This should be a pivotal game for both teams in how the Western Conference standings shake out 4-8 when the final game of the regular season is concluded.
Utah comes in two games down in the loss column behind the predictably sinking Thunder as both teams have hit polar opposites as far as strength of schedules. Unless you’re Little Nick Gallo or Michael Cage this shouldn’t come as a surprise if you’re a serious fan of the NBA.
OKC’s Thunder enjoyed one of the easiest schedules in the league to begin the season, and in all candor, OKC should have come out of those easier games with at the minimum six more wins than they did. Wouldn’t those six wins come in handy just about now?
On the other hand, Utah started the season with a difficult schedule and has never really got untracked as a serious contender for a top three seed in the West despite having rather easily dispensed of the Thunder in last season’s first round while advancing to the Western Conference semi-finals.
Quite frankly…I think tonight’s game in Salt Lake City is the biggest game of the season for the Jazz if they want claim the No. 4 seed in the West over both the sinking Thunder and the hard to predict Portland Trailblazers. One other observation to be made is that the Spurs and LA Clippers just don’t appear ready to concede that either is ready to accept a No.7 or No. 8 seed.
I’m going to quit labeling the Thunder as the league’s biggest underachiever because that’s not accurate any longer after witnessing the meltdowns by the teams LeBron James and Anthony Davis played on this season. Clearly…the Lakers and the Pels have been by a defining margin the two biggest underachievers in the West.
So… tonight’s game? Vegas opened this game with the Jazz at -3.5. The line has since dropped with the Jazz at -3 with 54% of the money being bet on the Thunder. This means Vegas feels this should be a one possession game and that the additional half point is tough to give given the fact in most big games this season the Thunder have competed fairly well.
I’d wouldn’t take either team in this game. That’s a razor thin margin for error. Three of the Thunder’s best performances of the season have come at Portland twice on the road and in the miraculous win in Philadelphia. Whether you’re a Thunder fan or a Utah fan… tonight’s game will be another playoff game of sorts.
Simply look at Utah’s schedule after this game and you see why. Unlike the Thunder, after tonight they have one of the league’s easiest schedules with only four playoff level teams left in their remaining sixteen games.
Conversely, the Thunder’s next seven games are against playoff caliber teams and the question is not if the Thunder will drop in the standings, but how far they will drop.
This marks the final game in the Thunder’s murderous Western four game swing. Everyone knew this would tough. If OKC could escape Salt Lake City tonight and finish the swing at 2-2 it would be an enormous positive for a Thunder team which for over two months has been one of the league’s worst defensive teams. Only the Phoenix Suns and NY Knicks have ranked lower in this regard.
Big game tonight in Utah. I bet Mitt Romney will be sitting courtside heckling Russell Westbrook. Is there anyway Westbrook can get his 15th technical for verbally assaulting a sitting United States senator? That would be a new one.
Storylines abound in Salt Lake tonight.