Over two years ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder hit their lowest point of their rebuild when they suffered a jaw-dropping 73-point loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
This marked the largest defeat in NBA history. Following the loss, the Thunder faced scrutiny and mockery for allowing such a margin to happen in an NBA contest.
In the Thunder’s 139-77 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, the tables have finally turned for OKC. The 62-point win marks the fifth-largest margin of victory in NBA history and it was the largest win in Thunder history.
The lopsided win — which, poetically enough, placed OKC in a tie for first place — provided Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — two of the few remaining players left from the 2021-22 squad — a chance to reflect in a full circle moment.
Daigneault talked about how prideful they were over that night, stating it helped them grow into the young contenders they are today.
“That was an important game for us. I thought we learned a lot of lessons from that game,” Daigneault said. “You learn that it’s one game. That’s a true 0-0 thing when you come out of that thing. You learn the sun comes up the next day, you have practice the next day.
“Competition is hard, Fear is something that is an emotion you feel in competition. That’s like your worst nightmare, that game. But the fear of it is worse than the reality of it. The reality is you lose the game, you taste your own blood and then you wake up the next day, you’re 0-0. You have practice and got another game coming
“So we learned a lot from that. It built some good fortitude in the team and some good scars to the point where now it’s kinda a badge of honor.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed the historic loss due to being in concussion protocol, revealed they held a meeting afterward and vowed to never let that happen again.
“It was embarrassing and I did feel bad just because I wasn’t out there with them,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “After that game, we addressed it, and we just made a promise to ourselves to never feel that feeling again. I think it’s been a little bit of our fuel to get to where we are today.”
Even though the Thunder are the new darlings of the league, that hasn’t let them forget their humbling beginnings with this core. It’s been a long journey, but it appears OKC is in the infancy stage of a contention window spearheaded by the head coach and franchise player.
