The No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder cruised through their first-round NBA playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, notching three of its four victories by double digits.
The reigning NBA champions did the exact same thing against the Los Angeles Lakers in Round 2, closing out LeBron James’ squad with a 115-110 final score in Game 4 on Monday night.
With these back-to-back series sweeps, the Thunder are now the 11th team in NBA history to start a postseason run with an 8-0 record.
Here’s the full list of teams to accomplish that feat:
2017 GSW (15-0)
2001 LAL (11-0)
1989 LAL (11-0)
2017 CLE (10-0)
2016 CLE (10-0)
2012 SAS (10-0)
1982 LAL (9-0)
2010 ORL (8-0)
2009 CLE (8-0)
2005 MIA (8-0)
2026 OKC (8-0)
Of the 10 previous teams to start the postseason with at least eight straight wins, only four went on to win the NBA title. The 2017 Warriors, led by Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, went 16-1 in their dominant playoff run.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a game-high 35 points in the Game 4 win, reacted to this history for the Thunder.
“We’ve done our job so far. That’s all it really means,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve gone out there, we’ve executed, we played at a high level, and we’ve been able to win eight top games against really good opponents. That’s all it really means.”
“Nothing’s guaranteed. In the playoffs, no two games are the same, especially when you change opponents,” he added. “The challenges are all coming up, I guess you could say. Everything that we’ve done so far is behind us. We still haven’t reached our goal.”
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