The 2024-25 OKC Thunder is the best defense team in modern NBA history

[EmpireFalls]

Pretender. They are too reliant on forcing turnovers against careless teams coasting in regular season.

Leiso and Luka gonna take turns isoballing them to death in playoffs with ref support too. Iso, free throws, slow down the game. No way OKC got the offense and size to win that war of attrition

You mean Jokic and the Nuggets. Lakers don’t scare them - Dort guards Luka super well

[Slimjimzv]

I've heard several people say this, but it's 100% true. If the Thunder go on to win the Championship, everyone will look back and say they knew it all along because of how dominant they were in the regular season and how defense wins Championships. If not, they'll be forgotten by everyone except Thunder fans. I can't wait to see how this plays out.

[PostGameDaVinci]

It's February, let's relax a bit. You prove you're the best in the playoffs. The Thunder are a regular season team. Their record is predicated on hard work, discipline, and physicality. It won't be as potent when every team is working their hardest and being disciplined. And there are several teams that can overwhelm them physically.

They remind of the Thibs bulls teams with DRose. Elite regular season team because they play their ass off every night. But lack the top level talent once everyone starts playing their ass off.

[Slimjimzv]

It's February, let's relax a bit. You prove you're the best in the playoffs. The Thunder are a regular season team. Their record is predicated on hard work, discipline, and physicality. It won't be as potent when every team is working their hardest and being disciplined. And there are several teams that can overwhelm them physically.

They remind of the Thibs bulls teams with DRose. Elite regular season team because they play their ass off every night. But lack the top level talent once everyone starts playing their ass off.

This is a wild take. Which Western Conference team are you implying has more "top talent" than the Thunder? I can only think of one guy in Denver that would qualify.

[PostGameDaVinci]

It's February, let's relax a bit. You prove you're the best in the playoffs. The Thunder are a regular season team. Their record is predicated on hard work, discipline, and physicality. It won't be as potent when every team is working their hardest and being disciplined. And there are several teams that can overwhelm them physically.

They remind of the Thibs bulls teams with DRose. Elite regular season team because they play their ass off every night. But lack the top level talent once everyone starts playing their ass off.

This is a wild take. Which Western Conference team are you implying has more "top talent" than the Thunder? I can only think of one guy in Denver that would qualify.

My point is that the gap between them & other teams isn't as big as their record or metrics would suggest. They're still susceptible to bad matchups against other highly physical team. And they're gonna need guys who haven't been consistent to suddenly go up a level offensively. Grizzlies, Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Mavericks can all drag the Thunder into the mud and make it a 6 or 7 game series.

[slick_watts]

It's February, let's relax a bit. You prove you're the best in the playoffs. The Thunder are a regular season team. Their record is predicated on hard work, discipline, and physicality. It won't be as potent when every team is working their hardest and being disciplined. And there are several teams that can overwhelm them physically.

They remind of the Thibs bulls teams with DRose. Elite regular season team because they play their ass off every night. But lack the top level talent once everyone starts playing their ass off.

This is a wild take. Which Western Conference team are you implying has more "top talent" than the Thunder? I can only think of one guy in Denver that would qualify.

My point is that the gap between them & other teams isn't as big as their record or metrics would suggest. They're still susceptible to bad matchups against other highly physical team. And they're gonna need guys who haven't been consistent to suddenly go up a level offensively. Grizzlies, Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Mavericks can all drag the Thunder into the mud and make it a 6 or 7 game series.

i get that every time a new team is ascending we have to go through this but it gets real tiring having to keep hearing the same, meaningless arm wave-y arguments about the playoffs. if the thunder lose a series to any of those teams in the playoffs it won't be because of bad matchups or some mythical property of playoff basketball that doesn't exist in the regular season, it would be because they were just beaten by a worse team. it happens!

how about we appreciate what the thunder are doing now. they are, right now, one of the best teams of all-time through 53 games.

[PostGameDaVinci]

This is a wild take. Which Western Conference team are you implying has more "top talent" than the Thunder? I can only think of one guy in Denver that would qualify.

