Dissecting the OKC Thunder Road Woes and Regressing Defense

Depending on whether you fall on the side of overly optimistic or cautiously pessimistic there are arguments to be made for each side.  To that end, let’s dive into the final 19 games applying the appropriate markers and compare it to the teams the Thunder are chasing.

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OKC Thunder Schedule Statistics vs Teams Seeded  3 – 6:

Optimists can point to OKC having arguably the easiest schedule of the teams in the hunt for home court. A counter-argument can be made for the playoff teams OKC face. And, while it’s best OKC focus on what they can personally control it will be difficult not to scoreboard watch.

All statistics compiled via team schedules  on nba.com on Monday, March 6

Isolating on the teams seeded three though seven suggests a difficult path for some of the OKC Thunder opponents. For example, the Jazz seemingly has the hardest path. Utah plays the most road games, face the most playoff seeds (tied with the Rockets), and the hardest cumulative opponents in terms of overall wins and losses.

The Clippers play the most back to back sets and both the Rockets and Grizzlies have demonstrated regression since post All-Star Break.