Written by Joe Mags at Bloguin
When Oklahoma City is truly humming, something the NBA has seldom seen the past three years, it is the scariest team in the NBA. If you slipped truth serum into Golden State’s cup, the Warriors would admit the Thunder’s combination of unrivaled star power, length, and explosiveness is the true antidote to the Splash Brothers’ poison rain.
Golden State, Oklahoma City and Cleveland, in some order, have the highest ceilings of all NBA teams. As great as the ancillary pieces around Steph Curry and LeBron James are, however, there is simply no comparison for Durant and Westbrook — a pair of true-blue Top 5 players on one team.
Oklahoma City opened its season with a victory over San Antonio, a triple-OT nail-biter with upstart Orlando, and a dominant win against an overmatched Denver. Through seven games, OKC (4-3) is predictably near the top of the NBA in scoring — second in offensive rating (108.9), per NBA.com — and pulling down 55.6 percent of available rebounds. In upward of 100 minutes, the Thunder starting lineup, featuring Andre Roberson and Steven Adams with Durant, Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, are running teams off the floor — posting a NetRtg of 20.6 and churning at more than 104 possessions per 48 minutes.
Starting games has never been a struggle for OKC. Over the years, a revolving door of nos. 4 and 5 options have taken the court next to Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka at closing time, but none have stuck as viable fourth quarter options. Images of Derek Fisher and Thabo Sefolosha clanking 3-pointers promptly come to mind. All the while, the ghosts of James Harden haunts over this franchise; Oklahoma City wouldn’t let Dion Waiters rock the No. 13 jersey, the organization is so jaded.
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