Thunder ride rout into Finals

NBA PLAYOFFS

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hoists the Western Conference finals MVP trophy while celebrating with teammates after clinching a trip to the NBA Finals with a 124-94 win against the Timberwolves on Wednesday night. Nate Billings/ap

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By Tim Reynolds Associated Press

The manner in which the Thunder clinched their spot in the NBA Finals seemed fitting.

It was a blowout.

Those have been the story of the Thunder season.

There hasn’t been a team in NBA history with at least 12 wins by 30 points or more in a season — or with four such wins in a single postseason — until now. The Thunder are putting together one of the most dominant years in league history in terms of outscoring opponents. The most recent entry on that list: a 124-94 romp over the Timberwolves to clinch the Western Conference title, a score that probably could have been a lot worse if the top-seeded Thunder were so inclined.

“This isn’t our goal,” Thunder guard, NBA MVP and West finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We didn’t start the season like we want to win the West. We want to win the NBA championship. Now we’re a step closer to our goal and we’re happy about that. But it’s still four more games to go win, four really hard games to go win and we have to be the best version of ourselves ... to reach the ultimate goal.”

A look inside the numbers paints a picture of how dominant this season has been for the Thunder:

They’re winning by 12.5 points per game

The biggest point differential per game in NBA history, including the playoffs, was posted by the 1970-71 Bucks — who outscored teams by 12.6 points per game.

The Thunder are winning by 12.5 per game when counting the regular season and the playoffs (the NBA Cup championship game, by league rule, doesn’t figure into any official stats that are kept).

That’s the second-biggest rate in league history, for now.

They have beaten 28 of the 29 other NBA teams by double figures at least once this season. The only team to avoid that fate against the Thunder was the Warriors, who actually outscored them by an average of 4.7 points per game in their head-to-head matchups.

“They embody everything it means to be a team,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “And so, they deserve this. They deserve the opportunity that we have now. I couldn’t be happier for them because they invest so much in their own games, but they also invest so much in each other and in the team. And I just think it’s a really uncommon thing in professional basketball that they’ve built.”

The Thunder are now at 80 wins this season, including the playoffs. It’s the 15th time in NBA history that a team has won 80 in a season.

If the Thunder win the NBA title, they’ll finish with 84 wins — a total that only the 2015-16 Warriors (88), 1995-96 Bulls (87) and 1996-97 Bulls (84) have reached.

“Happy for the moment, but this isn’t our goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “This isn’t the end of the road.

“One more series to try to go win.”