The Oklahoma City Thunder had the Paycom Center roaring as they dominated the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 to clinch an NBA Finals berth.
Oklahoma City will await the winner of the Eastern Conference finals series between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, but with the way they're playing, they'll be a difficult opponent for anyone to beat.
In fact, there's one key area in which the Thunder have been completely dominating the rest of the NBA throughout the playoffs: turnover differential. Through 16 playoff games this year, Oklahoma City has a +100 turnover differential. They're on pace for the best mark in NBA history, by a lot.
Top 5 teams by turnover differential in NBA playoff history pic.twitter.com/M6SoQwpr21
— Owen Phillips (@owenlhjphillips) May 29, 2025
The 2019 Toronto Raptors are the current holders of that record, having logged a +79 turnover differential when they won the championship. They're followed by the 1996 and '97 Chicago Bulls, with both teams coming in at +72. The Thunder could best all of those teams, thanks to the combination of their composed play on offense and their tenacious, mistake-forcing defense.
There's still at least four (and at most seven) games left to play, but the Thunder are taking care of the ball, and causing their opponents not to, at a historic rate thus far into the playoffs.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Thunder Are Lapping the Field at a Historic Rate in One Crucial Stat During Playoffs.
