OKC Thunder could be seeded third in West before week’s end

Moving forward, it’s highly feasible this is the position the Thunder could own in the coming days. A quick look at the four teams schedules offers reason for this optimism. The following details their schedules and how the teams could fare finishing the seeding games.

Nuggets schedule and particulars:

• Lost to Heat, have the fourth most difficult seeding schedule
• OKC Thunder – August 3
• Spurs – August 5
• Blazers – August 6
• Jazz – August 8
• Lakers – August 10
• Clippers – August 12
• Raptors – August 14

Much of how the Nuggets perform could well lie in how quickly they get back their guards. Again today they’ll be without Gary Harris and Will Barton with Jamal Murray questionable.

How long can this squad continue missing the three guards and be competitive? They have the hardest schedule of the four teams. Benefitting them is the fact they’ll play the Lakers, Clippers, and Raptors at the end of the eight games when they’ll likely be resting players and be less invested in needing to win.

For that reason plus the fact they entered the restart with an extra game played and two extra wins it likely means the win percentage works in their favor. Although they might prefer to fall to fourth to avoid the Clippers in the second round.

Rockets schedule and particulars:

• Beat Mavericks and Bucks have eighth most difficult seeding schedule
• Blazers – August 4
• Lakers – August 6
• Kings – August 9
• Spurs – August 11
• Pacers – August 12
• 76ers – August 14

The upcoming Blazers game tomorrow should be a must-watch affair and might set a new bubble scoring standard. Both teams will be keen to capture the win and be letting fly from deep.

The Lakers may or may not be invested in their August 6th match. If they beat the Jazz in the game prior that could mean Vogel starts managing minutes. On the other hand, the last time these two clubs played the Rockets beat LA scoring 122 points on them so there may be pride involved.

Each of the Spurs, Pacers, and 76ers may be more invested in the late games needing wins for play-ins or seeding.