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OKC Thunder: Computer simulations say playoffs are assured

Thirteen of the 16 NBA playoff spots virtually are settled. Not the order, but the participants.

And the Thunder is in the 13.

Both ESPN and basketball-reference.com estimate the Thunder’s playoff chances at virtually certain – ESPN at 99.8 percent and basketball-reference at 99.9 percent.

Here’s how ESPN and basketball-reference arrive at their numbers.

Basketball-reference.com: “The playoff probability reports will be generated on a daily basis until the end of the regular season. The probabilities are empirical estimates based on simulating the remainder of the season 7,500 times. The method has been tried and tested: it was used to win the TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown in both 2007 and 2008.