Dominant: The Thunder are putting together numbers never seen before on their way to the NBA Finals
The manner in which the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched their spot in the NBA Finals seemed fitting.
It was a blowout.
Those have been the story of the Thunder season.
There hasn't been a team in NBA history with at least 12 wins by 30 points or more in a season — or with four such wins in a single postseason — until now. The Thunder are putting together one of the most dominant years in league history in terms of outscoring opponents. The most recent entry on that list: a 124-94 romp over Minnesota to clinch the Western Conference title, a score that probably could have been a lot worse if the Thunder were so inclined.
Advertisement
'This isn't our goal," Thunder guard, NBA MVP and West finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'We didn't start the season like we want to win the West. We want to win the NBA championship. Now we are a step closer to our goal and we're happy about that. But it's still four more games to go win, four really hard games to go win and we have to be the best version of ourselves for four nights to reach the ultimate goal.'
A look inside the numbers paints a picture of how dominant this season has been for the Thunder:
They're winning by 12.5 points per game
The biggest point differential per game in NBA history, including playoffs, was posted by the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks — who outscored teams by 12.6 points per game.
Advertisement
The Thunder are winning by 12.5 per game when counting the regular season and the playoffs (the NBA Cup championship game, by league rule, doesn't figure into any official stats that are kept).
That's the second-biggest rate in league history, for now.
They have beaten 28 of the 29 other NBA teams by double figures at least once this season. The only team to avoid that fate against the Thunder was Golden State, which actually outscored Oklahoma City by an average of 4.7 points per game in their head-to-head matchups.
'They embody everything it means to be a team," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "And so, they deserve this. They deserve the opportunity that we have now. I couldn't be happier for them because they invest so much in their own games, but they also invest so much in each other and in the team. And I just think it's a really uncommon thing in professional basketball that they've built.'
Advertisement
The 30-point wins
There have been 13 games this season involving the Thunder that were decided by 30 points or more. They won 12 of them.
Minnesota absolutely throttled the Thunder in Game 3 of the West finals, winning by 42 points. It was a rare blip for Oklahoma City.
The Thunder have had a win by at least 30 points in every series — a 51-point win over Memphis in Round 1, wins by 43 and 32 points over Denver in Round 2, and now the 30-pointer that eliminated Minnesota in Round 3.
Oklahoma City's eight 30-point wins in the regular season came against teams that all missed the playoffs; Toronto, Washington, Sacramento, Phoenix, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Utah. But to do it four times in the playoffs speaks to the ability the Thunder have to simply run away from quality opposition.
Advertisement
'They're a really good team,' Minnesota star Anthony Edwards said. 'Everyone here knows it. It's no surprise to nobody here that this team is pretty good.'
80 wins
Oklahoma City is now at 80 wins this season, including playoffs. It's the 15th time in NBA history that a team has won 80 in a season.
If the Thunder win the NBA title, they'll finish with 84 wins — a total that only the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (88), 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (87) and 1996-97 Bulls (84) have reached.
'Happy for the moment, but this isn't our goal," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "This isn't the end of the road. ... One more series to try to go win.'
