At any point when a team loses a series to another team, and therefore finds themselves now on the outside of the playoffs looking in, the morale of the team in question takes a hit. But in the case of the , the impact of their series loss to the should be lessened. That is not to say that the Thunder overachieved this season.
Rather, they proved that they are already one of the top teams in the entire league, and are here to stay. They have some work to do if they want to take the next step, but their achievements this season certainly should not be overlooked. With such a young roster, low payroll, and plenty of draft picks in the next few years, the Thunder is poised to compete for years to come.
The fact that they made it as far as they did in their first year of contention certainly should not be something to be ashamed of. How They Got There The Oklahoma City Thunder cemented themselves as one of the NBA’s top tier teams this season. In a tightly-packed Western Conference, in which every team that reached the playoffs finished the season at least ten games over .
500, the Thunder managed to win the Conference. The Thunder have had one of the quickest turnarounds of any team in the last few seasons. Just last season, the team was in the midst of a rebuild, but showed signs of life when they reached the Play-In Tournament last year.
They would be bounced quickly, but patience was the virtue general manager Sam Presti. “I'd rather not be in the business of predictions, .