There’s a four-team race at the top of the Western Conference.
The Thunder, Timberwolves and Nuggets are tied right now for the best record in the West. The Clippers are just 1.5 games behind those three. There’s only one game in the loss column separating all of them.
If you’d have told me that we’d be here at the beginning of the season, I’d have probably laughed at you. Sure, the Nuggets make sense. And so do the Clippers in a sense. I could’ve talked myself into the Thunder. But the Timberwolves? Nah, man. Come on.
Yet, here we are. These are the four teams battling at the top of the conference. And it looks like the Thunder might have a beat on the other three.
Oklahoma City has already beaten the Nuggets twice, the Timberwolves twice and the Clippers once. By the end of the month, there’s a realistic chance the Thunder will have tiebreakers against Minnesota and Denver.
The No. 1 seed in the conference is seriously in play for Oklahoma City. This was a team we saw in the play-in last season. That’s pretty incredible. I guess this is what parity looks like in the NBA.
Anyway, let’s dive into the power rankings.