The Oklahoma City Thunder have turned it around in the past month, finishing games much more efficiently than in the early stretch of the season, allowing them to take the next step competing for a championship.

OKC had built an indescribable bad habit of letting teams back into games after building massive leads at the half, seen mostly as not being able to finish games. But after Dec. 7, the Thunder switched their sneakers for boots, stepping in the throat of any team they've left in the dust with their gifted offensive firepower.

The Thunder have had a double-digit lead in 31 of the 46 games played this season, going 23-8 when managing a lead of 10 points or more, according to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Their last loss in that particular scenario was an embarrassing one to the Brooklyn Nets in Mexico City, a team which they will face on Tuesday after surrendering a 16-point lead to them in front of the Mexican crowd.

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OKC is now an impressive 13-0 when it getting a double-digit lead since that Dec. 7 night, and it wasn't any more evident than during a 24-point destruction of the Eastern Conference champions Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.

“When teams would make their comeback, I thought we went into sort of a shock where we played uptight, we didn't play as loose, and then we tried to will the game back on our own,” said forward Paul George of the blown leads to start the season.

“I thought tonight we kept the pace going. As soon as they scored, it was a quick inbound, we're coming right back down.”

The Thunder have now put all these quarters together, ensuring their offensive effort doesn't go to waste down the stretch, and figuring out a way to hold on to their lead at both ends of the court.