Oklahoma City Thunder has a chance to do a little more history when they host Chicago Bulls on Monday.
Thunder enters the match 27-1 against opponents in the Eastern Conference this season and another victory would set an NBA record for most victories against an opposite conference in the league.
It is only the latest shot to perform the outstanding for a team that has set high benchmarks much of the season.
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the leading candidate for the most valuable player, has largely brushed the benchmarks along the way and says it does not matter unless Oklahoma City can achieve its final goal to win a championship.
Gilgeous-Alexander said that General Manager Sam Presti put that tone at the beginning of the 2022-23 season after Chet Holmgren, No. 2 election in the 2022 NBA draft, went down with an injury that kept him out all season.
“Sam came in this year’s first meeting and said that our fate is ours to control and if we prioritize winning we will win,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think everyone got that message high and clear and we have taken it and run with it in recent years and we have taken action because of it.”
Thunder (62-12) enters Monday’s game in a winning line on nine games, still with a chance to become the third team in the NBA story to win 70 or more matches during a season if they win out.
Oklahoma City is three wins from breaking the franchise for most victories during a season, which was set in 1995-96 when the franchise was in Seattle.
Even after dressing the top spot in the Western Conference, Thunder has continued to stand out.
Their five wins ago have come on an average of 19 points per match. Oklahoma City has won 48 matches this season with double digits.
Bulls (33-41) enters the game and fights for positioning in the Eastern Conference Play-in race.
Chicago is bound with Miami for ninth place in the conference with Bulls that holds tiebreaker with the heat.
Bulls has won four of their last five but comes from a loss of 120-119 to Dallas on Saturday.
The Bulls coach Billy Donovan has challenged his team to approach every game as if it is a playoffs in the route.
It does not think it is too difficult to do it Monday in Oklahoma City.
“I would think from Atlanta to ourselves, to Orlando to Miami, every game you jockey there,” Donovan said. “We will all gather together. All these games are so. To be honest with you, it is so we have tried to treat it.”
Oklahoma City won the season’s first meeting between the team, 114-95, October 26 in Chicago.
Monday’s game will be the first game back in Oklahoma City for Josh Giddey, who spent his first three seasons with Thunder before traded during the off -season in a store that led Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City.
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