There are a million and one different reasons to believe that the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder are still most likely to be crowned as the next NBA champion, too. Their recent play just isn't one of those reasons.
Their shooters are frigid, Jalen Williams doesn't look right, and their defense is more stingy than outright soul-snatching.
"They've just slipped from pick-a-god-and-start-to-pray levels of defensive dominance to merely incredibly elite defense," The Ringer's Rob Mahoney said on The Zach Lowe Show. "And the difference within that is all the pressure that it now puts on that offense, which on a given night might look like one of the best in the league, [but] on another might be a little rickety with the three-point variance.