While everyone waits to see if the Warriors make history, the real battle is between the Thunder and Clippers for the third seed in the NBA’s Wild Wild West
The final month of the NBA season is underway and many teams are already getting locked into their spots for the playoffs.
The Eastern Conference is the Cleveland Cavaliers’ to lose, unless the Toronto Raptors can pull out something special during the postseason.
The Western Conference has a very tight race for the third seed, between the Clippers and Thunder. The winner gives themselves the best opportunity to avoid the top-seeded Golden State Warriors until the Western Conference Finals.
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Now, we looked at the situation between the two teams a few weeks ago. The general speculation is that both teams will shake up their roster this summer unless they go to the NBA Finals or at least have a good showing in the Conference Finals.
Obviously, the big names that are expected to move if their respective teams fall short are Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant, respectively.
Since analyzing the situation, both teams have run into unexpected issues.
The Clippers, despite having a great start coming out of the NBA All-Star break, remain in the fourth seed. Also, it is starting to become more apparent that Griffin “won’t return until sometime in April”, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports.
In the past month, the Clips have been up and down in winning games against the top-ranked Spurs and Thunder, only to lose their second meetings to both teams in recent weeks. Currently, the Clippers are three games behind the Thunder for the third seed.
It’s expected that, for the Clippers to move into third, they’ll need to finish the final month on a hot streak.
Last season, the Clippers finished the regular season in spectacular fashion with a seven game win-streak. However, that run was largely powered by Griffin.
This year, the Clippers have played spectacular basketball behind the leadership of Chris Paul. But, it has been obvious in their losses to the NBA’s elite, like the Spurs and Cavs, that they greatly miss Griffin’s offensive production.
The Clippers have made it clear, even if they play well without him now, they can not win a title this year without Griffin.
On the other side of the conversation, the Thunder have remained in the third seed despite an absolutely disappointing slump in the past month. In the past several weeks, the team has suffered no less than three sets of back-to-back losses.
Two hard-fought games against the Golden State Warriors were visibly disappointing. But there are also losses to non-contenders such as the Pelicans and Timberwolves. Amazingly, the Thunder remain .500 in their last 10 games despite these losses.
If OKC remains on their current pace, they will remain in the third seed and are expected to meet the second-seeded Spurs in the Conference Semifinals. This season, the Thunder have split the season series with the Spurs, with one game apiece, and will meet two more times before the playoffs.
It’s no secret that the team that faces the Golden State Warriors in the semifinal will have the taller order in the postseason. But the team in the third seed will have their best chance to score the upset as they are likely to play a less taxing series against the Spurs first.
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In the second half of the season, we have seen that a lot of things can happen against the top teams in the NBA. If there is one team that is likely to make a huge upset in the postseason, it is most likely going to be the team that ends up with the third seed in the Western Conference.