds itself to has taken a hit. What appeared to be an unstoppable team through the team's first couple months of the season has now shown that its definitely beatable—and not just on a one-time occasion.

The San Antonio Spurs are being talked about a lot coming out of the West currently sitting second behind the Thunder, and large part due to its ability to hand Oklahoma City three out of its seven losses to this point in the season. The Thunder is yet to beat the Spurs this season, with their next matchup coming next Tuesday.

But amid this stretch of tough games, Oklahoma City is still always at least able to exhibit one trait that's set them apart from other teams in the league: resolve.

The Thunder's consistently been able to rally the troops in late-game comebacks, disadvantageous situations and just seem to find ways to come out with a win. That extends back into their championship run last year of course, and it's still been the case this season albeit throughout a 6-7 13-game stretch.

At home against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, this team was able to show that again and spark some life into Thunder fans.

Down two following a go-ahead putback by Lauri Markkanen, the Jazz were in prime position to take down Oklahoma City and hand the team its third loss in a row—what would have been the second bad loss in a row as the team had lost to the Charlotte Hornets the game before.

But Gilgeous-Alexander put the team on his back in the final seconds of regulation, sinking a game-tying jumper and sending the contest into overtime. From there, the Thunder was able to mount a four-point victory and come out relatively unscathed. A close game against a bottom-barrel team in the West isn't exactly ideal, but a win is always a win night in and night out in the NBA.

It doesn't need to be flashy, the team doesn't need to have another year of a historic point differential—it just needs to win when it matters.

This team will stabilize and keep on the right track if that resolve is always prevalent, and it was certainly on display in the win over Utah.