The website fivethirtyeight.com is a statistical-based enterprise that gauges all kinds of things, from presidential elections to playoff races in sports.
And fivethirtyeight.com still has the Thunder projected as the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
The website projects the final West standings as Houston 67-15, Golden State 60-22, Portland 50-32 and OKC 48-34, followed by a four-way tie at 47-35 with San Antonio, Utah, Minnesota and New Orleans.
That’s close. The Thunder’s loss to Portland on Sunday night dropped OKC two games behind the Blazers in the standings (three in the loss column), and with Portland holding the tiebreaker, third place seems quite unlikely.