As the final moments wound down in a 135-86 win over the Dallas Mavericks, jubilant standing Oklahoma City Thunder fans celebrated a team that went from winning 24 games two seasons ago to having the best record in the Western Conference this time around. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 points in one half of action, and the Thunder dominated a depleted Dallas squad on Sunday to secure the No 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Oklahoma City finished with the same 57-25 record as the Denver Nuggets but own the tiebreaker. The Thunder hadn’t finished as the top seed since the 2012-13 season and hadn’t been to the playoffs since the 2019-20 season.
“We all know what got us to this point,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Just doubling down on that and keeping our heads down and trusting the work. We got this far for a reason. Just don’t veer off of it.”
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said he is proud of a squad that began the season as the third-youngest team in the league.
“Nothing’s guaranteed in any year, so, to be a postseason team, to be a one seed — we don’t take that for granted at all,” he said. “We’re incredibly excited. And now it’s just a matter of letting it rip with that opportunity.”
Daigneault said now that the youth won’t matter going forward.
“We’re zero and zero when we wake up tomorrow morning for the playoffs,” Daigneault said. “So what we’ve accomplished to this point doesn’t impact that. But I do think we’ve built great habits. We’ve done it together. Again, I have a lot of confidence, but not because of our age ... but because of how the guys have performed and the things they’ve built together.”
The Thunder entered the day in a three-way tie with the Nuggets and Timberwolves for the best record in the Western Conference. It was the first time in NBA history that three teams entered the final day of the season tied for a conference lead. They were able to claim the top seed despite Gilgeous-Alexander missing six games late in the season with a bruised right thigh.
The Thunder will have to wait for the play-in tournament ’s conclusion to learn their first-round opponent.
Elsewhere on Sunday, the postseason picture was set. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers face the Pelicans for a No 7 seed in the Western Conference, then the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings in an elimination game. On Wednesday, it’s the Miami Heat going to Philadelphia to decide the No 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, followed by Atlanta at Chicago in a win-or-else matchup.
“Look, this is the best time of year,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “These kind of environments, the games, the context ... you can’t expect it to be easy.”
Of the 20 postseason seeds, 15 were decided on Sunday, as were three of the four play-in matchups and three of the four first-round series that don’t include play-in teams.
The final order in the East: Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Orlando, Indiana, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago and Atlanta. In the West, the order from No 1 to No 10 is Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota, the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas, Phoenix, New Orleans, the Lakers, Sacramento and Golden State.
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The only first-round series that was set before Sunday was Clippers-Mavericks in the West. Added to the list now: Bucks-Pacers and Cavaliers-Magic in the East, along with Timberwolves-Suns in the West.
The games themselves didn’t bring much drama on the regular season’s final day. Of the 15 games, only one was decided by one possession – and it was at Madison Square Garden, where New York got a big win. The Knicks held off Chicago 120-119 in overtime, a result that let them leapfrog Milwaukee for No.2 in the East.
“A hell of a regular season,” Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “Let’s get ready for the playoffs.”
Among the biggest blowouts on Sunday: Oklahoma City’s win over Dallas; Indiana stayed out of the play-in by beating Atlanta by 42; Sacramento downed Portland by 39; San Antonio topped Detroit by 28 and Orlando – who could have been in the play-in with a loss – rolled past Milwaukee by 25.
Orlando won 47 games to capture the Southeast Division and get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
“So proud of them,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “There’s not really a lot of words for it. You talk about a group who has been up, been down, battled back, resilient ... they proved it. Big stakes, they took it in their own hands.”
The Heat-76ers winner will face No 2 seed New York in the first-round of the playoffs, and the loser will play host to the Hawks-Bulls winner on Friday night for the chance to meet No 1 overall seed Boston. The Lakers-Pelicans winner gets the No 7 seed and will play defending champion Denver in round one – the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets last season – and the Lakers-Pelicans loser will face the Sacramento-Golden State winner for the right to play No 1 Oklahoma City.
Golden State won a Game 7 at Sacramento last season to advance. The Warriors will have to win a play-in game there Tuesday that’ll have Game 7-type consequences.
“It’ll be a great atmosphere,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We were there last year, obviously. They’ll have their crowd behind them. It’s nice to not get on a plane. So, we’ll take the bus up there tomorrow, have a day to prepare and be ready to go.”