Making NBA play-in tournament 'speaks volumes' to OKC Thunder's growth

Thunder guard Josh Giddey was at Topgolf on Friday night, watching the Bulls-Mavericks game on his phone.

He knew that with a Bulls win the Thunder was in, and that’s exactly what happened.

The Thunder secured the Western Conference's No. 10 seed for the NBA play-in tournament and will go on the road to face the No. 9 seed — one of the Timberwolves, Pelicans, Lakers or Clippers — on Wednesday night.

Instead of playing in a must-win game at 2:30 p.m. Sunday against the Grizzlies, Giddey and the rest of the Thunder’s starters will get to rest during the regular-season finale.

“It’ll be good to clean up any nicks and bruises that guys have,” Giddey said. “It’s a good opportunity for these other guys to play and get a good burn out there.”

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said at practice Saturday that Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams and Jaylin Williams will sit Sunday.

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“We just finished 24 games in 43 days by my math,” Daigneault said. “Four back-to-backs over that time, 17 games in March. It was a pretty grueling schedule … and everybody’s dealing with something physically, which we’re not gonna use as an excuse when we’re in the thick of it, but those guys won’t dress tomorrow.”

Both the Grizzlies (No. 2) and Thunder (No. 10) are locked into their seeds.

“We just want to know who it is so we can get to work,” Daigneault said of the Thunder’s play-in opponent. “It’ll be interesting to see who it ends up being. We’ll have to prep for the other side of the play-in bracket in the case that we can win the game. But in terms of preference, we’re excited for the opportunity. We’ll play whoever we’re supposed to play.”

The Thunder is going back to the postseason after only two rebuilding seasons. The Thunder (39-42) blew past their preseason projected win total of 23.5.

“From where we were last year to this year, it speaks volumes to what we’ve been able to do and how much we’ve been able to improve,” Giddey said. “As long as we stay on this right path, I think this team and this organization is gonna be in good hands for a long time.”

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Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t interviewed after practice on Saturday, but SGA, becoming quite the lyricist, posted this on Instagram.

“I heard them hating, 

I didn’t let it bother me 

they thought I’d be on vacation

getting ready for the lottery. 

“Every game that went by, 

we kept bringing up the rank

we were ready for war, 

they kept bringing up the tanks.”

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Thunder vs. Grizzlies

TIPOFF: 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Paycom Center (BSOK)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder's Josh Giddey talks about NBA play-in tournament berth