NBA Power Rankings: Battle for seeding priority of OKC Thunder and peers
Week 22 pundit rankings are based on the OKC Thunder games played versus the Jazz, Nets, Pacers, and Warriors. The National pundits and top bloggers rank the OKC Thunder as high as ninth and as low as 13th.
NBA.com – John Schuhmann:
The week after Schuhmann hit the OKC Thunder hard he drops them one more spot from 12th to 13th. A portion of the excerpt on the team’s struggles is below. The remainder and his full list can be found here.
"Getting buckets continues to be a struggle for the Thunder, who have the league’s worst post-break offense (104.7 points scored per 100 possessions) outside of Brooklyn. They did enough defensively (holding both opponents under a point per possession) to get wins over the Jazz and Nets last week, but scored just 18 fourth-quarter points as they blew a 19-point lead in Indiana on Thursday and got completely shut down against the Warriors on Saturday"
ESPN – Panel
In week 22 the panel drops the OKC Thunder from eighth to the tenth position. Click this link for the full panel rankings.
ESPN’s panel:
ESPN: Kevin Arnovitz | Tim MacMahon |Andre’ Snellings
The Undefeated: Marc J. Spears | FiveThirtyEight: Chris Herring
"The Thunder had an up-and-down week, starting with two straight wins before falling to the Pacers and Warriors. Paul George has struggled with his efficiency in his seven games back after a shoulder injury, making only 36.2 percent of his shots from the field, but he has averaged 30.0 PPG and 9.3 RPG in his past three to indicate that he is working the rust off. This week, the Thunder face the Heat plus a tough home-and-away set with the Raptors. — Snellings"
Bleacher Report:
Grant Hughes dives into the OKC Thunder defense (a portion of the excerpt is below). Hughes ranks them 10th dropping them two spots from eighth.
His full rankings can be viewed by clicking this link.
"The Thunder are under .500 over the last calendar month, and their defense, once elite, has ranked outside the top 10 since Jan. 1. That’s a significant chunk of the season, and if Oklahoma City’s play on that end is merely average, it doesn’t have enough offense to be considered a serious contender any longer."
Sports Illustrated – The Crossover
This week Sports Illustrated writer Khadrice Rollins examines where each team is via poetry.
Rollins drops the OKC Thunder six spots from fifth to 11th. To view his full ranking click here.
"LA Boys in OKC MVPG is the ideal complement to Triple Double Russ Additional notes: The Thunder will be without Westbrook Monday against the Heat after he picked up his 16th technical foul on the season. Oklahoma City is 5-8 since the All-Star Break and now fifth in the West."
CBS Sports:
More from Thunder News
- 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
CBS Sports writer Reid Forgrave theme this week is one big question per team. For the OKC Thunder, his query revolves around Paul George and his health. some of the unexpected growth within the roster as per his excerpt below. Forgrave holds the Thunder steady in ninth this week. Click here to see Forgrave’s full power rankings list.
"The Big Question: Can Paul George get his MVP swagger back? In seven games since returning from injury, George hasn’t been at that level: 25.1 points per game and shooting 32.8 percent from 3. With PG13 playing at MVP levels, the Thunder could be a real problem in the West. At the All-Star break, OKC seemed like it was starting to separate itself from the pack in the middle of the West, but since then they have only gone 5-8."
Next week:
The next power rankings for week 23 will feature the results from the OKC Thunder home and home series versus the Toronto Raptors and match versus the Miami Heat.
That wraps up week 22 power rankings from myself and the National pundits. Hope you’ve enjoyed your week.