NBA Power Rankings: OKC Thunder holding steady week 5

Week five NBA power rankings lists find the OKC Thunder ranked as high as sixth and as low as 18th.

Week five power rankings find scribes all over the map yet again in their ranking of the OKC Thunder. The variance of 13 spots is rather large and points to pundits confusion over the squads true  value.  Other than Bleacher Report the teams rankings were based upon games played against the Bulls and Spurs.

Week six (which we already know the outcome for) finds the OKC Thunder playing four games versus the Pelicans, Warriors, Pistons and Mavericks.

No doubt the scribes will punish the Thunder for what has to be considered a subpar week other than the win over the Warriors.

Until those lists come out, here is the rankings from the National media for week five:

OKC Thunder power rank by scribe:

NBA.com – John Schuhmann

The NBA stats master John Schuhmann moves the OKC Thunder up to 10th this week and provides some extremely interesting stats. Hey, he’s the stats master so no surprise there. Still, Schuhmann’s  revelation if they can solve late game issues and clutch time OKC can reap major rewards.

"Late-game issues are why the Thunder are 7-8 with a plus-81 point differential (that of a team that’s 11-4). But before they get to the last five minutes, their offense needs to be better. They rank 20th offensively (102.7 points scored per 100 possessions) through the first three quarters of games and 22nd in November (102.3), with Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony combining to shoot 36 percent this month. Paul George also cooled off (9-for-31 in two games last week) after his two big games against the Clippers and Mavs, and their third-ranked defense couldn’t get stops as they blew a 23-point lead in San Antonio on Friday."

ESPN – Panel

The ESPN panel also moved the Thunder up one spot from 13th last week to 12th this week.

ESPN’s panel:

ESPN:  Kevin Arnovitz | Amin Elhassan |Ramona Shelburne

The Undefeated: Marc J. Spears | FiveThirtyEight: Chris Herring

"The Thunder continue to struggle down the stretch of games this season and are now 0-7 in games decided by eight points or fewer. But in their wins, OKC has won big, averaging a wider margin than the Warriors (plus-17.9). That’s the reason they’re the only sub-.500 team with a positive scoring margin this season. — Vincent Johnson"

Sports Illustrated – The Crossover:

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

The only site which lowered the OKC Thunder was  SI’s The Crossover scribe Kenny Ducey list who has consistently dropped them three weeks in a row.  In week three he ranked them tenth last week 13th and this week 14th.

When I see the Rockets love on certain sites I wonder if it affects the ranking, just as certain sites make me wonder if the opposite is also true. Ducey has previously discussed the OK3 and uncertainty over their ability to make it work.

So, perhaps his rankings reflect that. In this corner of the world, I’m anxious to discover how Ducey punishes the team next week for their three of four losses.

"Is Kevin Durant milking his injury so he doesn’t have to face Russ on Wednesday and deal with the storyline? Just throwing that out there."

CBS Sports:

Finally a little love from CBS scribe Chris Barnewell who hasn’t exactly been enamored with OKC. After two weeks of ranking the Thunder 21st Barnewell moves the team up three spots to 18th.

"OKC has yet to pick up a significant win. It blew a 23-point lead to the Spurs on national TV, but it’s winning games against bad teams right now. If the Thunder can weather the storm and figure out their issues in the clutch, then they can still be really good."

Bleacher Report:

Following up from last weeks highest rating of sixth Bleacher Report Scribe Grant Hughes holds  the OKC Thunder steady at sixth.

"Friday’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers was the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first against a West foe. Having seen the Clips fall apart this week, even that victory loses some luster. And the Thunder’s other two “triumphs” over Dallas and Chicago hardly generate confidence in the team’s progress.Still, it was encouraging to see Paul George match Russell Westbrook‘s 16 points in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Mavs. Marginalized more than either of his two star teammates, George needed a bit of a breakout. He got one over the weekend, totaling 79 points combined against L.A. and Dallas."

Each week this season TI will share where the pundits rank the OKC Thunder and offer our insight on the trends from the previous week.