Before Lakers star Luka Dončić exited with a hamstring injury Thursday night, the OKC Thunder had just put on a defensive clinic against one of the hottest players and teams in the association.
In his 25 minutes of action, the point guard, who had scored 30-plus points in 13 straight games, had 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting and had already committed six turnovers.
The Thunder’s ball pressure and activity behind the play make them the best defense relative to league average ever. If you're reliant on single-sided offensive attacks from one player, OKC will have its way with you, much like it did in its 43-point rout of the Lakers.
Thursday night’s performance made it clear that only three teams pose unique matchup difficulties to Oklahoma City's title defense, and the Lakers aren’t one of them.
So, here are the three teams that can exploit some of the weaknesses of the defending champs moving forward.
Biggest threat to Thunder repeat comes down to three teams
San Antonio Spurs
No team has demonstrated more potential to challenge the Thunder than the San Antonio Spurs.
It's not advisable to draw foregone conclusions from small sample sizes, but four wins with a plus-11.75-point differential isn’t something to scoff at. More important than the Spurs’ 4-1 record against the Thunder this season, though, is how San Antonio beat Oklahoma City, which all starts with Victor Wembanyama.
While OKC has the seventh-best offense in the association, a clear weakness is its three-point shooting, giving Wembanyama confidence in roaming off certain players.
Outside of Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams, Wembanyama’s most frequent defensive assignment when playing the Thunder has been Alex Caruso, who is shooting 26.9 percent on open to wide-open looks from deep this season.
As a team, OKC is converting on just 37.0 percent of its wide-open attempts from deep.
That poor shooting across the board, and from one of OKC’s key playoff contributors, will only empower Wemby to continue being the most disruptive roamer in the league.
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets were one game away from changing the course of Oklahoma City history just a season ago. Thankfully, Loud City's defense righted that ship and delivered the organization’s first championship.
That being said, Nikola Jokić is still a big problem.
Let’s not forget that Jokić posted 28/14/6 on 47.9 percent shooting in the seven games against the Thunder during last year’s playoff run, including two 40-point outbursts.
This season, the big man has averaged a 23-point triple-double against OKC, albeit coming in three losses. He is the ultimate problem solver, and even without a healthy team in those losses, the Nuggets incrementally increased their scoring total from 111 in the first loss to 126 in the most recent.
Jokić’s size, IQ, and offensive ingenuity make him the Thunder’s toughest individual cover. While Chet Holmgren is one of the game’s elite rim protectors, he lacks the girth to battle down low with the Joker.
What about Isaiah Harternstein? Well, just take a look at how that went.
Defending Jokić is a team effort, and the Thunder did enough last year to advance. But when facing one of the best offensive players ever, expect a counterpunch to be thrown.
Boston Celtics
The Thunder are 3-0 during this five-game home stand, but that perfect record was nearly stripped from them against the Pistons on Monday night.
Detroit was without its top-five scorers, and yet it took overtime for the Thunder to walk away with a four-point win. What did Detroit do to push the Thunder to the brink? Crash the offensive glass and generate second chances, two areas the Boston Celtics excel at.
Both Detroit and Boston rank within the top five for second-chance points and offensive-rebound rate. But punishing the Thunder on the glass isn’t enough, as shown in Monday’s narrow win.
Which is why Boston is listed here instead of Detroit.
Much like the Lakers, the Pistons, once Cade Cunningham returns, are over-reliant on one superstar’s creation abilities. The Celtics, on the other hand, have multiple offensive pressure points to break down OKC’s defense. And if Jayson Tatum’s recent triple-double is any indication of what is to come, Boston will have its tier one creator back and ready for another Finals run.
The combination of second-chance opportunities and committee playmaking makes Boston a real threat to the Thunder -- that is, if the latter can get past the two previously-mentioned behemoths.