During the portion of this NBA season that fell within the calendar year of 2018, the Thunder’s route to winning games employed by the Thunder was clear — stifling defense to compensate for a poor offense. This showed in the ratings relative to the rest of the league. OKC ended the year ranked first in defense by a significant margin, and 20th in offense.
Since the turn of the New Year, those numbers have flipped in a potentially unprecedented way. In 2019, the Thunder has ranked 8th in offensive rating while falling all the way to 19th in defensive rating.