OKC Must Capitalize in Remainder of Four-Game Home Stretch to Stay Near Top of the West

"The NBA doesn't care, your opponents don't care. Nobody cares," is what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had to say of the arduous January the Thunder has had to endure following their narrow loss to the Timberwolves on Monday night.

The 107-101 loss to Minnesota inside Paycom Center has since pinned Oklahoma City with a 10-6 record to begin the New Year, as the Thunder relinquished its top spot in the Western Conference.

Now, with one game left in January versus the now-No. 2 team in the West in the Denver Nuggets, the Thunder will look to close out this four-game home stretch with three straight wins into the month of February.

This won't be an easy task, but history thus far this season will tell you Oklahoma City should fair well through the remainder of this home stint.

The Thunder has yet to see defeat three times in a row this season, but has seen two consecutive losses five times this season – having most of their 15 losses on the season come in two-game bursts.

But following back-to-back losses, Oklahoma City has continually been able to adapt and recoup.

After each of the five times the Thunder has lost two in a row, the team has bounced back for at least two consecutive wins in spite of defeat – and also two times recovering for win streaks of four and five games. 

Looking forward, Oklahoma City will be matching up against a Denver team who's 7-2 in their last nine, though the Thunder have claimed the previous two meetings.

Following Denver, it will be two winnable matchups versus the Charlotte Hornets and the Toronto Raptors as they make their trek to Oklahoma City.

Now sitting two spots back from just a night ago, the No. 3 Thunder has a chance to either retake the second seed or possibly fall even further – as the Clippers remain poised at 30-15 in the fourth spot. 

And though this team has seemingly derived motivation out of its losses thus far, it'll possibly be competing without two highly impactful players in Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe – who both were forced to leave Monday night's loss versus the Timberwolves due to injury.

As game-time decisions, they'll be a huge factor as to whether or not the Thunder will be able to remain on the right track in what is a cluster of the top four teams in the Western Conference.

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