The Oklahoma City Thunder are one two unbeaten teams in the NBA in 2024-25 so far.
It is hard to split the unbeaten Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers early this season, the two unbeaten teams in each conference.
The NBA’s own power rankings have the Thunder at number one, partly because of the way their winning record has been so dominant.
The Thunder are the only team in NBA history to win their first seven games by double digits.
The critical aspect of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s success is not that they are putting up insane offensive numbers, it is that they are keeping their opponents scores down.
In seven games to start the season, opponents against OKC have only scored 100 points or more on two occasions.
Limiting teams to under 100 points is no fluke, with the Nuggets, Spurs, Clippers, Bulls and Magic the five teams to be shut down by the Western Conference leaders.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s success has been collective, yet there are individual performances which have really stood out.
Chet Holmgren was picked out for praise by The Ringer’s Kirk Goldsberry as a player who has taken the leap.
He told the Ringer NBA Show “Chet Holmgren might be the best statistical rim protector in the league. In the young season, he’s putting up Jarrett Allen type numbers at the rim.
“So in addition to all those perimeter dogs that you mentioned, you know, the addition of Hartenstein, we haven’t seen that [yet] and then Caruso, we have this emergence of Chet Holmgren, the defender, really taking his game to another level.
“If I’m not mistaken, he leads the league in blocks and the other markers that really jumps out to me.”
He adds that the Thunder are emerging as one of the best NBA defensive teams in recent memory.
“They’re averaging 13.3 steals per game. Nobody else is near that. They’re leading the league in blocks and steals.
“No matter where you look, you come up with, Oh, my God, this might be the best defense we’ve seen in the NBA in a long time. I don’t know if I’ll go to the Spurs of 03-04. It doesn’t matter, but it feels like there’s a there’s a defensive juggernaut being born in Oklahoma this season.”
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