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
34 minutes ago
- Fox News
Minnesota softball player, parent speak out as trans pitcher dominates postseason
Minnesota's high school softball postseason has been overshadowed by the dominance of a transgender pitcher at Champlin Park High School. The pitcher led Champlin Park to the state tournament with a dominant shutout victory in the sectional final on Thursday. Meanwhile, a lawsuit by three anonymous female players has been filed against the state for allowing the player to compete. The law firm representing the plaintiffs, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), has provided statements from one of the female players about her experience facing the trans athlete. "Hitting against him is not only a physical challenge but a mental, too. It's a mental battle knowing that he has an advantage in the sport that I grew up playing, making it hard to even want to hit against him. His ability to get outs and spin the ball is a strong advantage, but like I said it's also incredibly mentally challenging knowing that you're competing against someone who has unfair advantages leaving you with little to no confidence," the player said. "This issue has affected me in ways that I never imagined. It's simply unfair and I hate that nothing is happening to change that. Boys should not be able to take girls spots on teams just because they are capable of doing so. I hope that more girls affected by this issue will stand up against this." The anonymous player also called out Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for aggressively defending trans inclusion in girls' sports in the state. Ellison has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice over Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order. "It's really upsetting to know that [Ellison] isn't taking rights of girls and women seriously. He is allowing boys to compete with girls, and it is not safe and completely unfair. To know that AG Ellison is in complete support of letting boys and men take advantage of females in sports is absolutely disgusting and wrong," the player added. A local Minnesota parent of another player who had to face the athlete spoke out about the situation during an interview on OutKick's "The Ricky Cobb Show." "It really comes down to cowardice leadership at the local state and federal level," said Garret Gross, the father of a local player. "Softball is different man, I'm telling you, these girls are strong, these girls are tough, but they're different than boys. At the highest levels, that ball is coming in 70-plus miles an hour from the pitcher's circle, which is only 43 feet away, and it's coming off that bat 80–85 miles an hour, and it's not question of if or when there will be a catastrophic injury or death that occurs because of this imbalance. The only question really is, is how old will the girl be that's killed and what will her name be? "That's a strong statement, but that's where it's going to get to and that's going to be really the only thing that's going to make the public wake up here, and the question to all the apathetic people on the sidelines, why are you keeping quiet when we know this is going to happen?" Champlin Park's school district provided a statement to Fox News Digital defending the decision to allow the athlete to compete on the softball team. "Throughout the entire season, and as the Rebels advance to the state tournament, it is important to note that all of the student athletes participating for the Champlin Park Softball team are eligible to compete in compliance with Minnesota State High School League rules and applicable state law. Due to data privacy laws, the District is not able to provide public comment regarding a specific student athlete," a statement from the Anoka-Hennepin School District stated. "In addition, the District is named in an active lawsuit which limits what information can be shared." After Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order, the Minnesota State High School League announced it would defy federal law by allowing transgender athletes to continue playing in women's sports. Ellison then claimed at a press conference on April 22 that he received notice from the Department of Justice threatening legal action if the state did not follow the executive order, so the AG decided to sue first. The White House later responded to the lawsuit, condemning Ellison for taking legal action to enable trans inclusion. "Why would a grown man sue the Trump administration to allow other biological males to participate in women's sports? This is creepy and anti-woman," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital. Minnesota's state legislature failed to pass the "Preserving Girls' Sports Act" in early March, which would have stated that "only female students may participate in an elementary or secondary school level athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted to women and girls." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Boston Globe
39 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
‘Inside the NBA' will live on, but the potential for meddling is a good excuse to celebrate it again
