The Oklahoma City Thunder Have the Title Mix

NBA champions are often glorified as elite two-way outfits that create buckets with ease and lock down opponents as second nature. Such is the benefit of a spotlit retrospective; the playoff's result often colors the way we reflect on previous victors, as we approach their flaws armed with the knowledge that they won't prove fatal, and can evaluate their successes without caveat.

For once, achievement is able to be just that—one particular team is able to revel in their fact that they stand alone as the NBA's champions, and the basketball-loving world can bask in—by virtue of the playoff format, the closest thing professional sports have to a definite victor.

But it's important that we appreciate prior champions without exalting them. No championship squad has been perfect, and although some have looked more dominant than others, most fall into a simple and general formula: They play elite basketball on one end of the floor and perform adequately on the other. Rare is the team that is wholly elite, and yet as a result of recalling single shots or defensive stops, we have a way of convincing ourselves that every championship team is utterly complete.

In truth, the absolute threshold for winning a title is much lower, a fact that serves to benefit the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as any other semi-stilted squad. OKC's offense is incredible and prolific, but thus far, the Thunder have managed some incredible success despite playing less-than-elite defense. There's no question that with active perimeter D and an incredible shot-blocker in tow that the Thunder are capable of playing situationally spectacular defense, but on the whole, they've ranked as a below-average defense in the playoffs thus far and finished the regular season just outside of the top 10 in defensive efficiency. The capacity to apply pressure and get stops is certainly within them, but the Thunder are merely solid—and not routinely excellent—in that regard.

As it turns out, that's more than enough. Defense wins championships only as much as offense does, as we saw with last season's Dallas Mavericks, an elite offensive team capable of strong defensive stretches can still put themselves in a position to succeed, matchups permitting. So while the Thunder may only play top-notch D for memorable—but singular—stretches, their offense pushes them into title-worthy company.