First-place Thunder vow to keep improving, turn to face Pistons

The Oklahoma City Thunder qualified for the playoffs with their latest victory. Their aim now is to play at a peak level when the postseason begins next month.

The Thunder (54-12) will visit the Detroit Pistons on Saturday after defeating Boston on the defending champion's home floor, 118-112, on Wednesday.

Oklahoma City has a 12-game lead in the conference but doesn't want any slippage in the coming weeks.

"We have a lot to get better at," star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. "To play the final game of the season in late June is a long, long ways away. I would hope we're not playing our championship basketball (now). I hope we get -- how many months is that? Three. I guess we have three months to get better now. I hope we get better and are playing way better basketball than we are now."

It would be difficult for Gilgeous-Alexander to do much more. The top candidate for the league's Most Valuable Player award had 34 points, seven assists and five rebounds in 39 minutes against the Celtics. He's averaging 32.8 points, 6.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 52.5 percent from the field.

Defeating Boston twice this season carried special meaning.

"It's huge," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Because (the Celtics have) done it, because they've done what we're trying to do, the games against them are always going to be heightened. They're always going to be a little bit more exciting. They achieved what we are trying to accomplish, and there's no better test in the NBA.

"You play for late June, and the other team had won late June. So playing against them is always fun, always a really big challenge and something that we get to test ourselves against them. I guess we passed two tests so far."

The next test comes against the much-improved Pistons (37-30), who were kicking themselves after losing at home to lottery-bound Washington 129-125 on Thursday. Detroit had defeated the Wizards by 20 points two nights earlier.

"We gave up 69 points in the first half (and gave up) backdoor layup after backdoor layup," Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "We didn't get back in transition. I think they had 20 fastbreak points in the first half. We allowed them to believe that they could. When you give any NBA team belief, on any given night anybody can win."

According to backup center Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons came into the game overconfident.

"From the start of the game, we didn't take this matchup as serious," he said. "Obviously, you can look at a team, look at their record. It's a position we were in last year. We didn't play Detroit basketball (Thursday). We allowed them to stay in the game, gave them confidence and that hurt us. It hurt us and we ended up losing."

The game within the game on Saturday will feature a matchup between Gilgeous-Alexander and Detroit All-Star guard Cade Cunningham. He's averaging 31.7 points and 8.2 assists over the last six games, including a 38-point, 10-assist outing against Washington.

The Thunder will likely be without All-Star forward Jalen Williams. He missed the Celtics showdown with a hip strain.

--Field Level Media