Mar 23, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives against LA Clippers guard Norman Powell (24) during the 4th quarter at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images / Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images
As Jaylin Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein shared an embrace and the celebration begun following the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 103-101 win over the L.A. Clippers on Sunday, all that was left to do was reflect.
The Thunder had no business winning this game. The Clippers are playing their best basketball of the season and brought their fastball tonight. Oklahoma City was without Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. To make matters worse, Isaiah Joe went 0-for-4 from 3, as a team the Bricktown ballers converted at just a 34% clip from beyond the arc. Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had his worst offensive night of the season. OKC saw all of its postseason fears become reality in Game 71 of the regular season.
All season long, despite the Thunder’s reign of dominance, the questions have been asked. “Yeah but,” NBA pundits ponder with follow-ups such as “What if Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams aren’t ready?” moving on to topics like “What if they struggle to shoot again?” and ending with “Can Shai Gilgeous-Alexander really be this dominant in the playoffs?” ignoring his 32 points per game average against Dallas a year ago.
All of those things happened. Oklahoma City saw literally zero minutes from Holmgren and the Santa Clara product combined. They did not shoot even close to a great percentage. They struggled to find consistent offense. And yet, they pulled out a win.
Sometimes, the reasoning behind things in sports isn’t as complicated as we make them out to be. Sure, everyone loves to craft takes and sit upon an ivory tower every now and again thinking they have re-invented the wheel or have cracked the code but other times the answers are simple.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are just deeper, more talented and hang its hat on the most consistent, sustainable and repeatable thing in basketball history: Defense.
If you allow the Thunder to hang around in games, eventually they will win. Most often, they don’t even need to simply hang around as they run away with games and rest in the final frame. That is what happened tonight and what is projected to happen in the playoffs.
“‘Whatever it takes’ mentality… It’s gonna look ugly sometimes, it’s gonna look pretty sometimes. We want to be a team that gets it done regardless of whether you make or miss shots, and that’s what we did tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said postgame.
The L.A. Clippers played better and more consistent basketball tonight. They brought their A-game and despite its recent run of success and the misfortune illustrated on the Thunder’s side, the Clippers could never game separation, which ended up being its fatal flaw.
Once the Clippers let a 12-point lead built up in the second quarter slip away, it was as if they just handed the Thunder the game.
Despite Kawhi Leonard’s tough shot-making in the fourth quarter en route to 25 points on 50% shooting from the floor and timely clutch buckets, it wasn’t enough.
It was the costly turnover on the inbounds, one of just three fourth-quarter giveaways but 14 overall on the night and It was the suffocating defense down the stretch by Gilgeous-Alexander, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace and Lu Dort that proved to be the difference.
The Thunder just find ways to win and have more paths to victory than any other team. Their entire success is built on defense, which doesn’t involve variants but controllable effort. Oklahoma City is set up to achieve its championship aspirations.
“You’ve got to, sometimes, be able to win in the mud, and we had to win in the mud tonight,” Head coach Mark Daigneault said after the game.
How small is the margin of error against OKC? Despite all that went wrong for the Thunder and right for the Clippers, it was an ill-advised timeout by a future Hall of Fame coach, Ty Lue, that proved costly.
Lue looked puzzled after his timeout with 1:37 left as to why the scoreboard reflected the Clippers were out of stoppages. Then, down three points with three ticks left, the Clippers had to go the length of the floor to try to tie the game. By the time the inbound was hauled in, all the Thunder had to do was foul and the Clippers had to watch the game end and realize it was a win that slipped away like sand through an hourglass.
How do you beat this Oklahoma City Thunder team? Its only happened 12 times with the majority of those being cast off as injury-riddled outliers. Right now, it feels like everyone is refusing to accept what is inevitable.
It will be incredibly hard to beat this Thunder team four out of seven times. Tonight illustrated that. Even when you play your best, you better boat-race OKC or you are at the mercy of lady luck. Will she smile down on you four times before the Thunder can outclass you in as many games? Unlikely.
What’s the pathway to boat racing the Thunder if not this game? When is this lopsided score going to happen against OKC? So far, the largest margin of defeat for Oklahoma City is 15 points. The Thunder have only lost by double-digit points three times all year.
If you grant the Thunder seven close games in a row, with home-court advantage on its side, there is no Western Conference foe who should be able to stake claim to the series. Someone finding a way to blow past the Thunder seems unlikely.
Feel free to keep debating and doubting this Thunder team, after all they haven’t proven it –– note: No championship team had proven it until they won a championship and yet, the NBA is full of unique teams/cores winning the title –– but sometimes, the answer is simple.
Song of the Day: Leaving LA by Father John Misty
