OKC Thunder: 2015-16 Roundtable Discussion

2. What is it going to take from this team to make it to the Finals this year?

Eberley: Firstly, luck, this team has not been lucky with injuries in the postseason. Secondly, this team needs to show some composure. They are far too good to suck this bad in crucial moments. Westbrook has had some horrendous displays late in games, taking poor shots, rushing possessions, etc.

Bourguet: Some major improvements in execution down the stretch, a commitment to the defensive end and a little bit of injury luck. Billy Donovan yanking Randy Foye from the rotation and giving his minutes back to Cameron Payne wouldn’t hurt either.

Russell Westbrook could help his team by not trying to do so much in the fourth quarter and fully committing to this triple-double monster he’s embodied over the last few weeks. In short, it’d take Westbrook and Kevin Durant playing the best basketball of their lives with nearly every other minor X-factor breaking their way to reach the Finals.

Hanneke: Most importantly: health. They’re a Westbrook knee injury and an Ibaka calf injury from possibly having two rings. I know that’s a lame, homer excuse, but I’ll go to my grave believing that. As I said, this team has what it takes to go the distance, but they’re so reliant on their Big Three (which team isn’t, really?) that any interruption there could spell doom.

The other thing they’ll need is some luck, which could mean a bad three-game stretch for Curry (something that hasn’t happened all year), injury luck, or even just a poorly-officiated game in their favor. Weird things happen in the playoffs all the time, and you just hope you’re on the right side of them more often than not.

Woods: Injuries. There really isn’t anything else that propels the Thunder to a Finals appearance outside of an injury to Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard or possibly Draymond Green, and I don’t want to hope for any of those scenarios.

Next: Quiet at the deadline