The NBA has completed its 81st regular season game, and after 81 games, the situation in the West is:
The Nuggets, Thunder, and Timberwolves locked the top 3, the Clippers locked in 4th, the Mavericks locked in 5th, the Pelicans and Suns competed for 6-7 places, and the Kings, Lakers, and Warriors competed for 8-10 places.
This ranking is very interesting.
The Nuggets, Thunder, and Timberwolves, three teams from the Northwest Division, have exactly the same record after 81 games, and they occupy the top 3 in the West, which is also the first time in the history of the NBA.
And more importantly, since the NBA became 30 teams, the West has been dominated by the Southwest Division and the Pacific Division, and the Northwest Division has no presence, but this season they have achieved a big comeback.
The most famous is the 05-06 season, only the Nuggets made the playoffs in the Northwest Division, and the Nuggets originally had a record of 7th in the West, but they forced themselves to 4th by relying on the advantage of the division championship, and finally cheapened the Clippers.
Since the 2004-2005 season, the Northwest Division has only won the No. 1 position in the West three times, the Thunder, Jazz, and Nuggets have each won one time, and this season is the fourth, while the first three times are the first, the Thunder in the 2012-2013 season and the Jazz in the 2020-2021 season have all stopped in the second round, and only the Nuggets finally won the championship last season.
Similarly, from the 2004-2005 season to the present, 19 teams in the West have reached the Finals in 19 seasons, and only the Thunder in the 2011-2012 season and the Nuggets in the 2022-2023 season have reached the Finals in the Northwest Division.
On the whole, the Northwest Division is the weakest region in the West, the Southwest Division has the Spurs and Mavericks, and the Pacific Division has the Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, and Suns, and the strength is not weak.
However, this season, the Northwest Division is temporarily standing up and dominating the top 3, although the Trail Blazers and Jazz are also messing around, but the 3 teams dominating the top 3 is enough to show the historical status, and also since the 2004-2005 season, this is also the first time that the top 3 in the West have been dominated by the same division.
But whether the Northwest Division really fought back depends on their performance in the playoffs.
And the Pacific Division is hilarious.
Last season, the teams in the Pacific Division, the Kings ranked 3rd, the Suns ranked 4th, the Clippers ranked 5th, the Warriors ranked 6th, and the Lakers ranked 7th, and all five teams made the playoffs and were ranked in a straight line.
This season, now the Suns are 7th, the Lakers are 8th, the Kings are 9th, and the Warriors are 10th, and they are still straight, and they are down from last season, and the Clippers are ranked 4th, advancing 1 place.
As for the Southwest Division, the Mavericks entered the playoffs at No. 5, the Pelicans were still hovering around 6-7, the Spurs were on the swing, and the Rockets were in the middle of the half. The 3 major illusions in the Southwest Division - the Spurs are old, the Rockets are strong, and the Mavericks are weak. It's not a match at all now, the Mavericks are strong, the Rockets are hot, and the Spurs are young.