OKC Thunder Expands No. 1 Seed Lead to Season-High Five Games

Oklahoma City's 24-point win against Memphis brought valuable standings benefits.

Dec 29, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots in front of Memphis Grizzlies guard John Konchar (46) during the second quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder brought down the Memphis Grizzlies 130-106 Sunday night in a clash between the Western Conference's top two seeds. Oklahoma City extended its regular-season winning streak to 11 games and improved to a league-best 14-5 against teams at or above .500.

The Thunder (26-5) also cushioned its lead atop the conference to a season-high five games with the victory. The No. 2 Grizzlies and No. 3 Houston Rockets have each lost 11 games and trail the season series against Oklahoma City, who has beaten every opponent it has lost against.

Matchups between contending teams are subtle compared to the overall standings, as any two teams can play a maximum of five times out of 82 games. The Thunder finished with the No. 1 seed last season by winning the head-to-head tiebreaker (3-1) over the Denver Nuggets, providing an objective difference among the two 57-win squads.

Oklahoma City has held the No. 1 seed by record for most of the season, as the Golden State Warriors briefly led the conference from Nov. 19 to Nov. 22. The Thunder has maintained its position since slotting into the top spot on Nov. 25, with four different teams — Warriors, Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Grizzlies — pushing their way to second during the last five weeks.

From a standings standpoint, the 2024-25 season has been a benevolent change of pace for Oklahoma City after the previous year's chaos. The Thunder, Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves ended up in a three-way race to the top, with each team holding or tying at the No. 1 seed for at least a cumulative month. Oklahoma City, after being the outright No. 3 seed for a week in April, secured the top seed on the final day of the regular season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have held the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed wire-to-wire so far, starting the year with 15 consecutive victories and expanding their lead to a season-high 4.5 games this week. Last year's Boston Celtics took the No. 1 spot from the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 15, 2023, had a two-game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks heading into the new year, and ended up winning the conference by 14 games over the New York Knicks.

The Thunder takes on the Timberwolves tomorrow at 7 p.m. CST. It will be the second game of a five-game homestand.

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