The Oklahoma City Thunder have already wrapped up their first-round series against the Phoenix Suns, and the rest of the Western Conference picture is rapidly taking shape.
The Denver Nuggets, riddled with injuries and suffering from sub-par play from Nikola Jokic, lost in six games to the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. The San Antonio Spurs advanced in relatively clean fashion against the Portland Trail Blazers, and they'll now face the Timberwolves in the second round, who have their own dire injury issues. As formidable as the gauntlet of the Western Conference once seemed, the path is slowly shaping up to be clear for the Thunder.
But even beyond that, their potential Eastern Conference foes in an NBA Finals matchup have each shown some of their weaknesses through their respective first-round series. For many teams, looking that far ahead would mean to get out over one's skis a bit.
For a team with the Thunder's aspirations, however, it's a worthy topic.
The East has its share of capable teams. But as the first-round continues to close out, it's clear that each of these teams has their own vulnerabilities, making the last line of defense against Oklahoma City's bid for a repeat less daunting by the day.
The Eastern Conference contenders have all faltered in the first-round
For much of the season, the predominant thought was that none of the Eastern-Conference teams would have the juice necessary to contend with whoever fought their way out of the West. The last third of the regular season challenged that thought, with teams like the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, and even the New York Knicks settling into their identities.
But Detroit has worn their offensive struggles on their sleeve in their first-round series against the Orlando Magic. They've averaged just 101.6 points per game and shot just 43.3% from the field as a team. They'll face elimination again tonight in Orlando.
The Knicks are the only contender to have already ended their series (with a dominant win against the Atlanta Hawks), but it's also worth mentioning that many of their struggles on both ends of the court popped up in those six games. They suffered two last-second defeats to a scrappy Atlanta team, and it's hard to have full confidence in them until they prove themselves in a second-round series.
The Celtics, for their part, are going to seven games against the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers' place in the Play-In Tournament was largely due to late-season injuries, andthey've managed to exposed weaknesses in Boston's offense that simply didn't seem to be there during much of the regular season. They've held them to under 100 points three separate times in that series.
Even the Cleveland Cavaliers have allowed the Toronto Raptors to remain a threat longer than should've been necessary given the caliber of talent and offensive cohesion that Cleveland seemed to possess late in the regular season.
Of course, the Thunder have had the easiest series so far, and their matchup against Phoenix should not really serve as a barometer. Their true test is still yet to come. But it's clear that each of their potential Finals foes has serious wrinkles they need to iron out over the course of their playoff runs.
That's undeniably good news for Oklahoma City.
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