Many like to harp on the fact that the OKC Thunder lack the playoff experience that a team needs to win the NBA Finals. While the Thunder do have the second youngest roster in the association, the talent is 100 percent there for them to make a legitimate run.
If Oklahoma City brings home the Larry O’Brien trophy this season, they’d be the youngest team ever to do so. They’ve got a group of guys who have been breaking records all season, so what’s one more?
With confidence on our side, we at TI believe there are several key reasons why the Thunder will end up winning the 2024 NBA Championship.
1. Defense
As the saying goes, defense wins championships.
Through the first 67 games of the 2023-2024 NBA season the Thunder sit right near the top in many statistical categories. The highlight of this is their defensive rankings, where they place fifth in defensive rating (111.5) this season, and the gap between them and the second place Celtics (110.3) is slim to none.
WHAT A SEQUENCE FROM CHET 🤯#ThunderUp | @okcthunder | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/beCkFrCes2
— Bally Sports Oklahoma (@BallySportsOK) March 13, 2024
The Thunder also rank second in steals per game and first in blocks. Shai GIlgeous-Alexander leads all players in this particular category with (135), while rookie center Chet Holmgren ranks fourth in blocks per game (2.5).
Both Individual and team defensive stats are off the chart for this OKC squad.
The Thunder force their opponents to shoot at the third-worst field goal percentage against a team in the league. On top of that, they force the most turnovers in the NBA. The defense on this team is a well-oiled machine with no signs of slowing down.