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With San Antonio blowing out the Blazers Monday night, the Thunder have found their position in the Western Conference playoffs — number two.
Oklahoma City will match up with either Dallas or Denver in the opening round of the playoffs. Currently Denver leads Dallas by a half game, but the Mavericks have the tiebreaker between the two teams and only one game to play (at Atlanta). The Nuggets have two games remaining, one being in OKC against the Thunder (and the other at Minnesota).
So with that in mind, the Thunder really could potentially control who they’d prefer to play in the first round. Scott Brooks has said he wouldn’t rest players, but if OKC preferred the Mavs to the Nuggets in the opening round, he might sit his stars for the second half and concede. I would imagine Brooks and the Thunder would rather match up with the Nuggets though, a team they’ve dominated over the past year. The Mavs, well, you know what happened with the Mavs.
It’s times like these where you can point directly to bad losses to the Rockets and Cavs at home or the road losses to the Kings and Wizards. Those type of giveaways are the difference in OKC securing home court throughout the Western playoffs and now potentially having to go on the road in the Western Finals for a Game 7.
Also, being the No. 2 seed means the Thunder will (likely) play the winner of the Lakers-Nuggets (or Mavs) series, avoiding the Clippers or Grizzlies. I suppose that’s a bonus.
There is something left to play for though. The Thunder and the Heat have identical records right now so OKC could work to try and have homecourt in a potential Finals matchup with the Heat. That’s obviously looking way down the road, but if there’s something to care about, it’s that. Otherwise, the regular season is effectively over for the Thunder and it’s just about being healthy for the playoffs.
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When is the playoff schedule released? Will they stick to a game-day off-game-day off schedule to get to the finals by June?
Also if Dallas in our Rd1 opponent, then how long of a drive is it to Dallas? (Actually i'll just Google that :-) )
Sure hoping there is a home game during my time in OKC... small window
@ThunderBelize Dallas is just under 3 hours to drive.
Harden will not play the last 2 games. Whats taking so long with Artest Punishment!
I refuse to refer to him a metta world peace he is far from Peace. Refer to him as the scum he is, Artest
@OkcBaby Scum? i mean he only has like 110 games worth of suspensions in his career thats not to bad right?
I want the Lakers and Mavs. Bring it on! Revenge would be so sweet
Give me the Nuggets. Then the Lakers. Then the Spurs. Then the Heat. Then the Ring.
hmmm decisions, decisions. Its clear that the thunder would roll through denver in 4 games...maybe building up their esteem, getting them pumped. Course, beating dallas in the opening round could do the same, but yet prove to be tougher. idk man.
I don't see OKC rolling over anybody in the first round if James Harden is not back on the floor and in normal form. He's such an integral part of our offense. Hope James is good to go in Game 1 against whoever we play.
@El Prez
Why wouldn't Harden be fully healthy? Everything so far indicates he should fully ready for the start of the playoffs.
@El Prez I have high hopes for us, but I don't see us rolling over anybody in any round, period.
Wouldn't be at all surprised if Denver beat LAL (assuming standings hold) prior to us getting a crack at them. Denver's 8-4 in April, gallonari is back after a couple of injuries, & Bynum may have mentally checked out after being benched in the game yesterday. Any way you slice it, hard to see how it could've played out any better for us matchup-wise. That being said, I participate in a NBA playoff bet every year & I'm picking SA over miami in 6 in the finals. When $'s involved I think w/my head not my heart.
@Loose Sluggage haha if we beat SA or they get knocked out i'm sure you'll be glad to pay
@OBoymuzik @Loose Sluggage That's the best advantage of not betting on your team.
WE GOT THIS!
Why are we allowing the highest ft% of any team in the NBA? Is it a psychological thing, where we make all our free throws so the opponents feel the need to make theirs? Are our fans behind the basket not doing a good enough job?
I think we should start a trend in the playoffs where instead of making all that noise when the other team is shooting, just be SILENT. Someone start that
@persiansooner13 maybe in general, we just foul their better free throw shooters?
I wish that stat was not on the Thunder page on Yahoo quite so prominently. I get frustrated with it every time I go there and see it because it seems like bad luck for us.
Our home crowd is supposed to be so good. You would think this would help in that regard.
