Not since the first game of the 2016 Western Conference Finals at Golden State has Oklahoma City won a playoff game on the road.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Dion Waiters put a hand in Steph Curry’s face as he launched a shot from behind the arc. 

When it careened off, Andre Roberson grabbed the ball and took a few dribbles as the final horn sounded. Steven Adams patted Roberson on the head as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook strode confidently across the Warriors’ court.

“It is another road victory in the playoffs for the Oklahoma City Thunder,” TNT announcer Marv Albert said on the broadcast that day at Oracle Arena.

That victory at Golden State in the opening game of the 2016 Western Conference Finals was Oklahoma City’s fifth road win of those playoffs. Six times, OKC had played on the road in the postseason. Five times, the Thunder had won, a remarkable feat.

Thing is, that victory is the last road playoff win for Oklahoma City. 

You read right: it’s been more than eight years since this franchise last won on the road during the playoffs. The Thunder has played true playoff road games a dozen times since then, and it hasn’t won a single one of them.

Oh-for-12.

Things have gotten so wacky that the Thunder lost the four games it was designated the road team in its 2020 first-round playoff series against the Rockets. Those games were held in the COVID-era bubble, a neutral site if there ever was one, and still, OKC lost its four “road games” and won its three “home games.”

Seems a bit ominous.

Still, as the Thunder prepares to go on the road for the first time in these playoffs — 2:30 p.m. Saturday at New Orleans — there should be optimism the Thunder will break this losing streak. Even though this bunch is relatively inexperienced in the playoffs, it has a lot going for it that should help it win on the road.

So, what makes teams successful on the road in the playoffs?

“You have to do the controllable things really well,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Defense travels. The possession battle travels. Shot quality travels. So that’s what we need to bring with us.”

So far in this series against the Pelicans, the Thunder has done well in those three areas.

Defense: In Game 1, New Orleans shot only 38.5% from the floor 28.2% from behind the arc, an abysmal performance. It was a bit better in Game 2, shooting 45.2% from the floor but still only 26.9% from deep.

That held the Pelicans to 92 points in both games.

The Thunder has a Brandon Ingram neutralizer in Lu Dort and a wiry warrior in Chet Holmgren who has stood up to every shoulder put into his midsection by Jonas Valanciunas. In addition, OKC has an army of rangy, talented perimeter defenders including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace.

The Thunder’s defense was one of the best in the league during the regular season, and it has been splendid so far in the playoffs.

Possession battle: What Daigneault means by this is trying to steal possessions by causing turnovers, drawing offensive fouls and getting defensive rebounds. Basically keeping the other team from having a chance at more shots.

The Thunder wasn’t so hot in the possession battle in Game 1. It turned the ball over 14 times while only causing 13 by the Pelicans. On the offensive glass, New Orleans had 18 offensive rebounds — OKC had eight by comparison — and the Pels had a 24-11 edge in second-chance points.

Safe to say, OKC won that game despite losing the possession battle.

But in Game 2, the Thunder was way, way better. It forced the Pelicans into 17 turnovers, including eight on offensive fouls, while only committing eight turnovers. And even though the Pels had eight offensive rebounds to the Thunder’s five, OKC had a 9-8 advantage in second-chance points.

That helped the Thunder go from a two-point nailbiter in Game 1 to a 32-point blowout in Game 2.

Shot quality: Even when Thunder shots were going clang, clang, clang like the trolley in Game 1, the shot selection was good. OKC probably got some better shots in Game 2, but in both games, it got and took quality shots.

That’s no small thing because the Pelicans play solid defense. Not as good as the Thunder’s, but still, formidable.

The Pelicans have a bunch of guys with Inspector Gadget arms — they seem impossibly long and just keep going and going. They can get in passing lanes. They can disrupt an opposing offense. Throw in a wide body like Valanciunas, and the Pelicans can make it hard for opponents to get good shots.

That hasn’t been the case for the Thunder.

So, the Thunder has to feel good about the three areas that Daigneault believes are important for road success. But of course, OKC will now have to do those things on New Orleans’ turf.

“They’re gonna be loud,” Dort said. “We’ve got to make the right play and really execute. We’ve got to block the noise.”

Daigneault said, “We never want to walk into something that we’re not expecting. So we have to expect a live crowd, No. 1, and a hungry team, No. 2. Those are very predictable forces that we’re going to be up against.”

Even though New Orleans had robust crowds for its Play-In Tournament games last week, Smoothie King Arena isn’t exactly known as a tough road environment. It’s not like Madison Square Garden or TD Garden. Pels fans aren’t known to bring the rowdy like fans of the Warriors or Nuggets or yes, Thunder.

The Pelicans haven’t been great at home this year either. New Orleans was only 21-19 at home during the regular season; OKC by comparison was 33-8.

Plus, this iteration of the Thunder has actually won a postseason game at New Orleans.

Not a playoff game but a postseason game.

Last year, the Thunder went to New Orleans and beat the Pelicans in the first game of the Play-In Tournament. It was a high-stakes postseason game, and OKC got the road win.

There’s likely comfort in that.

The Pelicans sure could use Zion Williamson in their playoff series against the Thunder, but he’s unlikely to return from a hamstring injury.

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“We just need to focus on the possessions and executing and competing and doing it together like we always do and allowing that to win the day,” Daigneault said. “That’s been our mentality all year and dating back to last season.”

Still, this team only needs to look at the franchise’s recent history to know winning on the road in the playoffs is no easy task. The Thunder has sixteen consecutive losses in road playoff games, whether true road games or designated road games in the bubble.

In 2016, the Thunder dropped the three remaining road games at Golden State in the Western Conference Finals. Of course, OKC wouldn’t have needed to go back to Oakland for Game 7 had it not imploded in that infamous Game 6.

Since then, all of OKC’s road playoff losses have come in the first round.

Three games at Houston in 2017, the first season without KD when it was Russ and his triple doubles against the world.

Three games at Utah in 2018 when Paul George and Carmelo Anthony had joined the band but a young Donovan Mitchell shone brighter for the Jazz than any Thunder star.

Three games at Portland in 2019 when the series ended with Dame Time and one of the most iconic shots in playoff history.

Four designated road games against Houston in the 2020 bubble. Again, this is so weird because all of the games were played on neutral courts completely devoid of fans, but OKC won its three “home” games and lost its four “road” games.

Average margin of victory at “home”: 6.3 points.

Average margin of defeat on the “road”: 15.8 points.

Again, it’s wacky, weird stuff, but the road losing streak in the playoffs doesn’t worry Daigneault. He was on the Thunder bench as an assistant for every one of those losses. He was also there for that impressive string of road wins during the 2016 playoffs, back in the before times, when coaches still wore suits and ties on the bench. 

He knows what’s needed to be successful, and he likes what this current team has to take on the road to New Orleans.

“We’ve shown great poise and focus at many different points in the season, including some of the home games, but we built that muscle,” Daigneault said. “The team’s got great maturity, and our ability to focus through distractions and noise has been great to this point. 

“But you’re only as good as the next time you have to do that, and so that’s our challenge. We can’t get distracted by the series being 2-0. We can’t get distracted by the road crowd or really anything else. We’ve just got to stay focused on the things that are going to stack up to a win, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

That means worrying about defense, possession battle and shot quality.

Not a dozen consecutive road playoff losses.