OKC locks up No. 1 seed, joins elite company

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- The Oklahoma City Thunder joined some exclusive historical company by accomplishing one goal on their checklist while defending their championship.

The Thunder clinched the NBA's best record and top seed with Wednesday night's 128-110 road win over the LA Clippers.

It's the third straight season that Oklahoma City earned the Western Conference's No. 1 seed, as the Thunder became only the sixth team with a three-season streak as a top playoff seed since the league went to the 16-team playoff format in 1983-84, according to ESPN Research. The other five teams -- the 1984 to 1988 Boston Celtics, 1984 to 1990 Los Angeles Lakers, 1996 to 1998 Chicago Bulls, 2008 to 2010 Lakers and 2015 to 2017 Golden State Warriors -- all won multiple championships in that span.

Only the Bulls and Warriors recorded more wins over a two-year span than the Thunder, who have 132 regular-season wins in the past two campaigns, going 68-14 last season and 64-16 with two games left this season.

"It's impressive," said reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 20 points and 11 assists in the win over the Clippers. "Obviously, none of it means anything if you don't win in the end, and you know that. But teams that win in the end have some of the same characteristics and traits and check off the same boxes.

"So checking off those boxes is kind of just like knowing we're headed in the right direction. Obviously, we're far from the finish line of where we want to go, but like I said, it lets us know we're heading right there."

The Thunder are attempting to become only the fifth team in NBA history to have the league's best record and win the championship in back-to-back seasons. The feat was last accomplished by the Michael Jordan-led Bulls in 1995-96 and 1996-97. The Lakers (1986-87 and 1987-88) are the only other team to pull it off since the ABA-NBA merger five decades ago.

Oklahoma City held off the San Antonio Spurs to clinch the league's top seed despite dealing with several significant injuries throughout the season, including wrist and hamstring injuries that have limited All-NBA forward Jalen Williams to only 33 games.

The Thunder jumped out to a record-tying 24-1 start, fueling rampant discussion about the possibility they could threaten the 2015-16 Warriors' mark of 73 regular-season wins. That topic was halted by a 6-6 stretch for Oklahoma City in December and early January that included three losses to the Spurs in a 12-day span.

San Antonio reeled off 26 wins in 28 games beginning Feb. 1 to put pressure on Oklahoma City, but the Spurs never caught the Thunder in the standings. Oklahoma City finished strong to earn the top seed, going 19-1 since Gilgeous-Alexander returned from an abdominal strain on Feb. 27.

"It's a great accomplishment," Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. "No two seasons are the same, and this season was a lot of different experiences. We obviously started really hot and then dealt with a lot of missed games, especially in the middle of the season. We felt like two months we were enduring that. And this team, when you win the championship, that kind of hangs over you as a team the next year. Meaning everybody, including ourselves, you judge yourself against that.

"It's incredibly hard to be present in the next regular season. I learned so much from this team because of their ability to come in every day and just embrace the day and the challenge that we had that day and not look backwards, not look forwards and just attack every challenge together with a level of zest and joy is really impressive. And it's why I think we had the season we did."