Wild West standings: The Clippers move up to third, the Kings overtake the Suns, and the Rockets are in a dilemma
On January 26, Beijing time, the NBA arranged a total of 8 games, of which the Western team participated in 7 games, the specific situation is: Rockets beat the Hornets, the Suns lost to the Pacers, the Mavericks narrowly beat the Hawks, the Clippers beat the Raptors, the Grizzlies narrowly beat the Magic, the Thunder beat the Pelicans, and the Spurs beat the Trail Blazers.
First of all, the first three aspects of the West, the Thunder beat the Pelicans 107-83, there is basically no suspense in this battle, the Pelicans lead by 2 points in the first quarter, the Thunder overtook in the second quarter, the Thunder continued to press the Pelicans in the third quarter, and the Pelicans suffered a scoring drought in the final quarter, and the Thunder locked the victory in waves. In terms of statistics, Alexander had 31 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers, Holmgren had 20 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Jalen Williams had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. After this game, the Thunder overtook the Timberwolves to rise to the top of the Western Conference, but the two teams currently have the same record, while the Pelicans fell from 6th to 7th in the West.
The competition for the top spot in the West is quite miserable, the Thunder and the Timberwolves take turns, and then the Clippers, 127-107, the Clippers easily defeated the Raptors today, and there is no suspense in this battle, the Clippers opened the gap early in the first half, and the Raptors launched a counterattack in the third quarter, and the Clippers did not give another chance in the final quarter. In terms of statistics, Harden had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, which was the first triple-double of his Clippers career, Wei Shao had 20 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, Leonard had 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, and George had 21 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks. With this victory, the Clippers were double happy, won the game themselves, and finally surpassed the Nuggets in the rankings and rose to third place in the West.
It should be noted that although the Clippers have 2.0 games and the Nuggets have 1.5 games, the winning percentage is higher for the Clippers, they are 67.44%, and the Nuggets are 67.39%, rounding up to 67.4%, but the Clippers are higher overall, which is why the Clippers are behind the Nuggets and are ranked higher.
The Suns lost to the Pacers 131-133, the process of this battle was beyond our expectations, the Suns led by 9 points in the first quarter, the difference in the second quarter came to double digits, the Pacers had a slight advantage in the third quarter, and the Suns maintained the lead most of the time in the final quarter, but at the critical moment Topin made a layup to help the Pacers overtake, and then Booker failed to kill, and the Suns could only lose in the end. In terms of statistics, Booker scored 62 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers, Durant had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, and Beal had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 turnovers. According to statistics after the game, there have been 5 individual performances of 60+ in a single game this season, the highest (9) record since the 62-63 season, and after losing to the Pacers, the Suns fell from 5th to 6th in the rankings and were overtaken by the Kings.
The Mavericks narrowly defeated the Hawks 148-143, the process of this battle was full of ups and downs, the Mavericks fell behind by 4 points in the first quarter, and the two sides played inextricably in the second quarter, the Mavericks had the upper hand in the third quarter, and the final quarter continued to stalemate, Doncic caused 2+1 at the critical moment, plus his teammates also hit two three-pointers, and finally the Mavericks won in a thrilling way. In terms of statistics, Doncic blasted 73 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 turnovers, breaking the single-game scoring record for active players held by Booker.
In addition, Doncic scored 70+ with a true shooting rate of 91.2%, the most efficient record in NBA history. After this battle, the Mavericks are still ranked 8th in the West, and frankly speaking, Doncic narrowly beat his opponent with 70+, but as the season progresses, Doncic can't always score high, so the Mavericks' season prospects are still not optimistic.
The Rockets defeated the Hornets 138-104, there was no suspense in this battle, the Rockets led by 2 points in the first quarter, and the two sides were evenly matched in the second quarter, but the Rockets won by 19 points in a single quarter in the third quarter, and the Hornets completely collapsed in the final quarter. In terms of statistics, Jalen Green had 36 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, including 17 points in the third quarter, and 36 points was also Green's new record this season. Whitmore had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists, scoring and rebounding were career highs, and the Rockets also set a magical record in this game, winning by 34 points to tie this season's high, and the Rockets had won by 34 points against the Lakers before, but after this game, the Rockets were in a dilemma and still ranked 11th in the West.
Only the top 6 in the division can directly get a playoff spot, and the 7th-10th all need to play the play-offs, and in the long run, the Lakers should have no problem getting into the play-offs, while the Rockets are very difficult, and as for the Warriors, they have no hope unless they make a big trade. Finally, predict the final standings in the West (after the play-offs): Thunder, Clippers, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Suns, Kings, Mavericks, Lakers.