THE Oklahoma City Thunder are went to their first NBA final as a franchise Since 2012 after eliminating the Minnesota Timberwolves124-94, in match 5 Wednesday evening. Okc will face either the Pacers (which directs the final of the Eastern Conference 3-1) or the Knicks In the final, where they will aim at the first title in the history of Oklahoma City.
Thunder is heavy Nba Title favorites (-575 to win the championship at Drabings), And note that it is not a matter. The Pacers, assuming that they end up ending the Knicks, are playing lights right now.
But looking at this Oklahoma City run this point, it is impossible to ignore the 2014-2015 Warriors vibrations that are everywhere in this team. The Warriors led by Stephen Curry won their first final of the Western Conference on May 27, 2015 at 10 and a day earlier than the Thunder’s victory on Wednesday evening.
But these teams have not only a similar feel For them in terms of their kind of driving jumping route, development of local talents or the joy they derive from playing not only with each other, but for each other; Lists and future fundamental models are sacred with mirrors from each other. Let’s take a look.
MVPS for the first time
The most obvious common point between this year’s Thunder and the 2014-2015 Warriors: a first MVP at the helm. For OKC, it’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderwho is 26 years old and two years old from his first selection of stars. For warriors, it was Stephen CurryWho was also 26 years old and two years old from his first selection of stars.
SGA and Curry are counting on different forms of domination. SGA is the best pilot in the league; Curry is the best shooter in the league. SGA has become a shooter good enough to keep the defenses honest; Curry did the same with his driving. All this is added to the same thing: a practically unstoppable and adjusted playmaker who facilitates offense for all his teammates because of his level of individual threat and the gravity he creates.
2025 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | 32.7 | 63.7 | 30.7 | 12.1 |
2015 Stephen Curry | 23.8 | 63.8 | 28.0 | 11.8 |
SGA has an advantage over curry in almost all traditional and advanced numbers, but the raw score stands the most. Curry has only become a 30 -point scorer that the following season. Does this mean that this year SGA was a better player than the 2014-15 curry? It is certainly questionable. But the fact is that the two followed a similar path to their first MVP, which broke out on the stage two years before spending the MVP in their 26 -year season. Curry added a first championship trophy to its first MVP. SGA is four victories of the following costume.
High -level defense
The foundation of the domination of the OKC was its defense. The same goes for the 2014-2015 Warriors, who led the League in a defensive note despite their best known, or at least celebrated, for their attack led by Splash Brothers.
Oklahoma City’s offensive, although a unit among the first three, is not as flashy as that of Golden State, so it may be easier to appreciate the merits of its best classified defense, but the characteristics are largely the same as those of Golden State in terms of, first and foremost, its stable 6 feet 5 to 5 feet of 6 inch 8 inch.Ish Wings that launch pressure waves among ball managers while having the ability to change everything both on the ball. The disruptive force of this pressure is palpable – 17.0 reversals created by game for OKC, 16.2 for the Warriors.
For the Warriors, this stable included Draymond Green,, Andre Iguodala,, Klay Thompson,, Harrison Barnes and Shaun Livingston. For thunder, it’s read sleeps, Jalen Williams,, Alex CarusoSGA, Cason Wallace And Aaron Wiggins.
Another community? Behind all this depth of perimeter, the Thunder and the Warriors present (ED) and Elite Rim Protector on the back – Chet Holmgren and, in a slight measure, Isaiah Hartenstein In OKC and Andrew Bogut (you forgot, right?) In Golden State.
2024-24 Thunder | 107.4 (n ° 1) | 114.8 |
Warriors 2014-15 | 100.4 (n ° 1) | 105.8 |
Taking into account the increase in rhythm and overall score, you can see that OKC was in fact an even better defense compared to the average of the league (+7.4 for +5.3 of Golden State), but the fact is that, both in characteristics and in efficiency, defensive domination was / is at the heart of these two teams. In fact, OKC is trying to become the first team to win the title with the League No. 1 Defense since the 2014-15 Warriors.
The second All-Star
Alongside Curry and Gilgeous-Alexander, the two teams were looking for a second All-Star to emerge. The Warriors struck Klay Thompson with the choice n ° 11 in 2011. The Thunder caught Jalen Williams at n ° 12 in 2022. The first Warriors championship, not by coincidence, aligned with the first selection of Thompson stars in 2015, and if Oklahoma City finishes this thing.
