Thunder competiton for eight seed

Thunderhead · Post #1 » by **Thunderhead** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 5:56 pm

Suns are the current 8 seed , and according to Kurt Helin , they are on pace to win 51 games. Pelton says if KD and Russ come back now, Thunder will win 49 .

Its ESPN Insider ,

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11948700/healing-thunder-make-run-nba?ex_cid=InsiderTwitter_Pelton_ThunderPlayoffPush

Kings are right there with them, 1/2 game behind, Pelicans 1game and 1/2 behind.

Aren't those the teams the Thunder will be trying to pass to get the 8 ? I don't see any of the top 7 dropping off.

I was trying to find the Suns SOS. ESPN keeps that stat somewhere on their site, but I can not remember how to find it, its not readily linked. Anyone know a good place to find SOS ?

I wonder if the Kings can sustain their current pace. Cousins is the best big in the league, but I think they've slipped up on some teams in November, and that won't continue. They are basically a new team, that seems to have found lightning in a bottle.

Post #2 » by **bondom34** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 6:03 pm

Thunderhead wrote:Suns are the current 8 seed , and according to Kurt Helin , they are on pace to win 51 games. Pelton says if KD and Russ come back now, Thunder will win 49 .

Its ESPN Insider ,

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11948700/healing-thunder-make-run-nba?ex_cid=InsiderTwitter_Pelton_ThunderPlayoffPush

Kings are right there with them, 1/2 game behind, Pelicans 1game and 1/2 behind.

Aren't those the teams the Thunder will be trying to pass to get the 8 ? I don't see any of the top 7 dropping off.

I was trying to find the Suns SOS. ESPN keeps that stat somewhere on their site, but I can not remember how to find it, its not readily linked. Anyone know a good place to find SOS ?

I wonder if the Kings can sustain their current pace. Cousins is the best big in the league, but I think they've slipped up on some teams in November, and that won't continue. They are basically a new team, that seems to have found lightning in a bottle.

I usually just use BBR for SOS.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... misc_stats

So far, OKC at 6, PHX at 16. Hopefully Russ looks good tonight and KD is back next week, basketball can be enjoyable again!

Thunderhead · Post #3 » by **Thunderhead** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 6:08 pm

Its like the season has just started, and its gonna be soooo interesting. Lots of questions like ...

How much better did the team get this past month ?

Won't our bench be one of the best in the league ?

How long it takes KD and Russ to shake off rust ?

How will this impact Adams and Morrow ? I got a good idea, but I wanna see it, as of now , its just theoretical.

This is gonna be fun !!

Thunderhead · Post #4 » by **Thunderhead** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 6:18 pm

Looks like Suns schedule has been tough enough, not like they've had an easy run.

And it also appears the Suns will be the Thunder's hunted team. And Thunder play the Suns four times.

ThadMan · Post #5 » by **ThadMan** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 9:53 pm

Here we go boys!! The b's are starting to come back

just Mcgary Durant and Jones left now. Lets get that list ticked off!!!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using RealGM Forums mobile app

Bravenewworld · Post #6 » by **Bravenewworld** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:19 am

Climbing that ladder.
If we win sunday we will be 1 1/2 games out of 8th.
By XMas there is a chance we could creep into the 7th or even 6th.

Post #7 » by **bondom34** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:22 am

Bravenewworld wrote:Climbing that ladder.
If we win sunday we will be 1 1/2 games out of 8th.
By XMas there is a chance we could creep into the 7th or even 6th.

Actually would be 0.5 back!

Bravenewworld · Post #8 » by **Bravenewworld** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:27 am

bondom34 wrote:
Bravenewworld wrote:Climbing that ladder.
If we win sunday we will be 1 1/2 games out of 8th.
By XMas there is a chance we could creep into the 7th or even 6th.

Actually would be 0.5 back!

Are you sure? They said tonight that with this win we were 2.5 out of 8th with the Suns ahead of us and who we face on Sunday. A win against them would be 1 full.

Post #9 » by **bondom34** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:29 am

Bravenewworld wrote:
bondom34 wrote:
Bravenewworld wrote:Climbing that ladder.
If we win sunday we will be 1 1/2 games out of 8th.
By XMas there is a chance we could creep into the 7th or even 6th.

Actually would be 0.5 back!

Are you sure? They said tonight that with this win we were 2.5 out of 8th with the Suns ahead of us and who we face on Sunday. A win against them would be 1 full.

Yep, check ESPN. Were 2.5 out, won tonight, PHX lost. 1.5 now.

Bravenewworld · Post #10 » by **Bravenewworld** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:30 am

Ah, thats what i get for listening to the announcers.

Post #11 » by **bondom34** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:19 am

Actually, guess they'd be 1 full game back, bc NOP took over the 8 spot (tied w/ PHX).

Bravenewworld · Post #12 » by **Bravenewworld** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:23 am

Unless the birds lose their next game.

JShuttlesworth · Post #13 » by **JShuttlesworth** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 3:46 pm

I think that OKC should easily be able to claim that 8th spot and try to climb from there. I thought it was going to be harder for you guys to close the gap but this 5 game win streak paired with the Suns' 4 game losing streak worked out well. How high can you move up is the question - it's all about getting that good matchup in the playoffs - can you get home court?

Leading up to the new year you got the Suns twice, Kings, and Pelicans so you have the ability to really do some damage on those teams that are in front of you.

Best of luck.

Bravenewworld · Post #14 » by **Bravenewworld** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:07 pm

Im wondering how far we can get. A lot of people have seemed to dismiss us getting a 4 seed, but i think we could do it. The top 8 in the West has 3 games a pop to beat up on each other. Its also worth mentioning that the Blazers are not doing great right now and are kind of limited and there is a good chance we could end up taking the division. If we won 2/3rds of our western match up's there is a very good possibility of us getting a much higher seed then predicted.

Kizz Fastfists · Post #15 » by **Kizz Fastfists** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:36 pm

I like the Thunder to take the 8 seed by the end of next weekend, if not sooner. After that it's going to be a long process to climb the standings as they are 6 back in the loss column from the 7 seed. Some of the teams ahead of them like Portland and Dallas have some tough stretches the rest of the month and the Western Conference should start to see some separation as the top 7 teams play each other. Keep in mind that every team currently in the top 7 won at least 49 games last year. So if OKC has to get to 55 wins to take the 4 seed, the number they would have needed last year, they have to win 76% of their games the rest of the way.

I'm not even bothering trying to figure out the standings at this point. A significant injury to another team could totally shake things up. OKC is about to take the 8 seed. From there they will try to climb one spot at a time. It will be very difficult given the teams in front of them. Dallas seems like the most likely team to catch for the 7 seed before the all-star break. However, that would require being 8 games than a very good team over the next two months, all-star weekend is the February 13-15. I'm not sure making up 4 games a month is realistic, even though I see Dallas ending as the 8 seed at the end of the year.

After they officially take over the 8 seed I don't plan on looking at the standings again until the all-star break. At that time we'll have an idea about how good this team really is and if they can pull off a top 4 seed after that terrible start. Keep in mind that they are trying to be the first team ever to start 5-12 and make the playoffs and with that huge hole they ended up in, which was bigger than I thought it was going to be, predicting the playoffs at this point is impossible.

spearsy23 · Post #16 » by **spearsy23** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:21 pm

I really don't care about the seeding. The west is loaded, we're playing good teams on their home court wherever we end up. There isn't going to be an easy path no matter what and we'll be as good as anybody at full strength. We have championship aspirations so 'well we need home court so we at leads get to the 2nd round' isn't on the table.