NBA Power Rankings week 16: OKC Thunder and teams post deadline
Previous: 7th. Oklahoma City Thunder. 7. team. 149. . 32-21
OKC Thunder:
Offense: (110.6) 14th
Defense: (107.9) 11th
Net: (plus +2.7) 11th
Results Week 16: (2-1) Won vs. Cavaliers: 109-103, Pistons: 108-101, Loss vs. Celtics: 111-112
Games Week 17: (2 games) Tues vs Spurs | Thurs at Pelicans
After feasting since Thanksgiving in the clutch the OKC Thunder found out why it’s not a great idea to rely on that strategy in the loss to the Celtics.
The lesson learned moving forward is that by allowing teams to jump on them from the tip or after the break puts them in holes where they have to expend so much energy just to get to that clutch time where they’ve dominated won’t always work in their favor — especially against the elite clubs.
Then again, after a January playing 17 games with no more than one day off in between the fatigue showed this week. That the Thunder still won twice had more to do with their opponents (Cavaliers/Pistons). Perhaps no team needed the break as much as OKC. Sure, there are teams who are beat up with copious injuries but none had this insane of a schedule.