The OKC Thunder clinched a playoff berth after beating the Miami Heat on Monday. With one game left in the season, Russell Westbrook needs 16 rebounds to get another triple-double stat line for the season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were able to win against the Miami Heat on Monday and now they are in the 2018 NBA Playoffs. After an up and down season where key players struggled and the OKC Thunder lost games against inferior opponents, they have now extended their season.
Via NBA.com, Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony said:
"“Feels good to be back in the postseason and the mindset of not looking forward to another vacation,” Anthony said."
Their seeding has not become clear yet as the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Pelicans face each other on Wednesday to close out the season and the Utah Jazz face the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
The Thunder could move up if they win Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Coming into the season, the Thunder needed offense and they hoped to change their fortunes by adding Carmelo Anthony and Paul George.
Not much has changed as OKC finished 17th in offensive rating during the 2016-17 season and is now 11th in that category in 2017-18. The Thunder finished 11th during the 2016-17 season in points per game and this year they finished 12th.
The Thunder were able to withstand the big loss of Andre Roberson and they are still currently in the top-10 in defensive rating (10th) with one game left. Adding Corey Brewer helped them greatly. They were able to win six straight games when they inserted him in the starting lineup.
Paul George had a season with ups and downs. He recently had “mechanical issues” with his shot and he was snubbed in the initial All-Star voting, which caused Russell Westbrook to go on a tirade.
George has been a defensive stud though. He is averaging 2.0 steals a game going into the last game of the season and is only behind Victor Oladipo in steals per game.
Also, there is the fact that he has been hot this month. In the four games that the Thunder have had in April, George has averaged 24.5 points a game.
For Carmelo Anthony, he had to take a major step back and has taken a requested role in the Thunder offense. It helped get him out of shooting slump that he called the worst of his career.
Anthony was not an All-Star this year. He has suited up for the All-Star game 10 times in his career. This is also Anthony’s lowest scoring average for his whole career. He even averaged 21 points a game during his rookie year. This year he is only averaging 16.3 points per game.
Russell Westbrook was the only player out of this newly built Big 3 that didn’t see a major drop-off. He needs 16 rebounds to be able to get another triple-double average for the season against the Grizzlies on Wednesday.
Westbrook is averaging 25.6 points, 10.1 assists and 9.8 rebounds per game.
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The Thunder were able to make it to the postseason, so this year is not a failure yet. Winning a championship should be the main goal and if the aforementioned Big 3 can get, hot that may be possible.