The Oklahoma City Thunder have all but shifted their attention toward the postseason.
The Philadelphia 76ers, meanwhile, already are staring at next season and beyond.
On Wednesday, their gazes will meet just long enough to play a game Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder hold a 12.5-game lead in the Western Conference over Houston and Denver with 14 games remaining. If they beat the Sixers while the Rockets and Nuggets lose their road games Wednesday, then Mark Daigneault’s squad will clinch the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed for the second straight season.
Oklahoma City (56-12) has won three consecutive games and 10 of its last 11. Daigneault has kept a deep rotation as the season has worn on — and consistently changed things up with rotations and roles.
Daigneault said he hasn’t necessarily been holding things back for the playoffs.
“You can have the same effect by doing a lot of things and being unpredictable,” Daigneault said. “You can save something and it’s unpredictable because no one’s ever seen it before, or you can do so many things that you become unpredictable.”
Oklahoma City’s success has led to plenty of award talk.
Though Daigneault has shied away from lobbying for Most Valuable Player votes on behalf of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s scoring leader at 33.0 points per game, Daigneault hasn’t been passive about Luguentz Dort’s candidacy for Defensive Player of the Year.
“I think his time has come for that,” Daigneault said. “I think he’ll get that recognition this year … We have the best defense in the league statistically and he’s anchored that the entire season.”
Oklahoma City’s 107.2 defensive rating — the number of points allowed per 100 possessions — ranks as the best in the league by a significant margin over the Los Angeles Clippers and Orlando.
On the flip side, the 76ers enter Wednesday’s game ranked among the bottom 10 in the league in offensive rating at 112.4 points scored per 100 possessions.
Of course, that number has been skewed by all of Philadelphia’s injuries. Wednesday’s game will be the Sixers’ second since they announced Paul George would be shut down for the season.
It was the latest blow for a team that has struggled to keep its stars — including Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and George — healthy.
“It just seemed like every time we built any momentum, we’d lost multiple players,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “I always said that — like Joel (Embiid) obviously is the focal point of our team on both ends of the floor. That was always hard enough. But what really made it hard was the sheer numbers. Five (or) six guys-plus out many, many games.
“So obviously disappointing … hopefully, everybody can get healthy as soon as possible and get back and have good summertime prep and all that kind of stuff.”
The game could have ramifications well beyond this season for both teams.
The 76ers’ first-round draft pick in June will go to the Thunder unless it lands in the top six. The pick was part of the 2020 trade that sent Danny Green and Terrance Ferguson to Philadelphia for Al Horford. The Sixers (23-45) hold one of the worst six records in the league, but they’re right on the borderline because the Toronto Raptors (24-45) are seventh-worst.
Wednesday’s game is the second of two meetings between the teams this season. Oklahoma City won the first, 118-102, on Jan. 14 in Philadelphia as Embiid, George and Maxey did not play.
But the 76ers have been plenty successful in Oklahoma City in recent years. The Thunder have not beaten Philadelphia at home in their last four tries, last winning in November 2019.
Maxey has missed eight consecutive games, but he is expected to return at some point during Philadelphia’s current six-game road trip.
–Field Level Media
