With the Oklahoma City Thunder rolling early this season, many were predicting that they could be the team to break the regular season record the Golden State Warriors set in 2015-16 when they went 73-9.
Those predictions now seem grossly premature as the Thunder have lost two straight to the San Antonio Spurs as the balance of power in the Western Conference shifts ever so slightly.
Warriors record may be safe after Thunder lose back-to-back games
The Thunder are 6-4 in their last 10 games and their overall record is now 26-5 on the year. They would have to go 48-3 for the rest of the season to break Golden State’s record, or they could tie it with 47 wins.
That is not impossible, but it would take a lot of things to go right for the Thunder. Their minor losing streak shows just how tough it is to win that much over the course of a long season. If a team even has one week or two when it is off its game or a key player suffers an injury, that can basically end any hopes of touching the record.
We will see what happens the rest of this season, but it seems unlikely the Thunder will break the record. That is not to take away from what a great team they are, and they still have a great chance to win back-to-back titles, but those predictions about them unseating the Warriors may have been slightly premature.
The bigger question may now be which team is the strongest in the West? The Spurs now sit at 23-7 and have won eight games in a row, while the Denver Nuggets are right behind them at 22-8. The Thunder are still probably considered the best in the West right now, but after losing three times to the Spurs, it’s tough to say that the Thunder would definitely win in a seven-game series.
What this means for the Warriors as well is that they have a chance. We saw Stephen Curry almost put on his Batman cowl – as Jimmy Butler would put it – and take down the Spurs in consecutive games earlier this season. Golden State also almost beat the Thunder even without Curry, proving they can hang with these teams even though it’s tough to envision how they would hold up in a playoff series.
But if the Warriors can start playing more consistently and if the front office can make a key addition ahead of the trade deadline, maybe this Warriors team could challenge the top teams in the West.