The 2020-21 NBA season is now about 2/3 of the way completed. With less than half the season left, teams are finally starting to make sense of where they could actually end up in this year’s expanded playoff picture. While some teams are fighting for the top seeds, we have others still just fighting to get in. It will be interesting to see how things start to play out here in this final stretch of the season. The play over these next couple of months is going to really ramp up. With the expanded playoff picture, it’s only right to assume we are just going to playoff-type basketball even earlier so teams can better position themselves for their respective playoff pictures.
1. Utah Jazz (41-14, Last Week Ranking 1)
As the Utah Jazz hit this last third of the season, they must be getting a little nervous to see their lead in the western conference is now only by a few games. With the Suns, only a game behind and the Clippers trailing 1st place in the west by only two games Utah is going to have to finish out the season very strong. All the signs are showing that they will, they are coming off a game this week in which 3 players recorded double-doubles: Gobert (13 points, 14 rebounds), Mike Conley (15 points and a season-high 14 assists), and Georges Niang (18 points and 10 rebounds). Even more importantly this occurred while the Jazz were battling injuries with three of their main guys in Royce O’Neale (rest), Jordan Clarkson (sprained right ankle), and Joe Ingles (sore left knee). The Jazz have proven this season not only how valuable their depth is but also how talented. Georges Niang Made his first start of the season earlier this week and the team had no drop-off in efficiency especially on the defensive end. Looking at the remaining schedule for the Jazz, it’s hard to see them really slipping out of first place. As long as their defense is still clicking on all levels and guys are flying around on a nightly basis as they have shown no matter who is out there they should be fine.
2. Philadelphia 76ers (38-17, Last Week Rank 4)
The Sixers beat the Nets on Wednesday, while the Nets were without two of their three superstars in James Harden and KD. Early on it seemed that the Sixers were really able to capitalize with the Nets missing their two studs leading by as much as 20 at one point, the game was narrowed to just three points with two minutes left in the game. Brooklyn showed a tremendous amount of fight and the Sixers showed an ability to withhold a late fight from a real opponent but to be real the ending of this game didn’t really tell us much as Steve Nash Opted to bench Kyrie Irving for the final 2 minutes of the game which is basically admitting your okay with losing the game. What stands out the most about this game was the Dominance of Joel Embiid. With or without KD and Harden the question for the Nets is still who is going to guard Embiid. He controls the pace of the game for the sixers and because he can score it so well in the low post it takes away from the up and down transition style that Brooklyn wants to play and Brooklyn simply still just has no one who can really guard him. The Sixers offense still looks more fluid than the Brooklyn offense. They just have a lot of very good complementary pieces and a real MVP caliber type of player in Embiid as long as they can keep it up and stay healthy they are the best TEAM in the East.
3. Pheonix Suns (40-15, Last Week Ranking 3)
The Suns have been one of the teams to capitalize the most with the injuries that have happened to the LA Lakers. Only 1 game behind the Jazz, I wouldn’t be surprised if they overtook them at some point in the next few weeks as the Jazz are still battling injury. The Phoenix Suns have won 5 of their last 6 and they have been some notable wins (Jazz, Heat, Kings). Devin Booker is Averaging 25pts and 4ast this season while shooting an insane 42% from the field. His game has just looked so much more effortless this year with CP3. You can see how he doesn’t have to work as hard on a nightly basis to get good shots for himself. Chris Paul has really helped this team get over that hump that they had been so determined to get over so a while. They have a shot with a third of the season left to go secure the one seed and it will be exciting to see if they can actually make it happen.
4. Brooklyn Nets ( 37-18, Last Week Rank 2)
Its no doubt that the Nets have the most talent in the NBA. Even now with the retirement of a 15-year veteran, 7-time all-star in LaMarcus Aldrige that still seems to be the case. The problem for the Nets that is defiantly a cause for concern is that their whole roster has just yet to play all together healthy and their 3 superstars still have e not all been active at the same time yet. The Nets have had some impressive games and good wins there is no doubting that but as much as I think they are the most talented team in the NBA they are not the best team and haven’t even really shown signs of it yet. Of the team in this top 5, the Brooklyn Nets are the biggest cause for concern because we have not seen any type of consistency or chemistry from this team and that is what the playoffs are all about.
