COMMENTARY | Much of the talk around the NBA right now is about the Portland Trail Blazers' shocking 19-4 start,Kobe Bryant's return, or the atrocious Knicks and Nets in New York.
But what is going under the radar is the play of theOklahoma City Thunder. It's inevitable that even though the Thunder don't have the best record in the league, Oklahoma City is still the hottest and best team in the NBA.
The numbers and stats show how well this Oklahoma City team has been playing. The team is first in rebounds a game at 47.4, led by 10 double-doubles from Serge Ibaka, who has been putting up All-Star numbers and is averaging a near double-double with 15 points and 9.8 rebounds a game. And the Thunder are third in points a game at 105.9 behind Kevin Durant, who is averaging a league-best 28.5 points a game.
To add, Russell Westbrook is playing his best basketball in his career after coming back from a torn meniscus. In his last four games, Westbrook is averaging 21.5 points, 11.2 assists, and 7.5 rebounds a game. Last but not least, Reggie Jackson is red-hot and is leading this Oklahoma City bench in great ways. In his last 10 games, Jackson is posting numbers with 15.3 points a game and is second in the league in free-throw percentage at 95 percent. The bench as a whole is averaging nearly 37 points a game, which is top three in the league. Jeremy Lamb is giving Oklahoma City nearly 10 points a game to go along with shooting 40 percent from deep.
Standing at 18-4, the Thunder are tied for second place in the Western Conference with the San Antonio Spurs, trailing only the Blazers at 19-4.
In the Eastern Conference, there are only two teams that could potentially be in the way of a title quest for the Thunder -- Indiana (20-3) and Miami (17-6). Even though the Pacers have a better record than the Thunder, in the head-to-head matchup, Oklahoma City dominated Indiana 118-94. The Thunder will match up for the first time this year against Miami on January 29 in Miami.
What's the difference between this year's team and previous years? "Maturity," Westbrook said. "We're older now. We know we've got to take care of business regardless of what the score is, go out and play the game and play our brand of basketball."
Hopefully the type of basketball the Thunder are playing can continue through the season and carry over come April and May. Durant spoke about that as he said, "We just want to play our best brand of basketball at the right time. Whether we get the 1-seed or however that falls, we just want to play our best basketball coming down the stretch."
What is so remarkable about this Thunder organization is their ability to improve and get better year after year. In the 2008-09 season, the Thunder went 23-59 (.280). In its second year, Oklahoma City totally flipped that around, going 50-32 (.610). The next year, 2010-11, the Thunder went 55-27 (.671), and in the 2011-12 season, that improved to 47-19 (.712) and an NBA Finals run. Last year, the Thunder won 60 games( 60-22, .732), and this year they are off to a great start at 18-4 (.818).
Sam Presti and the front office in Oklahoma City have never been content with reaching making the playoffs, or making the NBA Finals. It's clear that the Thunder have one goal and one goal only. And that is to win a title. Good news for Thunder fans, is that with the way this team has been playing, a title to Oklahoma City is near.
Eli Friedman has previously worked for Fansided.com, and Rant Sports as the Oklahoma City Thunder Beat Writer. Friedman's work has been published on FoxSports.com, ESPN TrueHoop affiliate dailythunder.com, and the OKC Thunder team page on SI.com. Eli has also appeared on many sports talk shows such as ESPN RADIO 1420.
You can follow Friedman on twitter @Eli_NBAOKC.
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