The last day of the 2018-19 NBA season is here with the OKC Thunder and 21 teams in action and numerous playoff seeds still to be cemented. TI offers the daily seeding recap.
After an incredible statement victory by the OKC Thunder over the Houston Rockets there remains one more contest to complete. Playing on a back to back versus a team who’ve been resting since Sunday offers its own set of challenges.
And while Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez are expected to be out resting coupled with a slew of Bucks players out injured the Thunder will need to be careful not to allow this match to become a trap game.
Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, and George Hill are still in the rotation and this Bucks squad is the only team who posted 60 wins this season. The Thunder have a propensity to sometimes take matches of this nature (missing stars or lesser competition) for granted but on this night they can ill afford that mindset. By virtue of another win, the Thunder controls their own destiny.
Win and lock up the sixth seed, lose and allow what the San Antonio Spurs and LA Clippers do to affect where they land on the ladder.
There are copious seeding scenarios which can play out but what we do know is OKC will either take the sixth, seventh or eighth seed. Likewise, only the top-seeded Golden State Warriors are cemented in a home court slot in the West (the Jazz cemented the fifth seed). Each of the second, third and fourth seeds are still undetermined with the Nuggets, Rockets, and Blazers all in the mix.