With a big three-game stretch coming up, the OKC Thunder lost to another opponent fighting for a playoff spot in the Denver Nuggets.
The Oklahoma City Thunder started this week in the fourth spot in the Western Conference and had a home playoff series waiting for them if they could finish the season well enough. After a loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the OKC Thunder dropped to fifth place. Now after a loss to the Denver Nuggets, the Thunder are in sixth.
With 3.5 games separating the Thunder from the Los Angeles Clippers and Nuggets, and there being five games left for the Thunder, there is still a chance OKC could even miss the playoffs.
The Thunder also do not own any tiebreakers against teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans, which could haunt them if they are able to make it to the playoffs.
One positive for OKC is that if the Utah Jazz and Thunder have the same record, they will own the tiebreaker. That could be the deciding factor that helps the Thunder make the playoffs.
The Thunder own the tiebreaker against the Clippers but they do not own the tiebreaker against the Nuggets. Those are also factors to be brought forth.
The games the Thunder have lost have been close and have come down to the final ticks on the clock. Finishing has been a problem for the Thunder all year and now at a time so desperately needed, it is failing them again.
In the last five games, the Thunder are 1-4, with the only win coming in against the Miami Heat. In the four games they lost, they have lost by an average of two points.
The Thunder have proven that they can compete with good teams after beating the Golden State Warriors twice, the Houston Rockets once and the Toronto Raptors twice this season. They have also proven that they can lose to anyone after losing to teams like the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns this year.
Which Thunder team will we get for the remaining couple of games?
Head coach Billy Donovan said something interesting after the game against the Nuggets.
"”I wouldn’t use the word frustration, but I would – certainly, I think there’s been things as it relates to execution,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said."
The Thunder just have to execute down the stretch. Finishing plays will be what gets the Thunder over the hump. Winning little battles like loose balls and fighting for defensive rebounds will go a long way in securing wins for Oklahoma City.
In the same four games the Thunder lost, they lost the defensive rebounding battle in all four games. In the one game they won against Miami, they won the defensive rebounding battle.
The Thunder will have to close out the opponents’ possessions by rebounding at a higher rate defensively in order to win the small battles.
Next: 2017-18 Week 24 NBA Power Rankings
The next stretch of games will decide the Thunder’s fate. They will have to close these games out for a playoff spot.