With roughly 15 video games remaining, the NBA title race is coming into focus, and the true contenders are beginning to reveal themselves.
Some groups are making ready for his or her first playoff run collectively. Others are chasing a championship. And some have already shifted their focus to the draft.
However no matter the place a workforce sits within the standings, that is the time of 12 months when one query begins to dominate: which groups can really win the title?
Historical past offers us a blueprint for what a championship workforce appears to be like like. By making use of these traits to this season, we will slim the sphere to the groups that really have a path to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Which NBA workforce suits the 40-20 rule?
We will get rid of many of the league immediately. Traditionally, true contenders observe the “40-20 rule,” reaching 40 wins earlier than struggling their twentieth loss.
Solely three groups meet that benchmark this season: the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, Detroit Pistons, and San Antonio Spurs.
Nonetheless, the rule doesn’t inform the total story this season. A few groups deserve consideration regardless of lacking that benchmark.
There are a number of different fringe contenders
Look no additional than the Boston Celtics. Boston had 38 wins after they suffered their twentieth loss, simply lacking the minimize for the 40-20 rule. That report doesn’t account for Boston’s greatest participant, Jayson Tatum, lacking the primary 62 video games of the season.
He has seemed strong since returning and may very well be a significant enhance for a workforce that was already acting at a borderline contender degree. The Denver Nuggets are one other workforce that requires further context.
Denver had solely 34 wins after they collected their twentieth loss, however accidents have plagued their roster all through the season. Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Peyton Watson, Christian Braun, and Cam Johnson have missed a mixed 137 video games this 12 months. That’s an astronomical variety of missed video games.
The Denver Nuggets are sleeper championship contenders
The excellent news for Denver followers is that the majority of these gamers are anticipated to be wholesome by the playoffs. In actual fact, everybody on that listing has already returned to the lineup besides Watson, who is anticipated again quickly.
Given Denver’s championship pedigree and the presence of the most effective participant on the earth in Jokic, they deserve a spot on this dialogue as properly.
Cleveland, New York, the Lakers, Houston, and Minnesota are all robust groups, however every has proven sufficient inconsistency or structural flaws to recommend they’re a tier under true rivalry.
The groups that ought to be thought-about the strongest contenders are the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, and Denver Nuggets. In 3 future items we’ll additional break down every workforce’s probabilities.
