Late December and early January was perhaps one of the most dire times for an Oklahoma City Thunder team that was once on pace to break the regular season wins record. And yet, the defending champion found its way back to the top.
Three losses to the San Antonio Spurs headlined a 6-6 stretch that left Oklahoma City searching inward. The Thunder came out of the other side and are riding a three-game win streak into their next-most important matchup on Tuesday, a rematch with San Antonio.
NBA.com’s John Schuhmann released his power rankings for Week 13 of the season and Oklahoma City regained the top spot.
“The Thunder suffered another surprising loss last Monday, getting clobbered by the Hornets at home,” Schuhmann wrote. “Their three wins since haven’t been especially impressive, but they are tied for the fewest losses (they’re 7-2) since Christmas.”
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OKC’s upcoming schedule
As referenced above, Tuesday’s rematch against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs is, without a doubt, Oklahoma City’s most important game to date. A team once deemed unbeatable has the chance to lose to the same team four times in a month’s span.
Thursday brings yet another big West matchup against the Houston Rockets. Houston is enduring a similar stretch to OKC’s just two weeks ago.
The last matchup for the Thunder this week is against the Miami Heat on Saturday. This week can go a long way in proving that Oklahoma City is back.
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