5 strengths OKC Thunder can utilize to win 8 ‘seeded’ games
Keys to OKC Thunder winning majority of eight ‘seeded’ games:
The next eight matches (of the 21 opponents who’ll be in Orlando) on the Thunder schedule are the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat, Nuggets again, Phoenix Suns, and LA Clippers. To clarify, these matches haven’t been confirmed and there could be tweaks given some teams have fewer lottery bubble teams to replace.
Nor has the league provided any clarification on the dates or times of the games.
While we await the formal schedule Tim Reynolds broke down who each of the 22 teams should face if the league sticks to the initial assessment of continuing where teams left off.
If the NBA goes with a plan of playing the next eight Disney/ESPN bound teams on your schedule - capping each team at 8 games - this is what the matchups for those 22 teams COULD look like:
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 3, 2020
Disclaimers:
- Heat and Magic each need 1 game
- Lakers and Blazers each need 2 games pic.twitter.com/UgYSiITidq
Notably, using this scheduling format, the Heat and Magic would be short one game while the Lakers and Blazers would be short two games and therefore likely be matched versus each other.
In terms of placing strength of schedule ranking on the eight contests, it’s more difficult in this setting for a number of reasons.
The very top clubs with breathing room might work their stars back in slowly making them easier to beat earlier in the eight games and harder to beat later as they build toward the postseason.
Likewise, the six bubble and three currently seeded clubs (Nets, Magic, Grizzlies) will be invested from the first game. That dynamic could make those clubs more difficult to beat early. But if those teams fall off the pace to reach the tournament – their investment won’t be as strong later in the tournament.
The three opening games for the OKC Thunder should feature the team in front of them and two invested bubble teams early (Wizards, Grizzlies). But, OKC could benefit in the latter portion of matches via the timing of those games. The Heat and Clippers might already be in a position where they can’t be caught or can’t move up whereas the Suns will likely be mathematically out of the playoff picture.
That’s important since the Thunder will want to overtake the Jazz and stay ahead of the Rockets. The main question will be where the Nuggets are positioned with two projected matches against OKC and the potential for a seeding shift here as well.