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NBA Power Rankings week 17: OKC Thunder and peers enter break

By Tamberlyn Richardson

FEBRUARY 11: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 of the OKC Thunder handles the ball during the game against the San Antonio Spurs (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images)
FEBRUARY 11: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 of the OKC Thunder handles the ball during the game against the San Antonio Spurs (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Trae Young #24 of Team Giannis dribbles the ball while being guarded by OKC Thunder guard Chris Paul. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

10. team. 149. . 33-22. Previous: 7th. Oklahoma City Thunder

OKC Thunder:

Offense: (110.7) 14th
Defense: (108.2)  tied12th
Net: (plus +2.5) 11th 

Results Week 17: (1-1) Won vs. Pelicans: 123-118, Lost vs Spurs: 106-114
Games Week 18: (2 games) Fri vs. Nuggets | Sun vs. Spurs

The OKC Thunder learned a valuable lesson this week. For as much as the clutch time prowess is something the team excels at and can pull out of their back pocket – similarly, it’s not something they should always rely on.

Heading into the stretch run it’s important OKC find a way to adjust their scoring to be more evenly distributed over the four quarters. This is especially true at the start of the game and coming back from the halftime break.

Entering the stretch the Thunder absolutely has to figure out the first and third quarters because it’s the starting unit that is giving up these big leads. Other than substituting Schroder they are the same unit who feast in the clutch. That should mean this is an easy fix. They just have to lock down and create the habit.

Notably, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chris Paul got to experience the All-Star Game together with the latter arguably the big winner of the weekend. Between his suggested switch to the Elan game format and seemingly taking over as the leader on Team LeBron (hey- he’s the one who was on the court and got the team back in the game) he definitely made the OKC Thunder fan base proud.

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