NBA Power Rankings week 11- Pundits cut OKC Thunder some slack
Week eleven of the NBA power rankings lists find the OKC Thunder ranked as high as 6th and low as 10th.
Week 11 of power ranking lists encompass games played through to the New Year including the Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks.
During this stage the Thunder won just once versus the Raptors who were playing on a back-to-back set. The Bucks loss was a little trickier given the travel and step out of bounds by leading All-Star vote recipient Giannis Antetokounmpo. If anything, all that no call does is raise a red flag for season end if the OKC Thunder are within a game or two of getting a home court seed. This because this marks at least two games our friends in stripes have decided not in OKC’s favor.
As for the Mavericks loss, that game could easily have been a victory, but no Andre Roberson and a less than typical defensive outing cost the Thunder. In fairness the Mavericks entered the game about as hot as any team in the NBA.
Still, knowing how the OKC Thunder rebounded this week it’s important to not overact to a few losses just like it’s important to do the same over a few wins. Just like we preach consistency being key for the Thunder, the same can be said for how we view the ups and downs.
With that let’s look at how the National Scribes ranked the OKC Thunder in week 11 of play.
NBA.com – John Schuhmann
Last week John Schuhmann paid homage to Russell Westbrook, yet this week he offers the negative take on Westbrook. In particular his perimeter shooting in the clutch. Also of note, Schuhmann drops the Thunder three spots to tenth.
"At 30 percent, Russell Westbrook ranks 69th in 3-point percentage among the 71 players who have attempted at least 150 3s, (barely) ahead of only Marcus Smart and Lonzo Ball. Overall, Westbrook has been taking fewer 3s over the last few weeks. But with the game within five points in the last five minutes, Westbrook has attempted almost as many 3-pointers (35) as all of his teammates combined (37) this season. He was 1-for-6 on clutch 3s over the weekend as the Thunder dropped close games at home to Milwaukee and Dallas."
ESPN – Panel
The panel highlight the obvious change in the offense was an uptick in Westbrook’s usage and an increase in drives versus perimeter shots. Last week I noted I was anxious to see how the panel would punish the Rockets 5 game losing streak. Apparently they are judged by a different view since they fell, but only to fourth. Meanwhile, OKC who lost a game based on a bad no call were held in place at 8th.
ESPN’s panel:
ESPN: Kevin Arnovitz | Amin Elhassan |Ramona Shelburne
The Undefeated: Marc J. Spears | FiveThirtyEight: Chris Herring
"The Thunder finished December with the third-best record in the NBA at 12-5. In that time, Russell Westbrook found himself in a familiar position, first in the league in usage rate (37.8), coinciding with a decrease in the same category for Carmelo Anthony and Paul George from the first two months of the season. The biggest difference for Westbrook: His 3-point attempts per game are down (5.6 to 4.3) and drives per game are up (17.0 to 21.5). — Vincent Johnson"
Sports Illustrated – The Crossover:
Kenny Ducey does the expected by dropping the OKC Thunder this week to 9th. The good news is that means next week he’ll probably raise them a couple spots.
Ducey sure didn’t have much to say, in fact his OKC Thunder notes was 11 words in total.
"Get Ray Felton the ball more. He’s a god amongst men."
CBS Sports:
After weeks of not believing in the OKC Thunder, Chris Barnewell finally decrees he believes this version of the Thunder are here to stay. He raises them two spots to 8th.
"The Thunder appear to have finally reached cruising altitude along with the rest of the NBA’s contenders. They have a very easy schedule to start off 2018, which should put them in position to escape the crowd in the middle."
Bleacher Report:
Grant Hughes offered a bit of a diatribe which I was inclined to include here, but chose to post just a portion. To catch Hughes thoughts in their entirety, visit the link here which finds the OKC Thunder moving up one spot from 7th to 6th this week.
"The Thunder were never as bad as they seemed earlier this season, and it’s only fair to emphasize that though they’ve performed well of late, they might not be as good as they appear now.Ben Falk of Cleaning the Glass: “If we look at the difference between each team’s record and their expected record based on point differential, OKC had by far the biggest difference in the league (during its first 20 games) — and in fact, the biggest difference of any team at the 20 game mark in the last 15 years. … Since then the Thunder have gone 11-4, and they’ve done it by winning a disproportionate share of close games. In fact, no team has overperformed their point differential even close to as much as the Thunder have in these last 15 games.”Split the difference, and you’ve got an OKC squad right about where it should be—comfortably in the top 10 and capable of beating anyone."
Next up, week 12 of power ranking lists will encompass games played from New Years Day through Sunday January 7 including the Knicks, at the Grizzlies and the Bucks.