After their win over the New York Knicks Saturday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena, the Oklahoma City Thunder finished a span of 13 games in 21 nights to open the season and the team still finds itself on top of the Western Conference.

Having won 11 of their 13 contests after the grueling start to the 66-game season, the Thunder have to be considered one of the most enduring teams in the league. They have battled through four back-to-backs and came away with three victories in their lone triple-dip of the season. OKC’s only two losses came at the beginning of January when they lost in Dallas and at home against Portland in consecutive nights. Since then, they have won six straight.

“We’ve done a good job with our time, practices and priorities,” Scott Brooks said about the Thunder’s tough schedule to start the season. “Our guys (players) deserve the credit. They focus in and play with great energy. They execute and give us a chance to win. We’ve had a tough start, but we managed to fight through it and have played well.”

The only team in the NBA with a better record than Oklahoma City is the Chicago Bulls, who finished with the best record in the league in 2010-2011. The Bulls have also fought through a tough schedule to open the year. They have played in five back-to-backs and swept their triple-dip as well. However, their three games in a row were against Detroit, Minnesota and Washington, three teams that will likely be left out of the playoffs. Although the Thunder defeated Houston twice in their three,-timer, they did beat San Antonio who has the second best record in the Western Conference.

After blowing out the Knicks for three quarters Saturday, the Thunder completed their fourth home game in which the starters didn’t step on the court in the fourth quarter. The team did the same thing against Phoenix, Houston and San Antonio as well.

“We’re young, but we’re definitely going to need our legs during this long season,” Thunder sixth man James Harden said after Saturday’s game. “If we can get guys like me and the second unit to play a lot of minutes it will definitely make things easier.”

Oklahoma City’s bench has stepped up in the team’s tough stretch. Harden, arguably the NBA’s best sixth man, is playing just under 30 minutes per game and is averaging better than 17 points. Nick Collison is playing over 20 minutes per game and is leading the team in field goal percentage. Daequan Cook has stepped up as the team’s 3-point specialist and Reggie Jackson has played solid minutes since the team lost backup point guard, Eric Maynor, for the season.

“With all of our guys, it always comes down to giving consistent effort,” Brooks said. “I don’t have to coach the effort and rarely will we have to talk about not having it one night. I believe that all minutes should be played hard and played well.”

Oklahoma City’s schedule doesn’t get any easier in the near future. They travel to Boston to take on the Celtics in the first of three straight road games on the east coast. They only play three of their next 14 games at the Chesapeake Arena and are set to compete in their first 5-game road trip of the season starting Feb. 4.

“It’s been tough,” Kevin Durant said after Saturday’s game. “I think we’ve gotten through it and have stayed focused. It’s been a long, short season if that makes any sense.”