OKC Thunder Tiebreaker scenarios abysmal

By virtue of the OKC Thunder loss in Portland the Blazers become the fourth current playoff seed to win tiebreaker advantages.

Well, the OKC Thunder blew a big time opportunity last night as they fell to the Portland Trail Blazers. As a result the Thunder fall back to seventh place and hand the Blazers the tie break should it be required at season end.

If only OKC could summon the focus to take care of business when facing lower seeds. Had the Thunder approached the game in Phoenix with the same attention and focus they began with in Portland this might be an entirely different narrative.

Instead the Thunder lost a great chance to vault all the way up to third and capture home court.

Teams OKC can still win the tiebreaker against are the Rockets, Warriors and Spurs. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the only advantage that comes from winning tiebreaks against Houston or Golden State is a psychological edge. Since both these teams have 14 and 13 fewer losses respectively unless they go on massive losing streaks tiebreaks are a moot point.

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Teams who have sewn up tiebreaker advantages versus the Thunder are the Blazers, Pelicans, Nuggets and Wolves. Of course these are also the teams mired in the three through eight range and the ones where owning the tie break could be a true advantage. The Spurs are still a possibility, but one in five isn’t the best situation.

Of the teams vying for playoff seeds the OKC Thunder hold tiebreaker advantages against the Clippers and Jazz — that’s it. While it may seem like that’s not important at this stage, if the OKC Thunder keep electing to take the hardest route possible they may end up needing this edge.

Of course that would also mean the OKC Thunder would be looking at the seventh or eighth seed which isn’t exactly the ideal way to start the playoffs. Playing either Houston or Golden State in the postseason would seem like an inevitability. But, having to do it in the first round would be terrible.

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Paul George repeatedly stated his free agency decision will place emphasis on how well OKC performs in the postseason. Should OKC wind up as one of the two bottom seeds it could result in an early exit. Granted whether OKC play Houston or Golden State first shouldn’t matter because the counter to that argument is they’ll presumably have to play them at some point.

With 17 games remaining the OKC Thunder presumably will be dealing with the scenario they enjoy most. That would be backs against the wall. This because 12 of the 17 games are against current playoff seeds. Of those half (six) are on the road. Five are against top three seeds (Rockets x 2, Warriors, Raptors, Celtics). And two are back to back sets.

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The ideal scenario would find OKC finishing with a home court seed or at worst in fifth or sixth. Bottom line the OKC Thunder will need to rely on one thing to guarantee their position –winning. .