OKC Thunder: Wild races for seeding in final week of regular season
Series or seed set:
Four teams already know who they’ll play in the first round and they all come from East. The Raptors defeat of the Grizzlies locked them into the second seed with their fifth straight 50-win season. The Nets win versus the Clippers also locked up the seventh seed for Brooklyn.
That means:
#1 Bucks vs. #8 Magic
#2 Raptors vs. #7 Nets
The interesting part of this equation is most thought the injury-depleted Nets would fall to eighth but they’ve played gritty earning a 4-2 record in the bubble with big wins over the Bucks and Clippers.
The Magic suffered a big loss with Jonathan Isaac tearing his ACL but Steve Clifford will ensure his squad brings defensive toughness. Nikola Vucevic will be thrilled he doesn’t have to face his nemesis Marc Gasol but the Bucks also swept the Magic in season.
The Nets’ reliance on perimeter shooting will offer Nick Nurse great preparation for similar opponents.
Although the Nets bubble record and Clifford’s quality preparation can’t be overlooked neither should pose a threat to the East’s top two seeds advancing to round two.
With the seeding locked in, there are four games this group will play that could have an impact on several other teams.
- 76ers vs. Raptors – August 12th
- Blazers vs. Nets – August 13th
- Grizzlies vs. Bucks – August 13th
- Nuggets vs. Raptors – August 14th
The priority for all four of these teams is simply to keep their core conditioned but more so ensuring everyone gets through their two or three final games healthy.
That means teams who have vested interests in wins could benefit as their opponents. The 76ers can move up and may prefer to play one of the Heat or Pacers instead of the Celtics. Philly owned the Celtics but without Ben Simmons and uncertainty about Joel Embiid‘s ankle injury will Philly prefer another opponent?
Three closing games from this group could play a huge factor with the benefactors being the Blazers, Grizzlies, and Nuggets. Although the Nuggets could be affected the bigger impact would be for the Blazers and Grizzlies who’ll likely be facing mostly reserve units in the final game.
That could be significant as four teams vie for the West play-in tournament’s eighth and ninth seeds.
The other teams in this group are the Lakers (1) and Celtics (3) who know their seed is set.
The issue for the Lakers is their offensive woes and in particular problems with talented backcourts (losses to Raptors, Thunder, Rockets, and Pacers).
Additionally, seven active players are listed on the injury report although all were expected to play tonight versus the Nuggets. However, like the four East teams, the health of the core has to take precedence even over the offensive malaise. Notably, the Raptors could end up passing the Lakers for second best in the NBA since they have three games remaining to LA’s two and Toronto owns the tie break