How stretch schedule could affect OKC Thunder final seeding
Winning NBA home court throughout playoffs:
Milwaukee seems certain to nail down home court throughout the playoffs. Considering all their schedules the only teams who look capable of stealing that top seed are the Lakers and perhaps the Raptors.
The one glimmer of hope for LA and Toronto is the Bucks play a much more difficult schedule down the stretch. Factor in the Bucks may want to get their star Giannis Antetokounmpo some rest prior to the postseason.
Lakers:
Games remaining: 27 including rescheduled game versus Clippers
Home: 14
Road: 13
Teams over .500: 12 (plus seeded Nets)
Top 10 offenses: Eight
Top 10 defenses: Nine
Back to back sets: Three (plus three games in a row with the rescheduled game above)
Games versus WC seeds 1-8: Eight
More from Thunderous Intentions
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- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
Bucks:
Games remaining: 26
Home: 12
Road: 14
Teams over .500: 15 plus two games versus seeded Nets
Top 10 offenses: 11
Top 10 defenses: 11
Back to back sets: Four
Games versus WC seeds 1-8: 11
Tankathon ranks the Bucks closing schedule as the sixth most difficult and the Lakers as 22nd. Milwaukee This is the hardest part of their itinerary and if they suffer any slippage it might be during this segment.
In closing:
Regardless of which factors you consider, the Thunder definitely has a tough stretch run ahead of them.
The ultimate goal for OKC will be avoiding any slippage. Like Chris Paul, Billy Donovan and others have stated in recent weeks their goal is “just win”. That’s the smartest way to approach games. As much as the Thunder may wish to avoid specific teams and align to a certain opponent there’s so many variables and difficulty in doing that.
An interesting side note is the final three games in the Thunder schedule are at Memphis, hosting the Jazz and at Dallas in game 82.
It won’t be surprising if the outcome of these final games plays a major factor in final seeding.
Next. NBA 2020 Mock Draft 1.0 – Options abound for Thunder. dark
Where do you think the OKC Thunder will finish? And, who would you like them to face in round one? Let us know in the comments section.