OKLAHOMA CITY —
With pursed lips and a quick pace, Thunder coach Billy Donovan walked up three steps to a raised platform late Tuesday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. Settling into a chair behind a microphone and a desk covered in a Thunder-blue sheet, he looked out over a handful of journalists.
The room was nondescript, its walls dark and its lighting harsh. But his was one of the most unique vantage points in the NBA.
As the league begins to turn its eyes toward a postseason that begins in fewer than six weeks, debating potential matchups and calculating championship odds, no one right now has a better perspective on a pair of championship contenders than Donovan and Oklahoma City.