OKC Thunder: Copious playoff seeds yet to be cemented as game 82 arrives

Thunder vs Blazers still an option:

This trio is keeping things interesting especially after the results from Tuesday. Both the Rockets and Nuggets lost but the Blazers won. Denver owns the tiebreaker over Portland who owns the tiebreak over the Rockets.

Suffice to say there are numerous scenarios which can play out for the two through four seeds and the six through eight seeds. And, while I thought my preferred matchup of OKC versus Portland was dead it turns out that option still exists. If each of the Thunder (Bucks), Blazers (Kings) and Nuggets (Wolves) wins tonight then I’ll get my Blazers (3) versus Thunder (6) matchup.

Portland can still finish in fourth even by winning tonight. This oddity happens if the Blazers win but the Nuggets lose forcing a three-way tie in which the Rockets would vault into second because they are the Southwest Division Champs and the Nuggets own the tiebreak over the Blazers.

Confused? Hey – who knew it was a requirement to have a mathematics degree to figure out where eight teams will rank with just one game remaining in the season. But if you count down to the 25th line of the attached chart you’ll see how I came to the above scenario.

Bottom line, 22 teams will play on the closing night of the regular season. Of those 13 playoff teams will be in action (note the Hornets and Pistons have yet to cement who’ll take the eighth seed) in the East.

If you’ve followed this series from the onset you know my preference for the Blazers isn’t based on the Nurkic injury although that does factor. Rather, the Blazers are a team who the Thunder have feasted on this season (swept season series).

And, if the Thunder take the sixth seed and Houston falls to fourth it would mean the Thunder wouldn’t have to play both the Warriors and Rockets since they would end up meeting in the second round if they both advanced whereas the Thunder would only face one  (assuming they reached the Western Conference Finals) since the Dubs and Rockets would have to meet in the semifinals in this scenario.

So while you’re cheering for the OKC Thunder tonight make sure to pull for the Blazers over the Kings and Nuggets over the Wolves too.

For now let’s review all the results from the numerous teams in action Tuesday, April 9, what effect the results had on the playoff ladder and prep the list of games for Wednesday, April 10th.