MIAMI — Here’s how the last few days have gone for the Oklahoma City Thunder: in Las Vegas on Tuesday, spend time airborne over four different time zones on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday.
It was, even by NBA standards, a ridiculous schedule.
The Thunder never complained. They just played — and won. They expected nothing less. The Western Conference’s best team is 22-5 after beating the Heat 104-97 on Friday night and competing a two-game, two-night Florida sweep.
“I’m almost surprised when we don’t answer the bell, no matter how difficult the challenge is,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “These guys have just made a habit of having an uncommon mindset and seeing challenges as opportunities rather than excuses.”
Nobody probably should be surprised.
In regular-season games going back to the start of the 2023-24 season, the Thunder are 79-30 overall and 35-20 on the road — both of those marks second-best in the NBA behind only Boston, the reigning league champs. They were the No. 1 seed for the Western Conference playoffs last season. They’re in the No. 1 spot in the West so far this season.
“We do whatever it takes to win,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said.
And now, they’re finally going home. Most teams, if they played in Miami and don’t have the second night of a back-to-back awaiting, stay over after visiting the Heat. Not the Thunder. They just played nine out of their last 11 games in places other than Oklahoma City, and they were more than ready to head back to familiar surroundings Friday night.
“We didn’t want to make any excuse,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We, I like to say, have the best jobs in the world. It sounds crazy but it’s a little bit spoiled. We play basketball two nights in a row and get paid to do so. We have an amazing opportunity. We’re blessed to be in this position.”
They’ve won seven in a row (the NBA Cup final loss doesn’t count) for the second time this season. Gilgeous-Alexander is one of four players averaging more than 30 points per game so far. They’re on pace for more steals than any team in the last 30 years. And they’re doing it all without a single player currently older than 30.
“These guys are monsters competitively,” Daigneault said. “We’ve done a good job. We’ve been on the road nine days. We had off days in Vegas and the guys did a great job of kind of putting money in the bank there physically, so that we were ready to play and exert energy and kind of play for the long haul. They did a great job on the trip to prepare for tonight. And now we’re excited to get back home.”
Jalen Williams confirmed that. The riser in the Heat postgame interview room that the Thunder were using Friday night is about 18 inches off the floor. Williams — who had a season-high 33 points against the Heat — was looking for stairs to help that not-so-big climb.
He was tired. Understandably so.
“Ready to go home,” he groaned. “You have no idea.”
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