Oklahoma City Thunder: Ranking playoff matchups in terms of favorability

Who would be the ideal matchup in the opening round of the playoffs for the Oklahoma City Thunder? Let’s rank potential opponents in terms of favorability and find out.

There weren’t many that predicted the Oklahoma City Thunder would be in the playoff picture this late into the season, but you likely already knew that. They’ve vastly overachieved and surprised many with their current positioning in the NBA’s hierarchy; a playoff spot still isn’t guaranteed—there is work to be done—but such a fall from grace would come as an even bigger surprise.

The Thunder are a well-oiled machine. They play as a collective unit, don’t commit many turnovers or forfeit points at the charity stripe, have multiple veterans with playoff experience, and no one in the association has more clutch wins (24) than they do.

In the opening round of the playoffs, the juggernauts of the conference act as beneficiaries from the league’s lack of parity, but that won’t be the case if they’re dealt the Oklahoma City Thunder.

So with that being said, who would be that proverbial dream matchup for the Thunder in the opening round? What matchup would give them the best opportunity to play the role of spoiler and move onto the second round?

Before we get into the list, a quick disclaimer: I’ll only be looking at the five teams currently seeded above the Thunder in the standings, which means no Memphis Grizzlies or Dallas Mavericks (though only 3.5 games separate the seventh-seeded Mavs and fourth-seeded Jazz).