2024-25 Jalen Williams | 21.6 | 57.3 | 20.3 |
2014-15 Klay Thompson | 21.7 | 59.1 | 20.8 |
Yes, these two guys were lottery choices, so it is difficult to say that their All-Star ascent was a total surprise, but they were both considered a kind of currency prospects. Certainly not sure things. But their rapid development as bidirectional stars has cemented and accelerated the calendar of the Warriors and Thunder championships.
The hidden jewel
With so many of these largely local cultivated championship teams, a common denominator is the pop of this late recovery choice that no one has seen coming. The Warriors fell on their hidden gem at Draymond Green with the 35th choice in total. The Thunder dug even deeper for Li sleeps, which was not recovered before signing a G-League agreement with OKC in 2019.
Green has undoubtedly become the best defender of his generation. Dort is not entirely at this level, but it is one of the best defenders in the perimeter of the league. The two are the kind of money found that ends up funding so many title teams. Green made a first team defense for the first time in 2015 and the Warriors won the title. Dort did the same this season. Pacers or Knicks are still on the way, but so far, everything is followed for OKC.
Warriors 2015 | Stephen Curry | Klay Thompson | Draymond Green | Yes |
2025 Thunder | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Jalen Wiliams | Lu sleeps | ??? |
The nucleus of 26 or under
What was so exciting among the 2015 Warriors was the youth of the list and the opportunity to transform a title into multiple titles. For Golden State, the three best scorers and three best players, were 26 years old or less (Curry, Thompson and Green). The same goes for the Thunder with Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren.
The warriors were able to add Kevin during In 2016, in part because Thompson and Green were still on recruit contracts (and Curry was on one of the offers most suited to team history), and OKC has the capacity, mainly with an endless supply of DRAFT capital, to add a major star to this current team also if it had a sense from the point of view of adjustment and forecasts.
Anyway, it is not a unique situation. Whether Oklahoma City has finished this title or not, or if they add another major part, go the way to basic cohesion supplemented by cheap recruit agreements with all these recovery choices, the path is paved for a long term of high -level conflict, as well as for Warriors.
Playoffs
- The two teams of teams swept their first round series: Golden State in New Orleans. Okc on Memphis.
- The two teams won their conference final in five games: Golden State on Houston. OKC on Minnesota.
- The two teams had their most difficult pre-final series in the second round: Golden State dropped 2-1 Grizzle Before rallying to win in six. OKC needed seven games to exceed Denver.
The 2015 Warriors and the Thunder 2025 are extremely similar teams that have traveled a path of the same accelerated towards the upper level of the League. The masses were not ready to accept how good the Warriors were, invoking the lazy qualifications “too young” and “not quite” until they no longer have the choice when Golden State held the trophy (and even then, they tried to say that they were lucky with the injuries of the opponent).
The doubt of the OKC was not so strong, but it was there all season. Are sports talk shows dominated by “are they ready?” Conversation, and in general, there was an expected attitude which apparently related more to bring together Oklahoma City with all the other good teams of the Western Conference who understood a “race wide open”.
It was never as open as people wanted it. It is true that the league has become defined by its parity, but parity existed below OKC, which, all season, was a level higher than all the others in the conference. Whether against Indiana or New York, the only thing that remains to be proven is that they were the best team in the everything with a victory in the final.
What is already easy to see, however, is that even if OKC wins everything, there will be conversations to find out if they were a little luck. It will be stupid, but nevertheless you can bet that people talk about how Ja more injured in the first round, and they did not have to face the warriors because Stephen Curry was injured and the Celtics burned, and instead of the 64 victory Riders They obtained the Pacers or the Knicks. You can already see the story of “broken support” take shape.
The same thing happened to the Warriors, who, perhaps because people wanted to have the right to be right not to be as good as the media threw, were underestimated by a fairly noisy contingent as a circumstantial champion-which benefited from important injuries for the opponent throughout their race in the playoff series. It was a big reason for the Warriors released next season in 2015-2016, and established a Nba Record with 73 victories, because all the speeches on the fact that their first title is even somewhat lucky has planted the chip outright on their collective shoulder.
If OKC ends this title and this cheap story has a certain life, it will be interesting to see how they go out next season. Because again, this team, like the 2015 Warriors, is configured to do so for the years to come.
