By almost every measure, the Oklahoma City Thunder are well ahead of the curve for a team with relative inexperience, with their place in the Western Conference standings confirming that irrefutable truth.
The Thunder entered the season with the second-youngest roster in the NBA, with only the San Antonio Spurs taking the court with a younger group on a given night.
Yet, entering Wednesday’s road game against the Houston Rockets, the Thunder are second in the West behind the surprising Minnesota Timberwolves, having taken full advantage of the critical experience gleaned from their unexpected run to the play-in tournament last season.
With that core burnished by the addition of center Chet Holmgren, the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for October and November, the Thunder appear set to shatter the glass ceiling for younger squads.
Central to their early-season success is how the Thunder have played on the road, where they sport a .778 winning percentage, 7-2, compared with a 6-4 mark in Oklahoma City. The secret to that success isn’t at all complicated.
The Rockets have yet to solve that riddle, recently completing an 0-3 road trip that left them as the lone winless team on the road in the NBA. Even the struggling Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards, whose five combined wins are three fewer than the Rockets’ total, have won on the road.
The San Antonio Spurs, mired in a 14-game skid, recorded their lone home win of the season on Oct. 27 against Houston.
Despite their road woes, the Rockets are 10th in the West at roughly the quarter pole of the schedule and occupy a play-in spot. Houston is riding an eight-game home winning streak and, following a 10-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, spent subsequent practices addressing specifics causing troubles on the road.
