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Where Thunder's 24-1 Start Stacks Up Against Best in NBA History
The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to one of the best starts in NBA history. Following their 138-89 win over the Suns on Wednesday, they're sitting at 24-1 on the season which is tied for the best record after 25 games in NBA history.
The '15-'16 Warriors started 29-1 and ended up winning 73 games. The '95-'96 Bulls, who won 72 games, started 23-2. The '96-'97 Bulls started 25-3 and won 69 games. The '71-'72 Lakers started 6-3 before winning 33 games in a row.
If the Thunder can get to 36-3, they would be the fourth team in history to do so. The '67-'68 76ers who went 66-16 and won the title did it in addition to the aforementioned Lakers, Bulls and Warriors teams. Of course, that would mean they would lose two of their next 14 games, which currently seems unlikely.
So how high can they fly?
What is the longest win streak in NBA history?
The Thunder's current win streak is 16 games which is tied for the 25th longest win streak in NBA history. As of right now, all of these streaks and records are in play. The Thunder still have 57 games remaining on their schedule. And if they win on Saturday they'll play a bonus game in the NBA Cup final that won't count against their record, win or lose.
The next longest winning streak in NBA history is 27 by the '12-'13 Heat who finished with a record of 66-16 and won the title. After that the '15-'16 Warriors won 24 straight, but don't let that distract you from the fact that they lost to the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Here are the five longest single-season winning streaks in NBA history.
Team | Win Streak | Final Record | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Lakers | 33 | 69-13 | 1971-1972 |
Miami Heat | 27 | 66-16 | 2012-2013 |
Golden State Warriors | 24 | 73-9 | 2015-2016 |
Houston Rockets | 22 | 55-27 | 2007-2008 |
Milwaukee Bucks | 20 | 66-16 | 1970-1971 |
The Warriors also finished the '14-'15 season winning their final four regular season games for a two-season streak of 28 straight regular season wins. On top of that they won the last three games of the NBA Finals against the Cavaliers.
The Thunder will (probably?) lose again this season. It's just a matter of how far apart those handful of losses are. We're probably watching history. It's up to the Thunder how historic this season can get. They just need to go 50-7 over the next five months to best the Warriors' 73 wins.
Sounds easy enough for this group.
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Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.