OKC Thunder Defense Is Championship Ready

Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison will often remind you, "Defense Wins Championship," and if that old adage he clings to is right, start planning the parade in Bricktown.

This is a lot of expectations to place on one of the youngest rosters in the NBA, littered with key contributors with just one prior playoff run under their belts. But each step of the way, the Thunder have been the outlier; they just have to do it one last time.

Teams this young are not supposed to turn in historic 68-win seasons en route to the most double-digit wins in NBA history for a single season, the best cross-conference record in league history and lapping the field in the tough Western Conference.

They also aren't supposed to win championships, but when has this Thunder team conformed to NBA norms?

Sure, this is still a lofty goal. Only one team gets to win the last game of an NBA season. But Oklahoma City possesses a defense of that caliber.

All of the Thunder's postseason questions can not be answered in two games against the No. 8-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. On the flip side, Oklahoma City has only been able to play two games and can only play with the cards they are dealt. The first test? They have passed with flying colors.

In Game 1, it was a 131-80 shellacking of the Beale Street Ballers; Game 2 was much of the same, with the Thunder posting a 118-99 win. This marks two games where OKC has held Memphis below 100 points, a feat only done to the Grizzlies once in the regular season, for as hapless as the Thunder is making Memphis look.

The commanding 2-0 lead has been built on the back of the Thunder's dominating defense. Unsurprising, Oklahoma City owns the best defensive rating in the playoffs (85.6) and Net Rating (34.1) with the third-best offensive rating (119.7) only lagging behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (137.5) and Indiana Pacers (121.8).

Oklahoma City is able to play at the highest pace of the postseason via its hounding defenders, who have forced 19.5 turnovers per game in this series while averaging a league-best 40.5 defensive rebounds per game and NBA-best eight blocks per game.

The Thunder are generating 19.5 deflections per game and recovering 55.6% of loose balls in this series, with the most contested shots in the NBA Playoffs per game (49).

There simply is no rest for opposing matchups. The Thunder have a pair of high-end rim protectors patrolling the paint and a plethora of perimeter defenders that harass ball handlers –– forcing bad shots and bad decisions.

With a three-headed monster of Lu Dort, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace behind, accompanied by two more who will receive All-Defensive votes (Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and the rest of the roster being no slouches, it makes for a torturous experience for the opposition.

This has been a trend all season long and has only heightened in the Playoffs.

“If you’re not playing like that this time of the year, you’re probably going home," Caruso said when asked about the Thunder's all-out hustle after Game 2.

Oklahoma City will not be heading home any time soon.