OKLAHOMA CITY -- With seven games to go, ESPN's BPI playoff odds put the Oklahoma City Thunder at 97.5 percent to reach the postseason. Carmelo Anthony says you can go ahead and make that an even 100 percent.
"We'll be there. We'll be there," Anthony said Wednesday. "I think we're confident enough to know that we'll be there. Where? We'll see when that time comes, but I believe we'll be there. It's something we planned on doing when we put this team together. It's something at the beginning of the season, this is what we were looking forward to. This is why we put this team together."
The Thunder (44-31) currently sit fourth in the Western Conference, 3½ games clear of the ninth-place Los Angeles Clippers (OKC owns the tiebreaker). The Thunder are one game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans (fifth), but only two clear of the Minnesota Timberwolves (eighth, with the tiebreaker over OKC). Five of the Thunder's remaining seven games are against teams that would be in the playoffs if they started now.
It has been an up and down season for the Thunder, with an 8-12 start through Nov. 30 but the fourth-best record (36-19) in the NBA since Dec. 1. Since that point, only the Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors have a better record.
With reigning MVP Russell Westbrook and the additions of Paul George and Anthony, expectations were lofty for the Thunder coming into the season, with a likely sub-50 win season unexpected. But Anthony said the Thunder have had their eye beyond the regular season all along.
"I think the expectations were put on us," he said. "Yeah, of course we wanted to have a better record at this point in the season with the team that we have, but our expectations was to be the best team we could be with the understanding we have the opportunity to do something great. And we have an opportunity to make a run in these playoffs and potentially play for a championship.
"That's the goal, that's the ultimate goal," Anthony added. "Everything along the way, up until then, it was a little bit expected because it was something we put together so quickly; we had to make adjustments and whenever you put something like that together it's going to take time for it to work. But this is a learning curve for all of us. But I think in two weeks, a week-and-a-half, two weeks, we continue to do what we do, take care of our business and I think people will forget about the regular season and focus on the postseason."
Anthony's teams in Denver and New York reached the playoffs every year for his first 10 seasons, but his last postseason appearance came in 2013.
"To have that feeling and know what that feeling is like, and then to not have that feeling, you don't want to experience that anymore," he said. "That's one of the reasons why I wanted to come here to OKC, because I saw the opportunity. I understand what we have, I understand what we're capable of. Yes, it excites me to know that the last game of the season I start gearing up for another season, and not focusing on where my next vacation is going to be."
