OKC Thunder take down Cleveland to claim fourth seed – 3 takeaways

Lessons Learned:

Hey, it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers, so it’s not like the OKC Thunder weren’t expected to win this game. Still, with the cold start, it’s enlightening to see this iteration of the Thunder learn from their past mistakes.

Arguably the most obvious would be not playing down to their competition like OKC often did last season. The other clear lesson was rebounding from a difficult loss (like the one they had Saturday versus the Nuggets) to get back on track the very next game.

Although the Thunder have lost games this season to what some might consider lesser teams, in retrospect it’s not that simple. Of the team’s seven losses the Warriors, Celtics and Nuggets are elite squads.

Certainly, no team is going to win all 82 games, even a healthy super team like the Warriors. But, diving into the other four OKC losses also points to a simple fact. The first place Clippers are the real deal boasting two-way play with surprising depth and a solid identity. Dallas may have begun the season 2-7, but since then are 8-2 having defeated the Warriors, Celtics and Rockets to move into the top eight of the west. Although the Kings jumped out of the gate sizzling hot, they’ve regressed somewhat back to the mean, but are still much improved.

Take away the 0-4 season start and the Thunder are 13-3. Dive in deeper to discover both the Mavericks and Nuggets losses came on the third game in four nights. As for the Kings, every squad has one team who isn’t a great matchup. Perhaps the Kings are that club for the Thunder.