This crossed my mind recently for a few reasons. The show added the latest two Sports Emmys to its collection ('Inside the NBA' was nominated for outstanding weekly studio show, but lost to ESPN's 'College GameDay.' No shame in that.) Advertisement This year's awards occurred a few days before one of the funniest moments I've ever witnessed while watching 'Inside the NBA.' Analyst Kenny Smith was telling a long story about how his mother wouldn't allow him to have a car while he was a student at the University of North Carolina unless he got all Bs or better for grades. Barkley and fellow analyst Shaquille O'Neal needled him, as they do, and Barkley fired off a line that made everyone in my living room laugh out loud as the show headed for a commercial break. 'And to this day,' said Barkley, 'Kenny has never driven a car.' "The show is still here baby... WE DEM BOYZ!" Shaq has us ready to run through a brick wall 😤 — NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) Yes, as a matter of fact, I am sitting here guffawing like an idiot as I type those words. Advertisement That one-liner was quintessential Barkley, who has the Must-Watch factor in a way only John Madden and a very short list of other sports broadcasters have achieved. The joke was so perfectly befitting a show in which the talent interacts not as colleagues, but in the no-one-is-safe-from-being-a-punchline way that real, genuine, unfiltered friends do. The collective chemistry of 'Inside the NBA,' in which ego is consistently punctured for the sake of comedy, is extremely hard to find in sports television, as evidenced by pretty much every awkward and uninspiring version of an NBA studio show that ESPN has ever produced. That, of course, is the other reason the show has been on my mind, and the minds of most other NBA fans. TNT's superb run as NBA broadcast rights partner will end with the conclusion of the Pacers-Knicks Eastern Conference finals. 'Inside the NBA' will continue, but under different circumstances that should bring at least some skepticism about whether a show that needs not a single change will remain quite the same. After months of drama and uncertainty about its future, parent company Warner Brothers Discovery The full cast — Johnson, Barkley, Smith, and O'Neal, who have been together since 2011 — will remain intact. TNT will continue to produce the show. Make no mistake: Compared with where this originally appeared headed, the 'Inside'-to-ESPN outcome is awfully close to a best-case scenario. I just wish I could be convinced, as some of my other sports-media columnist brethren apparently are, that ESPN won't screw this up. Advertisement ESPN has spent years, even decades, trying and failing to come up with NBA studio programming that can be mentioned in the same book as 'Inside The NBA,' let alone on the same page or sentence. It has failed and failed again, and its worst version yet is probably its current one, with Stephen A. Smith chronically caterwauling about the Knicks and Kendrick Perkins inevitably contradicting something he said a few minutes earlier. Maybe its weird to be nostalgic for something that isn't truly ending, but the I'm-gonna-miss-this sentiments come in part out of fear for what ESPN might do to what TNT built. Related : Since TNT will produce the show, perhaps that will prevent some ESPN interference. But you're telling me Mike Greenberg, or Perkins, or Screamin' A., won't be shoehorned on the set from time to time, or perhaps more than time to time? ESPN's if-you-can't-beat-'em, license-'em approach is wise, and it saved a wonderful show, but I've seen too many TV executives screw up too many good things to believe ESPN bosses will be able to resist some wholly unnecessary tinkering. The thoughtful Smith — c'mon, he definitely has driven a car, Chuck — expressed some skepticism regarding whether the show will remain the same in 'We have the same crew of people doing the show,' he said. 'But the timing: are we a half hour now? Are we forty-five minutes? Fifteen minutes? Those are the things that you can control when you own your [intellectual property]. But we don't.' Advertisement We won't know how this is going to go until we see it a few times. So allow me, then, to be nostalgic for something that will still exist. I've thought often of Watching TNT's NBA coverage wind down the last few weeks has felt a little like watching Sam Malone close Cheers for the last time. Had he and the gang matriculated to a new bar, we still would have known their names. It would not have felt the same. Chad Finn can be reached at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Scottie Scheffler Drops Unexpected Pick While Predicting 2025 NBA Finals
Scottie Scheffler Drops Unexpected Pick While Predicting 2025 NBA Finals originally appeared on Athlon Sports. American professional golfer Scottie Scheffler is one of the most successful names to attend the University of Texas. Advertisement Scheffler spent four seasons competing on Texas' golf team, where he helped the Longhorns to three Big 12 championship wins and three NCAA championship final appearances. He also took home the 2015 Phil Michelson Freshman of the Year award in 2015. What he's accomplished following his collegiate career is even more impressive. Scheffler is currently sitting at No. 1 in the official world golf ranking. Some of his highest achievements include PGA Tour titles, two Masters Tournament wins and a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Scottie Scheffler poses for a photo with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament at Quail Dedmon-Imagn Images On Friday, Scheffler made headlines by discussing a different sport. He spoke with Dallas Morning News about the upcoming 2025 NBA Finals and showed dedication to his hometown team. Advertisement The Texas native was asked to give his NBA Finals prediction and confidently picked the Dallas Mavericks. Although the Mavericks did not reach the postseason, Scheffler felt the need to stress the importance of receiving the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. His unwavering support to the Mavericks is shocking to some as many fans are still upset with the Luka Doncic trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. Scheffler is instead choosing to find the silver lining. The Mavericks are expected to select Duke star Cooper Flagg with the top pick in the draft. Related: Can Tre Johnson be the answer for Charlotte Hornets in 2025 NBA Draft? This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
