The Oklahoma City Thunder have won six of their past 7 playoff games by an average of 15 points per victory.
That’s an impressive stat or accomplishment for an NBA team in the increased stakes and high level of competition of the NBA Playoffs. When you consider that run of dominance has come against two teams who were 140-122 in the regular season, it makes this accomplishment unprecedented.
When you dive into the numbers, if the Thunder are able to close out the defending champion and 73-win Golden State Warriors Thursday night or in the next week they will complete the most impressive and difficult path to the NBA Finals in NBA history.
The combined regular season wins of the three teams the Thunder have faced in the western conference playoffs is 182.
Here are some of the higher win totals for teams defeated on the way to an NBA Finals in NBA history:
Houston Rockets 1995: 181
Los Angeles Lakers 1991: 170
Orlando Magic 2009: 169
Dallas Mavericks 2006: 166
San Antonio Spurs 2014: 162
San Antonio Spurs 2013: 161
Chicago Bulls 1997: 161
Los Angeles Lakers 2008: 161
Miami Heat 2011: 159
Utah Jazz 1998: 158
The Rockets run to repeat as champions in the 1994-95 season was pretty remarkable when you consider they beat the 60 win Jazz in round 1, the 59 win Suns in round 2 and the 62 win Spurs in the conference finals.
Incredibly though, the Rockets are only one of the three teams out of the 10 on this list that went on to win the NBA championship in a given season.The other two were the 1997 Bulls and the 2014 Spurs.
Most people counted out the Thunder as a real conference finals contender in 2016 simply because two of the best regular season teams in NBA history and the best regular season team in NBA history are in their conference.
Also many thought the pressure and circus surrounding Kevin Durant’s impending free agency would haunt the Thunder but it has instead united them. It was foolish to ever count out a team boasting two of the top four players in the NBA today in Durant and Russell Westbrook.
We will see if the Thunder can officially complete their incredible run to the NBA Finals tonight by closing out the Warriors in Oracle Arena.
