Thanks to Mike Muscala's game-winner over the Miami Heat on Wednesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder have locked in the 4/5 first-round matchup against the Houston Rockets.
The Thunder and the Rockets met in the regular season thrice with the Thunder winning two games.
Mike Muscala's game-winner locks the Thunder into a 4/5 matchup with the Rockets and guarantees the Sixers get OKC's 2020 first round pick.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) August 13, 2020
Catch Muscala's game-winning three. The Heat had a chance to snatch the game away with 5.2 seconds left. Unfortunately, they failed to capitalize.
Mike Muscala for the win!pic.twitter.com/6FL5gRvQtE
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) August 13, 2020
The Thunder have exceeded all expectations from experts who did not believe they'll qualify for the postseason this year. After all, they gave up Paul George and Russell Westbrook over the summer. In return, they received Chris Paul, whom analysts believe is on the tail end of his career.
Given that their roster was filled with young guns, analysts predicted that the Thunder will enter a rebuilding process that could last for a few seasons. But lo and behold, Paul proved to everyone that there's still a lot left in his tank. He also took young guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schröder under his wing. Apart from Paul, head coach Billy Donovan, too, has been given tons of credit for his good work. He was able to maximize the pieces that he was given.
For basketball die-hards, expect the first-round duel between the Rockets and the Thunder to be a testy one. After all, Paul might have some hidden heat for James Harden and crew. Besides, Paul is one of the smartest players in the league. So it won't be a surprise if he knows Mike D'Antoni's playbook by heart and uses that knowledge to boot them out.
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