No. 8 1981-82 Sonics vs. No. 9 2018-19 Thunder
8 seed: 1981-82
Regular season record: 52-30
Playoff result: Lost Western Conference Semifinals
Gus Williams returned from a holdout season to put up monster scoring numbers, Lonnie Shelton was an All-Defensive player and Jack Sikma had one of his best years as a pro as the Sonics got to the conference semifinals.
Key players:
Sikma – Sikma averaged a career-high 19.6 points and 12.7 rebounds and go with 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.
Williams – Williams averaged 23.4 points and 6.9 assists per game while shooting 48.6% from the floor. Though the Sonics lost to the Spurs 3-1 in the conference semifinals, Williams was a star, posting 32 points, nine assists and four rebounds per game in the series.
Lonnie Shelton – An All-Defensive player and All-Star this season, Shelton posted 14.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
Fred Brown – The lifelong SuperSonic averaged 11 points and three assists in 22 minutes per game off the bench.
Wally Walker – Walker averaged 9.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 28 minutes per game. He started all 70 games in which he played.
Bill Hanzlik – The second-year pro started 76 games and averaged 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in about 24 minutes.
Phil Smith – Acquired midseason, Smith – who was a two-time All-Star and had one All-NBA and one All-Defensive recognition under his belt – averaged 8.2 points off the bench.
9 seed: 2018-19
Regular season record: 49-33
Playoff result: Lost Western Conference First Round
Paul George emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate in his second year with the Thunder and Russell Westbrook continued to rack up triple-doubles, but Oklahoma City was unable to get out of the first round of the playoffs.
Key players:
George – George was one of the best two-way players in the league in 2018-19, averaging 28 points with 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.2 steals and lockdown defense. He was named to the All-NBA First Team.
Westbrook – Westbrook averaged a triple-double for the third year in a row and led the league in assists for the second year in a row, posting 22.9 points, 10.7 assists and 11.1 rebounds per game. He was named to the All-NBA Third Team.
Schroder – Schroder provided a much-needed bench boon for the Thunder, averaging 15.5 points, 4.1 assists and 3.6 boards per game.
Adams – Adams posted 13.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game and averaged more offensive rebounds (4.9) than defensive (4.6).
Jerami Grant – Grant averaged 13.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and about one steal and block apiece per game while shooting 49.7% from the field and 39.2% from three.
Ferguson – The second-year player started all 74 games he appeared in and averaged 6.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.0 steal in about 26 minutes per game.
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