OKC Thunder playoff roundtable part 1: superstars, grades, moments and more

What will be the Thunder’s greatest weakness and strength in the playoffs?

Rylan Stiles: The weakness has to be health. While no one is out for the playoffs besides Andre Roberson, Steven Adams and Paul George are not 100 percent. The OKC Thunder did not give themselves the benefit of load management that is so popular among NBA players. A banged up Adams and George could be the difference in the postseason, and it is something OKC has to work through.

The strength is when they are locked in, this team is stellar at defending, seemingly everyone in the rotation can defend positions 1-5.

Steven Maichak: The Thunder’s greatest strength will be it’s fast-break, high-energy offense. Their stifling defense is renowned and respected across the league, but few teams can match their lighting offensive pace for a full 48 minutes.

Their greatest weakness will be inconsistent play from the reserve players.

Alex Mcewen: Consistency. Everything on the Thunder boils down to consistency. The offense, defense, effort, shooting, hustle, and their focus, when the Thunder do all of these components consistently, they can stack up against any team in the league. The problem is, they have displayed very little consistency, it will be intriguing to see if that shifts in the post-season.

Sinjin Snopczynski: The Thunder’s greatest strength coming into this playoffs has the be their star power and experience. Hopefully, the sting of losing in the first round the past couple seasons will fuel this team to finally get over the hump. But honestly, having Russell Westbrook and Paul George on the floor in a playoff series is a luxury other teams simply don’t have.

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Their greatest weakness is the thing I have been preaching all round-table; their inconsistency. If the Thunder of the last 5 games can be replicated every night, they just might do something. But what if it is the team from just weeks earlier? They might get swept by the Blazers. This team has to be ready to play every night.

Tailor Finney: Our greatness weakness will be 3-point shooting decisions. It is so frustrating watching from our perspective of seeing the whole court and blowing a possession on a contested 3-pointer with double-digits on the shot clock.

Conversely, we flourish on the fast-break so if we can stay true to attacking the paint and Russ sticks with his driving offense I think it’ll keep us out of some idiotic shots just to beat the clock.

Tamberlyn Richardson: With the Thunder sending teams to the charity stripe the third most in the NBA and the Blazers boasting the second best free throw efficiency it has the potential to result in a costly loss because of a few extra free throws. Officials tend to swallow their whistles more at this time of year. But after a season of suspect officiating it would be better to be safe than sorry and exercise caution.

Which ironically could counteract the greatest strength which is the Thunder defense which excels via being aggressive and often ignites the offense. If the Thunder find the right balance it should pay dividends.