Five Teams Who Think They Can Take Down the Thunder And Why They’re Probably Wrong

It’s all about beating the Thunder this NBA season.

And after what we witnessed on the heavyweight Christmas Day schedule, at least five teams have to feel better about their chances.

Here’s a look at Thursday’s five winners and what it’ll take – if it’s even possible – to be considered a serious threat to dethrone the defending champions.

New York Knicks

They’ll have a chance to beat the Thunder if … The Eastern Conference continues to offer a much less taxing path to the Finals. We saw the energetic Pacers, having benefitted from injuries to Damian Lillard, Darius Garland and Jayson Tatum along the way, nearly take down the Thunder in last year’s championship series. So why not the Knicks? They’d love to follow the Warriors’ path to an improbable title in 2015, which was built on the foundation of a defense emphasized by Mark Jackson, then given an offensive implant when the coach was fired and replaced by Steve Kerr.

Key player: Jordan Clarkson. Thursday's winners averaged 126 points. Let’s face it: Good offense is beating good defense this season, just as the NBA rules-tinkerers have wanted. So why wouldn’t that be the case in the playoffs as well? New coach Mike Brown is given credit for supercharging the New York offense this season. He might be the skipper, but Clarkson is driving the speedboat. The Knicks are 11-2 when he’s scored 11 or more points this season. And when he’s scored 25, like he did Thursday against the Cavaliers? 1-0. And he's just warming up.

San Antonio Spurs

They’ll have a chance to beat the Thunder if … Based on what we’ve shockingly witnessed this week, perhaps a better supposition would consider the Thunder’s chances of beating the Spurs. So much for all the blather about dynasties and record-setting win totals. 

All of a sudden, they're talking LOSING STREAK in the heartland. All because the basketball world now realizes – if they didn’t before – that Gregg Popovich is the premier roster-builder. Yes, even better than old pal Sam Presti. The Thunder might have gotten surprised Tuesday in San Antonio, but they got embarrassed Thursday in Oklahoma. The Spurs, brilliantly pieced together by Pop and now coached by his hand-picked replacement, are for real.

Key player: De’Aaron Fox. The Spurs match up well with the Thunder. Stephon Castle is as capable as anyone of slowing down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and with Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs will always have the best big man on the court. That should keep San Antonio in most games, setting the stage for Fox, one of the clutchest performers today’s game has to offer. The fact that he hasn’t spent 47 minutes chasing around SGA would help keep those shots falling, even on a totally unfamiliar center stage fit for kings, not Kings.

Golden State Warriors

They’ll have a chance to beat the Thunder if … OK, it ain’t going to happen. The NBA has more athletes these days than at any time in their history. And the Warriors have the fewest since the Pittsburgh Ironmen trotted out five plumbers in the 1940s. 

Short of adding Giannis, Golden State won’t be squeezing another banner into the rafters this season. But trading Jonathan Kuminga for a defensive-minded tag-team partner for De’Anthony Melton to suffocate SGA would help. The question is: Which rebuilding team would give up a Jrue Holiday, Matisse Thybulle, Grayson Allen or – dare we say? – Dillon Brooks for a chance to light a fire under Kuminga?

Key player: Al Horford. The veteran admitted this week he’s been embarrassingly bad this season. Maybe that’s a good thing. If it inspires him to rattle off 3-pointers like he did Thursday and guard the big guys Draymond Green no longer wants to deal with, the Warriors will be able to put the league's most feared foursome of winners on the floor at the end of close games. And those 17 games Horford has already missed? The Warriors would gladly trade in 17 more to have Christmas Al show up again right around St. Patrick’s Day.

Houston Rockets

They’ll have a chance to beat the Thunder if … The calendar flips to 2027 next week instead of 2026. Because as innovative, versatile and entertaining as the Rockets are, they’re still a year away from figuring out what’s likely to continue to work and what’s been successful only because opponents aren’t familiar with what they’re seeing. Still, Houston’s oversized lineup is a force to be reckoned with. And while the Thunder can go Twin Towers with the best of them, the Rockets can go Quad Khalifa and make you disappear. Like Luka and LeBron did Thursday.

Key player: Kevin Durant. Well, duh. OK, but not for the reasons you might think. At age 37, Durant should be guarding slower power forwards and shooting over undersized small forwards. Instead, he’s stuck with dealing with guys like Luka because the Rockets almost always have two bigger guys on the court, and he’s tasked with playing point guard at the other end because, well, Houston really doesn’t have any of those. Can he keep it up for 82 games? Probably not. But would you trust him on the big stage to handle both critical assignments? I think we all saw the answer to that.

Denver Nuggets

They’ll have a chance to beat the Thunder if … The refs get the memo. 

I don’t know what Anthony Edwards said to get ejected from what turned into the showcase’s main event, but I’m guessing it was something along the lines of: “They’re chanting ‘MVP! MVP!’ for Jokic, but I’m the guy who put up 40 playing 5-on-8.” No doubt, the NBA would love to see a Thunder-Nuggets rematch in the playoffs, but that probably would take a Denver win over San Antonio in the Western semifinals. Having given it a dry run Thursday, Adam Silver is fine-tuning his instructions to Scott Foster as we speak.

Key player: Tim Hardaway Jr. You were expecting someone else? Obviously, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray would have to come up huge for the Nuggets to beat the Spurs, let alone the Thunder. But like the Knicks, the headliners are going to need help at some point, and Denver’s depth is better than ever. With Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Cam Johnson out, it's shocking Denver can beat anybody. But those were the old Nuggets. 

This new Hardaway-led band of backups is getting an opportunity to introduce themselves to the big boys, and are doing so while demonstrating they won’t melt under the bright lights alongside their superstar mates. That experience can only help down the line.