In week 15 of NBA action the OKC Thunder produced a 1-2 effort, which doesn’t fully sum up the eventful week that it was.
The OKC Thunder started off the week with a trip to Indiana to play the Pacers. They had a comfortable lead at half, but could not sustain it as the Pacers came out of halftime on fire and would eventually beat the Thunder by three.
With Kevin Durant’s return on the horizon, the OKC Thunder managed to pull out a victory over the defending world champs. This was a pleasant surprise after it was announced that all of Cleveland’s Big Three would be playing after there was speculation that they would choose to rest all of them.
Must Read: Rehashing the Reggie Jackson trade two years later
Then Durant made his return Saturday and you have undoubtedly saw or read everything about what happened so no need to rehash. Despite the blowout, it was fun and served as great therapy for getting over The Decision 2.
Now let’s see how the OKC Thunder graded out in this weeks power rankings after their 1-2 week.
NBA.com – John Schuhmann
John Schuhmann moves the Thunder down a spot in his rankings to ninth after their tumultuous week.
"The Thunder beat the best team in the East with a big second half on Thursday, but are 0-4 against the top two teams in the West (and none of the four games have been close) after getting humbled again by Durant and the Warriors on Saturday. That game started going downhill when they were outscored 23-8 in Russell Westbrook‘s first half stint on the bench. They’re 1-3 in his four highest scoring games of the season, but may be emerging from the offensive funk they’ve been in over the last month (in which they scored less than a point per possession in eight of 13 games)."
Sports Illustrated – Jeremy Woo
Jeremy Woo held the Thunder steady at eleven in his rankings saying:
"It was a definite positive to watch the Thunder pull together in a gritty win over the Cavs, but their continued inability to match up with the Warriors (and yes, Kevin Durant) sort of clouded the week. I read some “the Thunder are one player away” jokes on Twitter during that game… and they were mean."
ESPN – Marc Stein
Marc Stein was not so kind to the Thunder. He dropped the Thunder two spots in his rankings to number 14.
"The Thunder have now lost their three encounters with Golden State this season by 26, 21 and 16 points and have sunk to 1-6 against the West’s top three teams. So who even wants to see them slip to the West’s No. 8 seed and open the playoffs against Kevin Durant and his new team? Yes, folks, we’re being facetious. Of course we’d love to see Angry Russ and KD square off in the first round (or any round) after the considerable animus that bubbled up when the teams tangled Saturday night at The Peake. Such was the hype for Durant’s return that we didn’t hear a single word about OKC’s stirring win over LeBron James & Co. from a mere two nights earlier during the Committee’s whole weekend visit. Power Rankings Law also compels us to point out that Westbrook, after 11 turnovers in the 130-114 defeat, is up to five games this season with at least 10 turnovers. That’s the most by any player in a single season since the league started tracking turnovers in 1977-78."
CBS – Matt Moore
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
Matt Moore went the opposite direction and moved the Thunder up three spots in his rankings to number 10.
"I don’t get the hand-wringing about their roster. They have good players. Andre Roberson is bad offensively but worthy of second-team All-Defense honors. Their roster is well built for the playoffs. No, they don’t have the firepower yet, but they need one good addition, not an overhaul. An inability to score with the best offense in NBA history should not be some sort of damning limitation."
The OKC Thunder only have two games this week before the start of the All Star break. They first travel to Washington to play the Wizards on Monday and then travel back home to play the New York Knicks on Wednesday. Both games will be nationally televised and could be a chance for the Thunder to move up the rankings. Check back next week to see how these games affected them in the power rankings.