Saturday looked like a turning point for the Oklahoma City Thunder, an announcement to the basketball world that this young team is here and ready to start contending for championships right now. In a road game against the old stalwart Golden State Warriors, the Thunder forced overtime on a miraculous turnaround 3-pointer by Chet Holmgren at the buzzer and then proceeded to beat the four-time champions in the extra period. Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 76 combined points. It was perhaps the biggest regular-season win in franchise history that did not involve Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. And then the Thunder quite possibly exceeded it on Sunday.
No, the stage wasn't nearly as bright. Rather than the Warriors, the Thunder were playing the rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers on the road. With most of Portland's backcourt injured, the Thunder were likely always going to win relatively comfortably. They certainly did so in a 134-91 romp. But what stood out was how efficiently they scored all of those points. The Thunder just had one of the greatest shooting nights in NBA history.
Oklahoma City attempted 81 field goals and made 49 of them. That's a conversion rate of 60.5%. They took 36 3-pointers and made 22 of them. That's a conversion rate of 61.1%. They attempted 14 free throws and made every single one of them. All told, it was the first 60-60-100 game in at least the last 25 years of NBA history, according to ESPN's Stats Williams, and when you consider how much lower 3-point volume was in the NBA prior to the past two-and-a-half decades, it was almost inarguably the most impressive 60-60-100 games any team has ever had.
And the cherry on top? It wasn't just the core players doing it. The Thunder built such a big lead so quickly that no starter even played in half of the game. Oklahoma City's bench shot 25-of-48 (52%) from the field and 17-of-32 (53.1%) on 3's. As underwhelming as Portland's defense might be, this was a complete, team-wide decimation from top to bottom.
It's proof of concept of what this team can be. On back-to-back nights, the Thunder proved that they could both compete with top competition on the road and take care of business against lesser foes. All of that has been on display already this season. The 10-4 Thunder are currently tied for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The rebuild is officially over. The Thunder have arrived. If any sort of statement was needed, it has now been delivered.