5. Milwaukee Bucks (35-20, Last Week Rank 5)
Milwaukee has been quietly atop of the eastern conference all year and currently are only sitting 3 games out of first place. It isn’t unattainable for the Bucks to make a run at winning the east but they are just going to have to get back to full strength to really make that push. Giannis only retired last after missing a couple of weeks with a knee injury. The Hawks secured a win 120-109 over the Hawks to extend their win streak to 3 games but are going to need to keep stinging them together if they really want the Finals to at least go through Milwaukee.
6. LA Clippers (39-18, Last Week Rank 6)
The Addition of Rajon Rondo is paying off tremendously for the LA Clippers. Not only has Rondo provided the veteran and more verbal leadership to this young and talented clippers team but he has basically done for Paul Geroge, What CP3 did for Devin Booker. Rondo Has unlocked some of Paul Georges’s game and what I mean by that is he’s simply just making it easier for him. when you watch how the two play together you can see how Rondo knows exactly when and where PG likes to get the ball to go into his scoring and creating moves. ROndo always delivers the ball to him where defenders are at his mercy and he’s been much more aggressive now knowing he’s going to consistently get the ball in his spots. The Clippers may not make many jumps in the standings because of their tendencies to rest guys so that they are ready for the playoffs but as of now the clippers will probably be the toughest out in the western conference playoffs.
7. LA Lakers (34-22, last Week Rank 8)
The Lakers season started to look very worrisome after Lebron when down with a high ankle sprain but after only losing their first few after he went team and blowing the depleted nets out last week the Lakers showed that even without Lebron they are a .500 team. Schroder, Herrell, and Talen Horton-Tucker all showed this past week that they are players worthy of a little bit more credit. They have kept the ship afloat while Lebron and AD have been out and have not slipped too far down the western conference standings. The Lakers just need to stay within the top 6 seeds in the west and make sure they just don’t fall into the play-in games so when Bron and AD come back they won’t have to play more games than necessary before competing in the playoffs to defend their title.
8. Portland Trailblazers (31-23, Last Week Rank 9)
Although the Blazers are 1-2 in their last 3 games they have shown some hopeful signs as they look to capitalize in a western conference riddled with injury. The Blazers got a highly impressive 30 rebound game from Enes Kanter against the Piston Last week to Secure a win. This is promising because the performance came shortly after other Blazer Big Jusef Nurkic came back from injury early last week. If portland can figure of how to get their bigs healthy to pair with the savvy guard play of Lilliard and Mccollum, it wouldn’t be surprising if they made a late surge this season to secure a better playoff spot.
9. Dallas Mavericks (30-24, Last Week Rank 10)
The Mavericks are a team that it wouldn’t be springing to see a drop into the teams that have to compete in the play-in games but I would also be picking them to win those play-in games. Of all the teams at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture the one that is capable of getting catching the most momentum as this season ends, it has to be Dallas. They are the deepest team at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture and they seem like they are finding some type of rhythm offensively late. The Addition of JJ Reddick will really help this team especially as the games get more meaningful and they need consistent shooting. The Mavs are one of my picks to at least get past their first play in opponent in the west (if they end up there) because they have faired well against non-playoff and middle of the pack western conference teams all year long, they just can’t seem to beat a real western conference contender yet.
10. Denver Nuggets (35-20 Last Week Rank 7)
To keep it real, the Denver Nuggets saw whatever chances at making the finals fly right out the window when all-star Gaurd Jamal Murray Tore his ACL earlier this week. I don’t mean to make fun of the situation by any means, but there is no doubt that what Jamal Murray brought to this team cannot just be easily replaced. Murray was averaging 21 points per contest while shooting 47 % from the field and 40% from 3. He and MVP candidate Nikola Jokic were in a great position to lead this team into the playoffs before this injury. Since the Addition of Aaron Gordon the Team had not lost a game, they were a perfect 8-0 when they had the new Trio of Murray, Gordon, and Jokic. Now that lineup will have to wait a year and were going to have to see just how much Jokic and the rest of the Nuggets squad will be able to get done on their own.
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