Oklahoma City Thunder: Playing their best basketball at the perfect time of the year

The Oklahoma City Thunder have had an up and down first season together. Are they finally starting to hit their stride as the playoffs approach?

Heading into this season, there was new excitement for Oklahoma City Thunder fans and NBA fans in general. The Thunder went to work this past offseason, managing to acquire Paul George and Carmelo Anthony in trades in a three-month span.

Pairing these two superstars with Russell Westbrook was a fantastic move by the Thunder to not only keep Russ happy but really put themselves in position to be a true contender again.

Expectations for the Thunder were already as high as they’d ever been before the season even began. Most people expected them to be in contention for the top two or three seeds in the West.

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However, as with all newly formed ‘superteams’, it takes time for three superstars to learn how to play together. Everyone was wanting to see how three ball-centric, isolation players would distribute the shots and make it work.

The Thunder struggled to get anything consistent going at the beginning of the season. OKC started out the season with an extremely mediocre record of just 14-15. Even though the season was still new, people were already labeling the Thunder as a failure.

The Thunder finally got going after that, winning 6 in a row and going 15-5 in their following 20 games. The biggest issue this season for the Thunder has been their consistency. They have had three separate winning streaks of at least six games in a row.

Are the OKC Thunder playing their best at the right time?

The Thunder were on another six-game win streak before losing to the banged-up Celtics where OKC lost on a last-second shot.  During that win streak, the Thunder’s offensive stats ranked up in the top of the league.

OKC had an offensive efficiency rating in the top 10, and an offensive rebound percentage that was 2nd in the NBA. They also averaged roughly 116 points per game as a team which would rank as the leagues best. The Thunder currently sit 4th in the standings in the Western Conference.

At times this season, the Thunder have looked like they could challenge and beat any team in the league in the playoffs. They blew out the Warriors the first two times they played, winning by an average of 18.5 points per game.

Could OKC provide the biggest threat to the Warriors if they meet in the playoffs?

Every time the Warriors and Thunder play now it makes for a wildly entertaining matchup. A playoff series between the two would be the type of playoff rivalry the NBA needs in the West. It would surely be an emotional series for the Warriors, having to go to a hostile Oklahoma City environment two or possibly three times.

OKC has shown they are very capable of beating Golden State, so anything could happen.

Regardless of who they play, or what seed they end up, OKC will be a tough playoff opponent for any team. One thing a team needs the most in the playoffs is players to come up big in the clutch.

Russell Westbrook provides that for the Thunder.

Russell Westbrook’s clutch time stats over the last two seasons rank in the very top of the league. Russ has scored the most clutch time points in the NBA over the last two seasons. He is also tied with LeBron with the most field goals made in the last minute of the game when the score margin is within five points.

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Next to the Warriors, the Thunder have one of the best starting lineups in the league. The talent is there. They just have to continue to play to their potential. If OKC can do that, the sky is the limit for them in the playoffs.

The main goal for every team is playing their best entering the playoffs, and the Oklahoma City Thunder seems to be doing that. Reaching the Finals is not out of the question for this team when they play at their highest level.