NBA Standings 2018: Warriors Extend Lead, Cavaliers, Rockets Continue To Lose Ground

The Golden State Warriors (36-9) continue to prove why they are odds-on favorites to successfully defend their title. They extended their lead in the 2018 NBA standings with a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers (26-17) Monday night, just a couple of hours before the Houston Rockets (30-12) suffered another loss.

Golden State won 118-108 in Cleveland behind 32 points from Kevin Durant and a near triple-double by Draymond Green. LeBron James had 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists, four blocks and three steals in the losing effort. The Warriors have swept their season series with the Cavaliers and beaten Cleveland in seven of their last eight meetings when including the 2017 NBA Finals.

Houston fell 4.5 games behind Golden State for the No.1 seed in the Western Conference with their 113-102 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers (22-21). It marked Chris Paul’s return against his old team, though most of the talk after the game was about the fight that nearly took place between the point guard and former teammate Austin Rivers outside the Clippers’ locker room.

The Rockets had the West’s best record for much of 2017, but that quickly changed with injuries to both Paul and Harden. Paul didn’t suit up three times during the team’s five-game losing streak in December. Houston has gone 4-3 in the seven contests that Harden has missed with a knee injury.

Holding off the Minnesota Timberwolves (29-16) and San Antonio Spurs (29-16) might be as much of a concern for Houston as catching Golden State. The Timberwolves and Spurs are both 3.5 games behind the Rockets, while the Oklahoma City Thunder (24-20) have improved to fifth place in the West.

It seems pretty clear that the Warriors will, once again, finish with the NBA’s best record. Golden State has suffered just three defeats since the start of December. When Stephen Curry hasn’t missed time due to injuries, he’s arguably been the league’s top player, averaging 27.6 points on 17.6 shots per game while adding 6.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per contest.

If Golden State and Cleveland are going to meet in the NBA Finals for a fourth straight season, this might be the Cavaliers’ worst chance to pull off the upset and win a championship. Cleveland’s latest loss put them further behind the Boston Celtics (34-10) and Toronto Raptors (29-13) in the Eastern Conference standings. The Cavs are just a game ahead of the Miami Heat (25-18) and 1.5 games in front of the Washington Wizards (25-19).

The Cavs have lost nine of their last 12 games. They are 0-7 against playoff teams during that stretch.