THUNDER UP!
This is by far the most confident I have been in the Oklahoma City Thunder since Kevin Durant’s last season with the team (2016) before jumping ship to the 73-9 Warriors. I don’t know why the Oklahoma City Thunder are the 6th seed. But that is what makes them a sleeper in the western conference.
Mapping out the Playoffs.
The Oklahoma City Thunder can make a deep playoff run as long as they don’t run into the Nuggets or the Warriors. Fortunately, the Thunder should not have to go through an ugly first-round exit like last season as they will be matched up with the Portland Trailblazers in the first round. A favorable first-round matchup for the 6th seeded Thunder over the 3rd seeded Trailblazers as the Thunder season swept Portland winning all 4 regular season games. I expect Oklahoma City to close out the series in no more than 5-6 games. Paul George has had a lingering shoulder injury, however, he said he is playing on Sunday (Game 1) regardless.
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In the second round of the playoffs, the Thunder will have to go up against the winner between the Nuggets and Spurs series. Head to head the Spurs and Nuggets are 2-2. Both teams are winless at the others home stadium (Nuggets 2-0 at home, Spurs 2-0 at home) when going head to head. The Nuggets are the higher seed in this series, so if the Spurs want a legitimate chance to win the series, they need to somehow nab a win in the first two games. Likely outcome here is that the Nuggets move on and potentially knock the Oklahoma City Thunder out in the second round as the Thunder remain winless against the Nuggets this season, losing by a margin of 5 or more points in each loss. It’s unfortunate that the Oklahoma City Thunder’s season could be over in the second round if they were to play the Nuggets. They definitely need to bring their A-game against Denver, but if they have hopes to win that playoff series, they might have to play from behind and force a game 7. Now hypothetically if Oklahoma City somehow advances to the Western Conference Finals, it could be a matchup against the Rockets…
The reason this could happen is that the Rockets and Warriors are on a crash course to play in the second round. The Rockets pose the biggest threat to the defending champs as they have bested them 3/4 times this season. Interestingly enough, Oklahoma City has bested the Rockets 3/4 times this season however, they have been bested by the Warriors 2/3 times this season. In fact, Oklahoma City’s track record against the Warriors is so bad that they have won a mere 4 regular season games since the start of the 2014-15 season. You can add another 3 wins to that head to head as the Thunder-Warriors have played one another only once in the playoffs since 1993. That playoff matchup was the 2016 western conference finals aka Kevin Durant’s last seven games as a member of the Thunder. Okay enough mulling in the past, back to the present! In this year’s playoffs, Oklahoma City’s toughest opponent is going to be in the second round… most probably the Denver Nuggets. First, let’s see if they can get past them and then we will dream to see a playoff matchup between KD and his former team for the first time.
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Final Take.
This team is centered around Russell Westbrook and new go-to running mate Paul George. Westbrook leads the league with 784 assists. (10.7 per game) while Paul George leads the league with 170 steals (2.2 per game). Oklahoma City needs to play together as a team and Paul George has to be the heart and soul of this team. Sure the point guard or in this case, Russell Westbrook is looked at as the “leader” of this unit, however with the way George has played on both ends of the ball, it’s tough to ignore. He’s having a career year and his name has been tossed around as a dark-horse in the MVP race. On top of that the Thunder have won 18 games this season when trailing by 10 or more points, the most in the NBA.
