The Indiana Pacers are 6-18 and are among the worst teams in the NBA. Still, they should take solace in the fact that they managed to take the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder (who are now 24-1 and on pace for a historic season) to double-overtime in their season opener, while many other teams are getting blown out by them. (Not to mention they almost beat them in the NBA Finals earlier in the year as well).
Indiana met up with the Thunder in a rematch from last season's NBA Finals to begin the season and took the game to double-overtime, ultimately losing 141-135.
Moral victories typically don't mean much in sports, but for the Pacers, they need all the victories they can get right now. And in some ways, this is one of their biggest ones of the season.
The Pacers aren't scared of the Thunder
The Thunder were the best team in the league last season with a 68-14 record. They also were the No. 1-ranked defense with a 107.5 DRTG, and they were led by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Even so, Indiana took them to seven games in the NBA Finals and maybe would've won the whole thing had Tyrese Haliburton not suffered an Achilles injury.
This season, the Thunder are somehow even better. They are better in just about every metric, including their defense (104.7 DRTG so far), and they are destroying their opponents on a nightly basis.
25 games into the season, the Thunder have a 17.4 point differential, according to ESPN.com. The Houston Rockets are second with a 10.6 point differential. For some context, they broke the record last season with a 12.8 point differential and are on pace to beat that comfortably this season.
Despite all of this, the Pacers played them very well in their opening night loss and only lost by six points.
As it stands, it's looking like the Thunder are on their way to repeat as champions. And it isn't even that close. They were the best team in the league last year and are looking like they will be again this season. Not only are they on the quest for a repeat, but they are very realistically in reach of the single-season wins record the Golden State Warriors broke in 2015-16 with 73.
This Thunder team is going to go down in the history books. Yet, even in a season of disappointment, Indiana proved it can go head-to-head with them. And that's something worth keeping in mind when they look to re-enter the title picture next season.