Wild West standings: Nuggets tie Thunder, Suns return to top-6, Rockets super rise
On March 24, Beijing time, the NBA league arranged a total of 8 games, of which the Western team participated in 4 games, and the specific situation is as follows: the Kings narrowly defeated the Magic 109-107, the Jazz lost to the Rockets 119-147, the Suns defeated the Spurs 131-106, and the Nuggets narrowly defeated the Trail Blazers 114-111. As a result, there have been some new changes in the pattern of the Wild West, which can be summarized simply: the Nuggets tied the Thunder, the Suns returned to the top 6, and the Rockets super rose.
The battle for the top spot in the West between the Thunder and the defending champion Nuggets intensifies, with the difference being that the Thunder go all out while the Nuggets have reservations. In the Nuggets VS Trail Blazers game, Jokic and Murray were both absent, and the Nuggets team had a total of 7 players scoring double-doubles, once establishing a huge lead of 15, even if Henderson and Reese combined to contribute 46 points + 12 rebounds + 8 assists + 3 steals, the Trail Blazers still could not escape a defeat. The Nuggets narrowly defeated the Trail Blazers 114-111 to move their record to 50-21 and tie the Thunder (49-20) again. Currently, the Thunder are on a four-game winning streak, the Nuggets are on a three-game winning streak, and the battle for No. 1 in the West is still full of uncertainties.
Compared with the Thunder Nuggets, the Timberwolves, Clippers, and Pelicans are all in their comfort zone, and the Timberwolves are in third place in the West with 48 wins and 22 losses, 1.5 wins behind the Nuggets in second place in the West, 3.5 wins ahead of the Clippers (44-25) in fourth place in the West, and 1.5 wins ahead of the Pelicans (43-27) in fifth place in the West. All three teams have big players out injured, with Timberwolves' Towns not having a timetable for his return, the Clippers' Westbrook expected to return next week, and the Pelicans' Ingram expected to be sidelined for two weeks. It is foreseeable that staying healthy will be the top priority for these three teams in the remaining fixtures!
At the same time, the battle for the sixth place in the west has also entered a white-hot stage. In the Kings vs Magic game, the two teams fought until the last moment to separate the winners, in the case of Monk 11 0, Fox, Xiao Sa and Murray trident teamed up to contribute 74 points + 29 rebounds + 12 assists to help the team get a difficult victory; As a result, the Suns moved to 42-29 and returned to sixth place in the West, while the Kings finished seventh in the West with 41 wins and 29 losses, and the Mavericks finished eighth in the West with 41 wins and 29 losses. The difference between these three teams is no more than 0.5 games, and the battle for sixth place in the West is destined to be fierce.
The Lakers and Warriors are the other two teams in the play-in tournament, but with the mantis catching the cicada and the Rockets' super-rise caught off guard. In the Rockets VS Jazz game, Jalen Green, Van Jordan and Jeff Green teamed up to score 96 points + 21 three-pointers, and the Rockets won a 28-point game. After this game, the Rockets won eight consecutive games and improved their record to 35-35, only 1.5 wins behind the Warriors (36-33) in 10th place in the West. With 12 games left in the regular season, 1.5 wins is completely catch-up, and the Warriors must not be careless!