December Report Card: Grading the OKC Thunder's arrival
By Ivan White
Over the past month, the Oklahoma City Thunder were solidified as one of the NBA’s elite.
The Thunder finished December as the No. 2 team in the Western Conference. With a 10-3 record to end 2023, they improved to 22-9 overall with a variety of big wins.
The OKC Thunder staked their claim as a contender in December.
Sitting as the second seed out West, the Thunder tallied wins against four of the other top six teams, including the rest of the top four. No two games showed the Thunder have arrived better than their two matchups against the defending champs.
In the second half of the month, the Thunder took two trips to Denver and won in vastly different fashions. The first win was a gritty come-from-behind win that wasn’t sealed until the final possession after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drilled a mid-range jumper for the lead at the last second.
The most recent trip to Denver saw the Thunder dominate in the second half to pull away with a blowout victory. Those types of blowouts have started to become common for the Thunder.
In December, the Thunder won 10 games, with six coming by double digits. The Thunder also held leads of at least 20 points in all of those games.
While the playoffs are still nearly four months away, the young Thunder have already shown they are built for a postseason run.