Power rankings Week 21: OKC Thunder ascend amid win streak

NBA power rankings week 21 lists examines playoff race action with pundits ranking the OKC Thunder as high as 8th and as low as 14th.

Moving into week 21 of the power rankings it begins the most important segment of the OKC Thunder schedule. This because the Thunder are fighting to make it to the postseason and also to gain positioning.

Over the course of the final month of games OKC has one of the most difficult schedules remaining. It’s not an ideal situation for a team who’ve struggled to find consistency. Then again, this OKC Thunder squad have seemingly raised their effort and quality the stiffer the competition gets. Obviously, this OKC squad likes to do things the hard way – well now they’ll get that opportunity.

Last week most pundits appeared hesitant to reward any Thunder success having been burnt by the OKC roller coaster all season. This week the scribes are showing a little faith, but still with very small rewards

For the OKC Thunder week 21, pundits based their ranking on games which featured Phoenix getting sandwiched by two crucial games versus current playoff seeds the Rockets and Spurs.

With that here are the National scribes rankings for week 21.

 NBA.com – John Schuhmann

Last week the stats magician pointed to the fact the OKC Thunder had been able to redirect the pendulum to beat lower seeds.  Yet, while he acknowledged this fact, he also opined on the regression of the squad in other areas. And, cautioned of his uncertainty or belief in the ‘it’ll happen soon‘ would ever actually happen.

Ironically in my comments I pointed to how Russell Westbrook kept taking the heat and Paul George appeared to be immune from criticism. Gee, I must be clairvoyant given Schuhmann’s comments in week 21.

With the win streak likely leading to Schuhmann holding the Thunder steady at 13.  Let’s just say, don’t be surprised if in week 22 OKC take a major leap upward given the recent defeats of those upper tier teams Schuhmann was questioning whether OKC could defeat.

"The Thunder rank 20th offensively since the All-Star break. Paul George (26 percent) has been the league’s worst 3-point shooter among players with at least 50 post-break attempts from beyond the arc, while Russell Westbrook (16 percent) has been the worst among players with at least 25 post-break attempts. But they’ve held their opponent under a point per possession in two straight games for the first time since they lost Andre Roberson for the season. The two games were Corey Brewer’s first two starts, though bench minutes were critical in a critical win over the Spurs on Saturday. Patrick Patterson had one of his best games of the season and Nick Collison came out of retirement to provide a lift in the fourth quarter. The Thunder will have a rest advantage when they host the Clippers (who play in Houston the night before) in another big game on Friday."

ESPN – Panel

Last week the Rockets, Cavaliers, Warriors loving panel pulled a shocker giving the OKC Thunder their highest rank of the pundits (9th). Throughout the season the panel judged OKC harshly, never rewarding their strong segments like the other scribes.

So, It’s hard to know what got into the panel which has lead to them consistently moving them up the ladder. To wit, once again the quintet raise the Thunder up one sport from ninth to eighth.

If all good things come in threes, expect to see another leap next week.

ESPN’s panel:

ESPN: Kevin Arnovitz | Amin Elhassan |Ramona Shelburne

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

"The Thunder better fatten up on games against the Kings and Hawks this week. After that, they play 11 games in a row against potential playoff teams before finishing at Memphis. That adds up to the fourth-toughest remaining schedule by opponent win percentage. — Michael Schwartz"

Bleacher Report:

From the first time Grant Hughes was featured in this weekly column he was consistently the one scribe who sang the OKC Thunder praises. Then, suddenly — poof— he lost faith. Albeit, it was only a brief sojourn as he propels the team from 12th back into his top 10 ranking them 9th.

Hughes touches on OKC’s lack of victories over elite squads and Westbrook’s break out. However,  his main focus featured the man who should long have been considered part of the star group. Whether they coined it OK4 or whether they termed it Russ the Big Kiwi and the agents (ie: the two free agents). Regardless, Hughes brings up a good point regarding Adams value, particularly since the loss of Andre Roberson.

"Steven Adams’ hip injury could make success against pushovers tougher, though. OKC’s big man tweaked an ankle Saturday, and a sore hip kept him out of action against Atlanta on Tuesday. The Thunder are a plus-5.4when Adams is on the floor but a minus-1.1 when he’s off, which is no surprise.It’s difficult to replace his ferocious offensive rebounding and zero-maintenance scoring. His 18 rebounds off Thunder missed free throws are the most anyone’s grabbed in a season in more than a decade…and he has another dozen games yet to play."

Sports Illustrated – The Crossover

Hallelujah — FINALLY someone other than me points to Corey Brewer’s defensive issues. Hey, I’m all for attributes he brings to the court. The fact is Brewer adds valuable assets which collectively  was missing. But, when scribes or podcasters suggest Brewer is a better defensive player than Roberson it truly annoys me.

Just like the people who suggested Blake Griffin was the second coming for the Pistons, or the Wizards were better off without John Wall. The limited success regressed to the mean proving it’s never wise to view the world with a pair of short sighted glasses.

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• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

As for Brewer’s defense,  a simple trip to NBA.com, team on off court stats proves the point. In the off court section you’ll find OKC performed the worst defensively when Andre Roberson sat. Now move to the very top of that column and there you’ll find OKC are at their best defensively when Corey Brewer sits.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe Brewer brought tangible assets beyond his energy. Two specific traits which stand out is he is more versatile offensively than the roster options.

Combining his energy and offensive tool box produced the secret ingredient which allowed OKC’s offense to finally gel.

Unleashing the chemistry was the missing quality holding back OKC from exploding. They have enough solid defenders particularly when Westbrook locks in to join Adams and George.

So, it was with great delight I read Rohan Nadkarni’s comments. Similarly, he recognizes Brewer’s offensive value and cautions regarding the defense. Based on the win streak including against some quality opponents he jumps them five spots from 15th to 10th.

"Corey Brewer could end up being the Thunder’s best Andre Roberson replacement. The Russ-PG-Melo-Steven Adams-Brewer group has a 13.2 net rating in 40 minutes over three games. The defense has taken a hit, but Brewer is helping the offense."

CBS Sports:

Chris Barnewell returned to his former style of ranking after his awards approach last week.

Of the scribes he was the most hesitant to reward the Thunder’s success electing to hold them steady in 14th.

"The Thunder could go on a run and lock up home-court in the first round. They could just as easily fall out of the playoffs entirely and turn a fairly successful season into a complete failure. That’s how ridiculously close the West is right now. That said, they’re trending more towards the former than the latter."

That wraps up week 21 power rankings.

In next weeks power rankings scribes will review games played in the quickly evaporating regular season. For the OKC Thunder week 22 will encompass a four game week including hosting the Kings plus at Atlanta back to back set, feature the Clippers in OKC and close with a Sunday matinee versus the Raptors.

Next: Wild, wild west stretch run - deep dive analysis

Notably this segment of the schedule will also start the 11 consecutive games versus playoff seeded squads.