On March 6, the NBA regular season continued, and while the overall Western Conference standings remained unchanged, the potential impact remained.
1-4: Timberwolves, Thunder, Nuggets
Clippers. The gap between the top four in the West was gradually widened, with the Timberwolves 43-19, leading the Thunder 42-19 and half a win;
The Thunder led the Nuggets behind them, with half a win;
The Nuggets have a two-game lead over the Clippers behind them.
Although the top three are all half a win gap, the real gap is different: the gap between the Thunder and the Timberwolves is one less win, and the two teams lose the same number of games;
The gap between the Nuggets and the Thunder is one more loss, and for the top three teams in the West, losing one more game means falling behind.
The Nuggets lost to the Suns in overtime today, and it can be seen that the Nuggets did their best, but it is clear that the Suns did a better job, especially in limiting Jokic, allowing Jokic to be 8-of-18 from the field and committing six turnovers. The two forwards did a good job of limiting Durant for quite some time, but in the crucial fourth quarter, there was overtime, which allowed Durant to score 11 of 35 points.
The Clippers have all but lost their chance to finish in the top three.
5-8: Pelicans, Suns, Kings, Mavericks.
The Pelicans lead the Suns by 15 wins, a few face-to-face matchups with the Suns in the future, may affect the final standings;
The Suns are gratifying to win the Nuggets, but the team's remaining 20 games, there are many strong opponents, and the final ranking pressure is still very high.
The Mavericks lost 3 consecutive games at critical moments, compared to the Suns, there are two wins gap, two more losses than the Kings, facing the Pacers, losing 120-137, the team's weak defense and singleness on the offensive end, and whether they can win in the play-offs in the end are all questions.
9-12: Lakers, Warriors, Jazz, Rockets.
The Lakers are only half a win away from the Mavericks, that is, they have lost one more game than the Mavericks;
The Warriors have won two fewer games and lost one less than the Lakers, and the battle continues;
The Jazz are five wins behind the Warriors and the Rockets are 5 winsWith 5 wins, theoretically, there is no possibility of entering the top 10.
13th-15th: Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Spurs.
The Trail Blazers and Grizzlies are separated by 3 wins, and there is theoretically a possibility of catching up;
The Spurs and the Trail Blazers are separated by 5 wins, and if nothing else, they are basically locked in the bottom spot in the West.
So, the next battle for the Western Conference standings is a 1-3 place, and a 5-10 place.
It's going to be intense.
The Clippers' standings are relatively stable, because they can't go up, and they can barely go down.
5-10 places, these six teams are very close in strength, and none of them have the absolute strength to beat any team.
The playoffs in the West, it should be said that starting from the play-offs will be very exciting.