Maybe since we shoot so well at the line, other teams approach the charity stripe with more focus than usual knowing they need to match us there?
@persiansooner13 you know ive been wondering this too. Like a guy will go to the line whos like a 27% free throw shooter and then go like 6-6 or more against us. Last year in particular i remember dwight howard being one of the worst free throw shooters in the league and he hit like 12 of them on us in the 4th quarter. I was literally screaming WTF IS GOING ON!?!?!?! i chalked it up to nano machines or something lol
@Legendary_dork @persiansooner13 we allow .792 FT% at home but .752 FT% at road.But last season we only allowed .752 FT% which was 4th best..
It is not easy to explain.
@persiansooner13 hopefully it balances out in the playoffs
Bring on the Mavs - I'd rather end their playoff run with a tough series right out of the gate than roll over Denver.
@courtsense Just want you to know I clicked Like very very tentatively. . . .
@ThunderChick2010
I liked your tentative like. That way I'm a step removed from it.
@Landstander So you very certainly liked my very tentative like? :)
Does anyone know what the tiebreaker is between us and Miami if we end up with the same record? We split the season series 1-1, as I recall. I have no idea what the next level tiebreaker is.
@SoonerSpens I think we have the tiebreaker, better records against another conference teams.
@gnaygg Yea, I think it goes to record vs opposing Conf teams. So for us it'd be our record vs E teams & MIA record vs W teams.
In hindsight, it is true that just a few bad losses to obviously inferior opponents screwed up OKC's playoff seeding to the point where they could well be playing a Game 7 in San Antonio or Miami. At the same time, it is equally true that virtually every championship team kicks a few games like that in the regular season, and then finds a way to win at least a couple big games on the road during the playoffs.
@courtsense Some championship teams go 72-10 but I wont get too far into that.
I think the #2 seed may be a blessing. We will only have to face one of the three teams that give us the most trouble. spurs/grizz/clips. Not trying to justify the poor play the last few weeks, but this does play into our favor if we make a run to the finals. Let's just hope Nuggets drop to 7th seed
Well now we know they're a true Oklahoma team. Win all year only to choke it away at the end. Sooner fans such as myself are very proud. :)
@C_Dub if thats really what you think why are you here
@OBoymuzik wasn't commenting on the playoffs, just the situation on the regular season. The similarities are so rampant you would have to be a blind man not to see it.
@C_Dub In order to get to number 1 and have something happen...first you have to get to number 1. That's why it seems to happen to Oklahoma more than other teams. They spend more time at #1.
@OBoymuzik Thunder are our only hope.............
@OBoymuzik Every year we're picked to win something, either a multitude of injuries, a stupid coaching decision or BS officiating screws us in the end, forcing the mighty collapse. I don't have to remind you about 2009 or even last year do I? Every time we get to number 1, something always happens. Now it's spread to the Thunder. Injuries (Maynor, Cook, Thabo etc.), stupid coaching (Brooks), and BS officiating has cost this team more games than can be counted.
Maybe I'm a delusional fanboy, maybe it happens to all teams. But I tell you, it happens to Oklahoma teams far more often. Oklahoma is cursed.
@C_Dub kind of different because one loss in college football and your not in control of your own destiny...just looked it up dallas went on a 4 game losing streak the last month of the regular season last year
I'm thinking ahead to our matchup with SA if we both make the WCF and I'm struggling to figure out how we beat them. What advantages do we have over them? We are more athletic across the board, but they have upgraded their athleticism as well(Jackson/Leonard/Harris) and we have the best scorer. Ibaka/Perk is the better defensive frontcourt, but by them adding Diaw and Splitter, that's a upgrade over Blair defensively.
@dream catcher Harris? Who is Harris?
@gnaygg my bad, I meant Daniel Green
@dream catcher I'm hoping Ivey will get extended minutes guarding parker. Ivey can really slow him down. Parker is the key to the spurs offense. It's hard for Russ to stop parker without getting into foul trouble
@neo12 This, so much this. Russ just seems to always overextend on D, always going for the steal, forcing rotations, and then he sometimes doesn't run back so we are playing 4 v 5 on D like the team was at times during the LAL game on Sunday.
@dream catcher We had the same puzzle last season but memphis helped us.If someone helps us again I am not surprised