My point is that the gap between them & other teams isn't as big as their record or metrics would suggest. They're still susceptible to bad matchups against other highly physical team. And they're gonna need guys who haven't been consistent to suddenly go up a level offensively. Grizzlies, Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Mavericks can all drag the Thunder into the mud and make it a 6 or 7 game series.

i get that every time a new team is ascending we have to go through this but it gets real tiring having to keep hearing the same, meaningless arm wave-y arguments about the playoffs. if the thunder lose a series to any of those teams in the playoffs it won't be because of bad matchups or some mythical property of playoff basketball that doesn't exist in the regular season, it would be because they were just beaten by a worse team. it happens!

how about we appreciate what the thunder are doing now. they are, right now, one of the best teams of all-time through 53 games.

You can appreciate a team and discuss their ceiling at the same time. I can appreciate that my Knicks are having their best season since I was a toddler and still acknowledge that they probably don't get out the East.

Its a forum. We're here to discuss.

[Slimjimzv]

It's February, let's relax a bit. You prove you're the best in the playoffs. The Thunder are a regular season team. Their record is predicated on hard work, discipline, and physicality. It won't be as potent when every team is working their hardest and being disciplined. And there are several teams that can overwhelm them physically.

They remind of the Thibs bulls teams with DRose. Elite regular season team because they play their ass off every night. But lack the top level talent once everyone starts playing their ass off.

This is a wild take. Which Western Conference team are you implying has more "top talent" than the Thunder? I can only think of one guy in Denver that would qualify.

My point is that the gap between them & other teams isn't as big as their record or metrics would suggest. They're still susceptible to bad matchups against other highly physical team. And they're gonna need guys who haven't been consistent to suddenly go up a level offensively. Grizzlies, Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Mavericks can all drag the Thunder into the mud and make it a 6 or 7 game series.

Fair enough. I'm looking forward to seeing how they look in the playoffs. I suspect they'll dominate, but you never know.

[cupcakesnake]

Can’t rank it defensively until it wins a ring. The Bulls defenses, 04 Pistons, 08 Celtics, Spurs defenses all have something in common. It carried them to rings. Historic team pace. It’s okay to be excited but defense specifically I feel like gets the legacy with playoff runs.

I think it's fairer to more look at the playoffs as a whole. If the Thunder defense stayed suffocating all playoffs long, but their offense failed them in the finals, I wouldn't look at that as a knock on their defense.

We've seen a ton of great defenses fall short in the playoffs because they couldn't punch back on the other end. Those 2004 and 2005 Pistons teams generally had a miserable slog through the playoffs, taking 6-7 games against so many opponents because even though they completely ruined those teams with defense, their offenses could barely manage to score enough to secure that W.

If OKC has a dominant defensive performance in the playoffs, but the 3-point shooting goes cold and they lose a tough series, I wont have a lesser opinion of that defense. Championships sure are cool though.

[Billl]

No doubt, they look great. Really fun to watch them getting after it and turning teams over.

Can't really compare them to teams like that 03/04 pistons teams. They held teams to like an 80 ppg average in the playoffs and had a 5 game stretch holding teams under 70 that season too. We aren't talking pre-shot clock era here. Just insane. The league doesn't even let teams play that physical anymore. OKC is playing about as well as you possibly can under the current rules.

[DudetheObscure]

Their record is predicated on hard work, discipline, and physicality. It won't be as potent when every team is working their hardest and being disciplined. And there are several teams that can overwhelm them physically.

If you watch their games (I don't expect everyone to watch them) you could say the Thunder are only playing hard with discipline and physicality when they need to. Last night's game was a perfect example. Thunder fall behind by 21 in the first half on horrible shooting and lackluster D, but claw back to within 11 by halftime. In the 3Q they start shooting better, but still aren't clamping down on D and are still down 10 at the end of the 3Q. In the 4Q they decide to "bust their asses" and hold Miami scoreless for almost the first half of the 4Q and end up outscoring them 34-8 in the 4Q. All this with Chet sitting out the front end of a back-to-back.

Some posters here act like they're playing balls to the walls D for 48 minutes and won't be able to match their PO opponents when they turn it up another gear. That's just not the case. They seem to be on autopilot much of the time and if that is good enough to beat that night's opponent, then fine. If not, then they shift into a the next gear.