By: William Burns
With 40 games past in the NBA season, it’s pretty clear who the powerhouse teams are, but the standings in the Western Conference are still close. The top eight teams from each conference make the playoffs, and those eight teams in the West are separated by only five and a half games. It’s important to note also that the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Lebron James, are the No. 8 team and it doesn’t matter where Lebron is seeded in the finals; he is going deep. Disregarding Lebron’s ‘god-like’ status on the basketball court, he will be up against some top tier talent in the West. If Lebron can get healthy and back to full strength soon, then the Lakers will be in good shape. The Denver Nuggets have the best record in Western basketball and are tied in wins with the dominant Golden State Warriors.
Denver puts up a staunch fight when defending their home court, posting a home record of 16 wins and three losses. Oddly enough, the next best such record in the West is held by the Dallas Mavericks, who, at nine games out of first place, are second to last only to the struggling Phoenix Suns, who have won a total of 10 games this season. Dallas, even at nine games back still has hope to rise through the ranks and make it into that top eight due to 19-year-old guard Luka Doncic. Doncic has been lighting up highlight reels with beautiful high arcing three-pointers like only Curry and Harden can and gaining lots of publicity with it. That’s a lot of pressure to put on such a young player, but he could be the reason Dallas makes the playoffs if they do.
Golden State has been doing what Golden State always does: Scoring a lot of points and having a lot of fun. Golden State is ranked second in the Western Conference, but there is no reason for them to be worried that they aren’t No. 1. They have already been there before, so they might as well save a little energy and just take the No. 2 spot. I have no doubt that the Warriors can maintain their spot and maybe even push to make the finals again. So far this season the Warriors have been without their superstar center, Demarcus Cousins. Cousins has been recovering from an Achilles injury way back from Jan. 26, 2018. He is set to make his debut Jan. 18, against the Los Angeles Clippers. If Golden State has been winning this much without Cousins, it will be fun to see what they can do, and how they play with him.
The Oklahoma City Thunder round out the top three on the charts at only two and a half games behind. The Thunder have lost a little traction since going five and five over their last 10 games and slid a game further behind the lead. Paul George has really returned to his old self after a couple of sub-par seasons and is averaging 26 points per games on the season to go along with eight rebounds and almost four assists. Russell Westbrook has been doing what he always does, which is get triple-doubles. Once again, he has been averaging a triple-double stat line with 21 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. With these two exceptional players on the court coupled with some great role guys, there are not many teams around that can stop them.
The Los Angeles Clippers are up there at fourth best in the West for now. They hold a record of 24 wins and 16 losses and have a decent home record but are just .500 on the road. What separates the top three from the rest of the West is the away records. The top three all have winning road records, which says a lot about their abilities. The Clippers seem to be a hodge-podge team thrown together with no clear star, but maybe that is what keeps them so good. They have players of all ages, and they work together very well. They might not get deep into the playoffs but look for them to make it into the second round.
The Portland Trail Blazers ring up at the No. 5 spot carried by Dame Lillard and CJ McCollum; the Blazers have been red hot recently thanks to the bench, which has provided them with amazing support and allowed starters to get some rest during the games. As the Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls Wednesday, Jan. 9, the bench scored 54 points for the team. McCollum is also shooting the best field goal percentage of his career inside the arc, making him dangerous and hard to guard.
James Harden has been stepping it back and back again with the Rockets, pulling up with the sixth-ranked team in the West. You would think that with all the highlights and videos of Harden out there that they would be higher, but no. Even though he had five straight games scoring 40 points or more he is still taking some losses. The Rockets offense seems a little inconsistent sometimes, highlighted by some strong wins against good opponents, but also some tough losses when they should have easily won.
The final team we have here is the San Antonio Spurs; albeit a broken, sad Spurs team, they still have head coach Gregg Popovich so they will be winning. With none of the Spurs’ legends left on the team, DeRozan and Aldridge have been fighting to get this team together and into the playoffs. They are getting good production out of their bench units, but just need one more player in their starting lineup to break out this season to really take them deep into the playoffs.
For the most part, these top eight teams are going to stay the same. However, there might be some mix-up. Look for Portland and the Clippers to drop down a few spots once Lebron gets over his injury and rises up with his young teammates, and Harden takes the Rockets to the next level.
