West-topping Thunder have 'eyes on the prize'

The Oklahoma City Thunder clinched the Western Conference top seeding ahead of defending champions the Denver Nuggets, but they are not "celebrating" as the National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season wrapped up on April 14.

- 

Rookie centre Chet Holmgren told ESPN: "I wouldn't say celebratory so much as just kind of recognising the fruition of all the hard work that we've been putting in.

"But we're not celebrating, because what we're trying to do, we're not there yet. So, we still have eyes on the prize, locked in." The youthful Thunder rolled past the play-offs-bound Dallas Mavericks who rested Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving among others - 135-86 to emerge from the trio of teams who went into the final day of action tied atop the West.

It marked the first time that three teams entered their final games with identical records, all with a shot at being the No. 1 seeds in a conference.

Thanks to the Thunder's edge in their head-to-head record, the Nuggets' 126-111 victory over the Grizzlies in Memphis was not enough and the Minnesota Timberwolves, who also had a chance, fell 125-106 to the Phoenix Suns.