The '24-25 Oklahoma City have the highest Net Rating in league history (better than the
'96 and '98 Bulls as well as '17 Warriors)
as well as set an NBA record for point differential, outscoring opponents by an average of +13 points (https://www.nba.com/news/thunder-scoring-differential-record).

Including the above point, this Thunder team also has the current MVP, two All NBA players, and two All-Defensive players. All of this combined had them as the highest betting favorites in Finals history. On paper they should absolutely be the better team to win against the 4-seed Pacers.

Which begs the question, if this generational Thunder team loses to a 6-seed, would it be considered one of the biggest team failures to not capitalize on the historic season with winning the championship? Where would it rank amongst other Final team failures like the
2011 Heat or 2016 Warriors?

Edit: For people saying it wont be a historical failure if they lose, can you find me a 68+ win team who broke multiple league records (which includes Jordan’s Bulls records) and didn’t win the Finals and it wasn’t considered a huge failure for them?

28 comments

  2. Absolutely. Are they young? Yes. But if you’re breaking records like net rating and winning 68 games while being massive favorites in the finals, then yeah it’s a huge failure.

  3. I don’t think so bc at least they made the finals. There have been many 60+ win teams that couldn’t do that. And I think Dallas losing in 06 was a bigger deal

  5. It’s the largest net rating during the regular season difference at least since the merger at 10.6. So I would say in that regard it would be the biggest upset

  7. i mean it’s no 2007 Mavericks losing in the first round or 2016 Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead

  8. Yes. If you break records and are viewed as favorites, then yes it’s a failure.

  9. Thunder win game 4 and they have home court advantage again. Idk, this series doesn’t seem close to over yet. And I am rooting for the Pacers.

  11. List of teams with 80+ wins combined season+playoffs:

    1. 2016 Warriors – 88 wins – Lost Finals

    2. 1996 Bulls – 87 wins – Won Finals

    3. 1997 Bulls – 84 wins – Won Finals

    4. 2017 Warriors – 83 wins – Won Finals

    5. 2015 Warriors – 83 wins – Won Finals

    6. 2013 Heat – 82 wins – Won Finals

    7. 2008 Celtics – 82 wins – Won Finals

    8. 2000 Lakers – 82 wins – Won Finals

    9. 1992 Bulls – 82 wins – Won Finals

    10. 1986 Celtics – 82 wins – Won Finals

    11. 2025 Thunder*** – 81 wins*** – TBD

    12. 2009 Lakers – 81 wins – Won Finals

    13. 1972 Lakers – 81 wins – Won Finals

    14. 2024 Celtics – 80 wins – Won Finals

    15. 1987 Lakers – 80 wins – Won Finals

    –

    YES, if they lose, it is a historical failure.

  13. Do not let propaganda win. The Warriors choking away that finals will never be matched. First unanimous MVP was throwing behind the back passes in a game 7.

  16. Everyone writing off the Thunder down 2-1 will surely age very well

    Also a 73-win team blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals has happened once and will probably never happen again so it’s always going to be that

  17. If they lose, goes to show how great of a team the pacers are and how great of a coach Rick is. They aren’t even supposed to be in the Finals, but here they are. If the pacers win, focus on what the pacers did to win instead of what the Thunder did to lose.

  18. I am so old that I remember a Golden State team winning 73 games during the regular season, only to lose in the NBA finals.

  19. No. This is a foreseeable consequence of an evenly matched series. Y’all just thought one on Indiana was overrated. To compensate for this epic failure in analysis, the media and fans, must believe that the thunder are this all time great team. Reality is that these are two of the top 4 teams in the league this year. Also… the pacers have a coaching advantage too.

  20. Reactionary take. Far more 60+ win teams don’t even make the Finals but get forgotten to history. Hell, two other 60+ win teams got eliminated this *season* that didn’t get the same level of discourse.

  21. I want to say yes but after seeing the stat that the Pacers record since January was 2nd best in the league (to OKCs 1st.) – this was a much closer matchup than seeding showed.

  22. Uhh pretty sure the 73-9 warriors losing is the biggest failure of all time…

  24. Pacers have been the best team in the NBA since January. They’ve taken down Cleveland and New York.

    The #4 seeding is a lie….it doesn’t really tell how good the Pacers really are.

    Detroit taking out the Lakers in 5 is a bigger upset imo.

  25. Team full of manufactured stars. It won’t surprise me at all if they lose. Indiana is clearly a better basketball team who plays within a masterful system. Okc is a team with young guys that are being manufactured to superstardom through favorable calls and media attention.

    If you watch the finals games you can tell. Shai is still playing great, but he’s not getting nearly the amount of weak bs calls that he did in the regular season. So he has to resort to getting actual buckets, which he’s still VERY good at, but he’s just not producing to that MVP level in this series.

    This exposes Jalen Williams, who is also very good, but not good enough to be the 1B on a championship winning team (this will soon be proven)

    OKC’s defense is very good, but they are getting beat by an offense that is also young and is not afraid to push the pace and not afraid of physicality, and I think that the thunder are not used to that because of the difference in intensity levels of finals games and regular season games.

    I understand that records wise and statistics wise this thunder team is right up there with a lot of the historic teams of the past, but to actually put them on the same level of a team like the Jordan bulls or the curry warriors is just asinine and shows that you don’t know ball

  26. It would in my opinion make Rick Carlisle, an already renowned coach, an absolute legend. Winning 2 championships outmatched to that degree would be insane.

  27. Just throwing it out there, if they lose the finals, they simply gotta trade for Beal. Missing piece mannnnnnnnn

  28. No the day after the Finals is over will be the new season to talk about Luka and Bron

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