What would an OKC Thunder playoff match with Clippers look like?
By Rylan Stiles
The OKC Thunder are firmly planted in the NBA Playoff standings, the only question is who will they go up against?
What a ride it has been for the OKC Thunder organization, and their fans. In less than a year’s time, the team went from getting snapped away like Thanos capturing the final infinity stones.
Damian Lillard at the time seemed to have disintegrated the OKC Thunder’s future while catapulting the Blazer’s.
After a whirlwind of offseason transactions that saw GM Sam Presti part with beloved franchise pillar Russell Westbrook, and All-Star Paul George, fans were almost ready to simply embrace the tank.
If you polled OKC Thunder fans when the dust settled, prior to the start of the 2019-20 NBA Season, an overwhelming majority would’ve pegged them for an 8-10 seeded team scrapping and clawing for a playoff spot, before trading off pieces at the NBA Trade Deadline. Instead, this team held strong after a slow start and has been among the best in the league since Turkey Day.
With no trades at the deadline, Sam Presti showed confidence in this team, that has responded with being a lock for the postseason, and an outside shot at getting to host their first-round series in one of the toughest postseason environments to play in.
So as the calendar flips to March, and we inch closer to the NBA playoffs, let’s take a look at the possible playoff opponents for the boys in blue. The most likely opponents for the OKC Thunder are as followed, the Denver Nuggets, The L.A. Clippers, The Houston Rockets, and an outside chance of the Utah Jazz.
Let’s start this journey with the L.A. Clippers, who the OKC Thunder took on earlier this week. The Clippers handled the OKC Thunder with relative ease on Tuesday evening. What would a seven-game series look like? Spoiler alert: It will be a rigorous series for both sides.