OKC Thunder: Wild races for seeding in final week of regular season

West’s second seed:

The Clippers and Nuggets are still battling to determine who will finish second and third. With the Clippers losing to the Nets it opened the door for the Nuggets who are only a game back now.

Adding intrigue is the teams play each other on Wednesday, August 12th which should resolve who finishes second. That also benefits the Thunder because then the Clippers won’t extend the core extra minutes in the final game.

The Nuggets can finish as high as second and as low as fourth. They play the Lakers, Clippers, and Raptors with only the Clippers truly invested in winning the match.

West’s middle group:

Rockets: Timing truly is everything as the Rockets will face the Spurs, Pacers, and 76ers. In each case, the opponent is missing a star and additional injuries could result in players not dressing for their games versus the Rockets. LaMarcus Aldridge was already out, however, Derrick White could also be out after hurting his knee in the Spurs last match.

The Pacers are missing Domantas Sabonis and the 76ers lost Ben Simmons who’ll undergo a knee procedure and Joel Embiid tweaked his ankle on  Sunday. All of this could equate to the Rockets having an easier path to lock up the fourth seed. Furthermore, Houston is still mathematically alive to get the third seed depending on how the Nuggets finish their three matches. Denver is 1.5 games ahead of Houston while the Rockets are a game up on the Thunder and 1.5 games up on Utah.

OKC Thunder: Unfortunately, every team the Thunder plays this week has a vested interest in winning. Those teams are the Suns, Heat, and Clippers. By the time they face the Clippers though they may have cemented their seed and be resting Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. That could play a factor if the Thunder need to win the final game in order to land a specific seed.

As noted some other teams get the benefit of clubs who are already locked in, are eliminated or have multiple injuries. It’s been noted throughout how this affects the Thunder and that ultimately the Thunder has to keep their focus on winning with a side-eye to what the others are doing.

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Utah Jazz: Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and Mike Conley were healthy scratches in the match versus the Spurs on Saturday which would seem to imply the Jazz don’t care if that means they finish last in the group. But, they can still fall to seventh if Dallas wins all three games remaining and the Jazz loses both their games. Utah and Dallas play each other which adds drama to the equation.

Dallas Mavericks– The Mavericks would have to win all three games versus the Jazz, Blazers, and Suns and hope the Jazz and or Thunder lose all three of their final games in order to move up to sixth.

Final thought:

With only five days remaining almost every game has an impact on the seeds. For the Thunder, their best bet is to focus solely on their own desires and try to land the seed they desire.

As we’ve continuously noted the best matchup for the Thunder is the Jazz, but that option is looking far less likely. The priority for OKC is to try to avoid the lengthy squads or super athletic deep squads. And while the seeds are mostly all in flux that means the OKC Thunder needs to stay focused on winning while keeping an eye on the completion.

Considering it was little more than a month ago that the season resumption and playoffs weren’t even guaranteed the fact we’ve reached this point is at all is amazing.

Find a comfy seat Thunder Nation, it’s going to be a crazy, wild week.