Thunder’s stranglehold on No. 1 seed now gravely threatened by Spurs after 24-1 start

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been doing a solid job of staying afloat despite their injury absences, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. Unfortunately, that came to a halt on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons, despite a valiant effort.

Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs picked up their tenth straight win with a comeback victory over the Toronto Raptors, despite a relatively quiet game from superstar Victor Wembanyama.

With that win, the Spurs moved to within just two games of Oklahoma City for the number two seed in the Western Conference, a feat that seemed borderline impossible when the Thunder raced out to a blazing 24-1 start to the regular season.

“The Thunder just picked up their 15th loss, already more than they had all of last season.  That’s a sharp shift for a team that opened the year 24–1,” noted ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter.

Of course, injuries are a large part of the reason why the Thunder have slipped up a bit, but even before Gilgeous-Alexander went down with an abdominal strain, Oklahoma City was already showing some signs of slippage, with the team losing four out of the five regular season matchups that they have played against San Antonio this season.

The Spurs, meanwhile, are 5.5 games up on the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets for the second spot, meaning it’s looking highly likely that San Antonio and Oklahoma City will be the top two seeds in the West when all is said and done.

Many are already anticipating a Western Conference Finals matchup between the two squads, rekindling the rivalry between the teams of the days when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook wore Thunder jerseys, while Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard suited up for the Spurs in the mid-2010s.

Thankfully for the Thunder, they won’t see the Spurs again this season until that potential playoff matchup, if it comes to be.

The post Thunder’s stranglehold on No. 1 seed now gravely threatened by Spurs after 24-1 start appeared first on ClutchPoints.