OKC opens title defense with OT feat unseen in NBA history

Say it is Oklahoma City Thunderreigning champion, having a huge target on his back would be a huge understatement. Every team wants to grab the Thunder’s chain, and there isn’t a team in the entire NBA that wants to get revenge on OKC more than the Indiana Pacers — the team OKC defeated to win its first title.

On Thursday night, the Thunder and Pacers faced off in a rematch of the 2025 NBA Finals, and as one would expect, Oklahoma City got the biggest blow it could get from Indiana even though they without Tyrese Halliburton and TJ McConnell.

Thanks to some heroics by Pascal Siakam in regulation and an impressive defensive stop by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in overtime, the Pacers pushed this game to double overtime, marking the first time in NBA history that Oklahoma City has started a season in double overtime, as pointed out by ClutchPoints NBA Insider Brett Siegel.

In fact, Thunder only became the first team in 24 years to open the season with two straight overtimes, according to Dan Feldman of the Dunc’d On podcast.

The Thunder are sure to get the best shot of any team, and there’s no greater indication of that than the Pacers and Houston Rockets going all out in OKC’s first two games of the new campaign.

The entire league knows that the Thunder are now the league’s gold standard, and every team wants to match the defending champions. But just like in Game 1, this Thunder team is just too good, especially Gilgeous-Alexander — who wasted no time in recording his first 50-point game of the season with an insane outburst against the Pacers.

The Thunder start the season 2-0 after two 2OT games

This Thunder team is not fully healthy to start the season. Jaylen Williams is still recovering from offseason wrist surgery, and OKC was without its two isolation defensive guards Thursday night in Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso, both of whom played big roles in the opening night win against the Houston Rockets.

Even then, the Thunder have now started the season 2-0, thanks in large part to Gilgeous-Alexander’s greatness. He made free throws against the Rockets, baiting Kevin Durant, and on Thursday he scored a career-high 55 points in a single game. Another MVP season could be in the cards for Gilgeous-Alexander if this continues.