The OKC Thunder lost home-court advantage on Monday night following their surprise loss to the visiting Denver Nuggets, but they were far from the only squad remaining in the 2025 NBA Playoffs to have done so.
In fact, for the first time in league history, all home teams participating in the conference semifinals wound up losing their respective Game 1.
The trend found itself starting to bleed into the second round's initial Game 2 outings, as both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics were downed by the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, respectively, and, in turn, each are in an 0-2 hole as a result.
Wednesday night, the Thunder officially put an end to this disastrous winless home-team narrative, as they bested the Nuggets in blowout fashion by a final score of 149-106.
Thunder become first team to win at home in 2025 conference semifinals
As superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stated following their 43-point win, he and his teammates came into Game 2 "desperate" to avoid falling behind by two games before heading on the road to Denver.
However, after 48 minutes of play, it was evident that this Thunder team had played far with more than desperation, but also sheer determination.
Right from the jump, OKC was clearly hell-bent on exacting revenge, dropping 42 points in the first quarter alone, followed by a whopping 87 points scored in the first half in total, the most ever recorded during the first two quarters of a game in NBA Playoff history.
Not only did they accomplish this impressive feat, but they also tied the all-time record for most points through three quarters of action at 124 and finished with the 10 most points scored in an entire game.
Leading the charge right from the jump was SGA, who came scorching hot out of the gates by dropping 13 points and 5 assists on 4-for-4 shooting from the floor.
By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, he was already shut down for good with the Thunder leading by 48 with a nearly flawless stat-line of 34 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds on 84.6 percent from the floor and 50.0 percent from distance.
Eight total players wrapped up the night with double-digit scoring efforts, with Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren registering 17 and 15, respectively, while the team as a whole shot 56.2 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent from distance.
Defensively, OKC seemingly pulled a complete 180 compared to their previous outing, as they held Nikola Jokic to a moderate 17 on a putrid 37.5 percent shooting from the field, while holding the rest of the Nuggets to a mere 37.9 percent shooting as a whole and forcing them into a whopping 20 turnovers.
From start to finish, this Thunder club seemed to have their sights set on making up for their Game 1 upset in a major way, and, in turn, should feel quite pleased with themselves for putting on such a statement win.
However, as Shai told reporters post-game, "We've got to move forward" as they focus on how to repeat the good and scratch the bad from Wednesday's performance while preparing for Friday's contest.
Hopefully they can find a way to put forth a repeat performance out in Denver during Game 3.