Thunder eye Warriors’ mark, but say it doesn’t consume them

The Thunder already own the biggest trophy that matters. They also wanted the smaller one.

Oklahoma City went 68-14 last season and won the NBA championship, but its bid to add an NBA Cup title ended Saturday with a semifinal loss to the Spurs, a result that snapped the feeling of inevitability that had followed them around for weeks.

Star forward Jalen Williams admitted the Thunder were chasing hardware, not excuses, even as he put up 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals on a rough 5-of-17 shooting night, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Williams said. “There’s perspective on it, for sure. I think an average team would probably be like, ‘Oh, it’s the Cup, whatever.’ What are we, 24-2? We can go home and hang our hat on that, or we can look at it as a way to get better.”

Williams framed the loss as a message rather than a meltdown. The Thunder played a playoff-level opponent, took the hit, and now have something concrete to correct.

The timing was notable, too. Entering the game, Oklahoma City was tied with the 2015-16 Warriors for the best 25-game start in NBA history, the same Golden State team that later went 73-9 before falling to Cleveland in the 2016 Finals. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said it would “absolutely” be meaningful if the Thunder could eventually top that start, but he also stressed that the bigger mission remains repeating as champions.

After Saturday’s loss, the reigning MVP was asked again about chasing 73 wins. He did not bite.

“Seventy-three and nine?” Gilgeous-Alexander said, via Vardon. “My goal is to get better. If we get better than what we are now, that should take care of itself.”

He added that long-range goals mean little if the daily work slips, and said Saturday was one of those nights.

“You have to take care of everything step-by-step, and tonight we didn’t,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “If we stack nights like we did tonight, we won’t even come close to it.”

That is the Thunder’s posture in a nutshell. They are good enough to talk about history. They are also self-aware enough to know history does not care about your record in December.