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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder insist they haven’t been perfect during their NBA title defense.
Their record at the playoffs’ halfway point disagrees.
The Thunder completed their second straight series sweep of the spring Monday night when they held off the resilient Lakers 115-110 in Game 4 of the second round. Oklahoma City went 8-0 against LeBron James and the Lakers this season — and the defending champs are also 8-0 in these playoffs after back-to-back routs of Phoenix and Los Angeles.
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Sure, coach Mark Daigneault can see areas for improvement and problems to be solved. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander warns that the job is far from finished.
Yet the Thunder are unquestionably the class of the sport with this playoff streak following their dominant regular season as they seek the NBA’s first back-to-back championships since Golden State did it 2017 and 2018.
General manager Sam Presti’s merciless machine is looking fairly unbeatable as it heads to the Western Conference finals for the second straight year and the sixth time in the past 16 seasons.
“We’ve done our job so far, that’s all it really means,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve gone out there, we’ve executed, we played at a high level and we’ve been able to win eight tough games against really good opponents. That’s all it really means. And nothing is guaranteed. In the playoffs, no two games are the same, especially when you change opponents. So the challenges are all coming up, I guess you can say.”
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The next challenge is a date with either the San Antonio Spurs or the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference finals — after several more days of rest than those teams, which are tied heading to Game 5 on Tuesday night.
But whoever emerges from that rock fight of a series will face the NBA’s biggest challenge in the smooth, relentless Thunder, who appear to be operating on an even higher level than they reached last season while winning the title.
“We’ve been very, very good,” Daigneault said. “I thought we had more lapses tonight than we had had in previous games, so we have to learn from…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/oklahoma-city-thunder-arent-perfect-151228930.html
Author : GREG BEACHAM
Publish date : 2026-05-12 15:12:00
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