OKLAHOMA CITY — With the Oklahoma City Thunder reaching the halfway point of one of the great regular seasons in NBA history, it’s only natural that they compare themselves to majestic creatures.
“The world is seeing all of the, what we call the cockroaches in our locker room, the cockroaches and hyenas,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was masterful in gliding his way to 40 points in three quarters of Thursday’s 134-114 statement win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “The guys that do the little work, that don’t get the most plays, that don’t average 30, but their part of our season, our winning, is just as big.
“I’m glad people got to see that, that we’re not just one or two guys; we’re 15 guys.”
Those 15 guys are forcing turnover after turnover while breaking opponents’ offenses and wills in equal measure this season. That was the formula against the Cavaliers in a game that quickly turned into a rout thanks to a mammoth 30-2 first-half run. Oklahoma City forced 21 turnovers and amassed a 42-point lead late in the third quarter on the way to victory.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s metaphor is apt because so many quality defenders dot this roster. Get through the first, and another elite ballhawks awaits. Hands are everywhere, somehow only adding up to 10, even if it seems like 20. Oklahoma City forces turnovers on 16.2 percent of opponent possessions, compared to the league average of 13.0 percent. Relative to the league average, it’s the highest forced-turnover rate since 2019-20.
On this night, it wasn’t just Gilgeous-Alexander or his talented sidekick Jalen Williams. It was Alex Caruso with three steals, and Lu Dort’s physicality and screen navigation, and Cason Wallace’s speed and hands, and even 10-day Branden Carlson turning a surprise first-quarter shift into multiple stands against Cleveland’s likely All-Star Evan Mobley.
The marauding swarms ratcheted up Cleveland’s frustration as the game went on and the lead ballooned, first by forcing the bigger Cavs to go small to match up, then by wearing them down with waves of defenders and hands.
For Cleveland, it was death by a thousand cuts. The Thunder topped that 30-2 run with back-to-back pick-six turnovers — with the demoralized Cavs barely bothering to jog back on the second one — shortly after a technical foul on Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson for intercepting a ref on the sideline and screaming “Call the f—ing foul!”
While the Cavs stewed, it was a cathartic result for the winners after the Thunder felt they made numerous defensive errors in losing to the Cavs eight days earlier in Cleveland. The two sides now have identical 34-6 records on the season, the best marks in the NBA.
It also was the cherry on top of the sundae that is the first half of Oklahoma City’s season. Heading into the midpoint with their 41st game to come in Dallas on Friday, the Thunder are having one of the greatest half seasons in NBA history, a fact that is getting weirdly little attention. The Thunder are on pace for a 70-win season with both the greatest scoring margin in NBA history and the greatest defensive rating relative to the league average in NBA history.
It’s that defense, in particular, that has this squad pushing for a place on the list of all-time-great regular seasons. (We’ll see about the playoffs when we get there; for now, can we just enjoy the ride?)
The scary part is that they’ve done while arguably the two best defenders on the roster have hardly played. Fly-swatting center Chet Holmgren has only played 10 games after an early-season hip fracture but has begun taking steps toward an eventual return. And Caruso, acquired in the offseason for Josh Giddey (and, somehow, nothing else), has only played 416 minutes while missing time with multiple injuries.
On this night, Caruso’s 13 minutes were huge in helping bottle up Cleveland’s high-powered backcourt; he snagged three steals, and his presence also allowed Williams to move to the frontcourt.
Williams, in particular, has been vital in allowing the Thunder to survive multiple frontcourt injuries. With Holmgren and offseason pickup Isaiah Hartenstein out, the 6-foot-6 Williams has seen extended shifts at center, and the defense hasn’t missed a beat when he played there. In fact Oklahoma City’s small units have proven equally or more devastating than the traditional lineups.
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Gilgeous-Alexander sung his teammate’s praises after the game, with perhaps some embellishment while sharing a podium with Williams.
“’Dub’ does so many things on the court for us every night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Defensively he, at 6-4 …”
“C’mon, 6-6,” interjected Williams. “Don’t put down my height.”
“At 6-4,” continued Gilgeous-Alexander, “he’s able to guard all five positions on the basketball court. Like tonight, he guarded a 7-footer. I could never. A lot of guys our size could never. Those types of things directly impact winning, and we are clearly winning basketball games.”
“Six-six, though,” added Williams.
So quickly did the game turn into a rout that the closest thing to real drama came when Atkinson seemed to take exception to Dort celebrating a 3-pointer that put the Thunder up by 36 midway through the third. He ended up in a conversation with Gilgeous-Alexander coming out of a timeout, with Gilgeous-Alexander at one point asking: “We can’t enjoy the game?”
“He didn’t like the celebration, thought it was a little bit of taunting. But I didn’t think it was,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It was nothing towards their team, their players, their coaches. It was just us and our fans having a good time.”
If the Cavs want to take revenge, they’ll have to wait until a potential NBA Finals meeting. Cleveland and Oklahoma City won’t play each other the rest of the season but could be playing out the second half on their respective schedules to determine home-court advantage for a series in June.
That might be the only drama left between now and May for this Thunder team, which already leads the Western Conference by seven games and seems virtually assured of being the top seed for a second straight season. Well, that and seeing whether this group can really break the all-time defensive rating record.
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(Photo of Donovan Mitchell and Alex Caruso: Jeff Haynes / NBAE via Getty Images)
