NBA Standings 2020: LA Clippers, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz In Race For No.2 Seed

The Los Angeles Lakers (47-13) will earn the Western Conference’s top seed, barring a collapse down the stretch of the regular season. That leaves four teams with a real chance to land the No.2 seed and home-court advantage through the first two rounds of the 2020 NBA playoffs.

The Los Angeles Clippers (42-19), Denver Nuggets (41-20), Houston Rockets (39-21) and Utah Jazz (39-22) are all contenders to finish second in the West standings. They are separated by just three games.

The Oklahoma City Thunder (38-24) and Dallas Mavericks (38-25) are headed to the postseason but too far back to make a real run at the No.2 seed.

The Clippers, who trail the Lakers by 5.5 games with 23 contests left on the schedule, are in the driver’s seat to end up with the conference’s second-best record. They are 15-6 in their last 21 games. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are healthy, leading a team that ranks fifth in both offensive and defensive efficiency.

The Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks (53-9) are the only other NBA teams that have a top-five offense and defense. The rest of the No.2 seed contenders all have a top-10 offense, but none of them have a top-10 defense.

Denver has been the No.2 seed for much of the season. The Nuggets had the conference’s second-best record last year. Nikola Jokic leads the team with 20.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game.

Houston has the NBA’s second-best offense, scoring 113.9 points per 100 possessions. Russell Westbrook has been among the league’s best players since the Rockets traded Clint Capela and embraced their small-ball lineup. Westbrook and James Harden are averaging a combined 52.4 points, 14.2 rebounds and 14.5 assists per game.

The Rockets and Clippers are considered to be two of the top three title contenders in the West. If Houston can beat Los Angeles Thursday night, the Rockets will trail the Clippers by 1.5 games.

Houston’s 10-3 record over its last 13 games has included three meetings with Utah. The Rockets beat the Jazz twice by at least nine points during that stretch, while Utah stole a victory on a buzzer-beater by Bojan Bogdanovic. The Jazz have gone 7-9 overall since that first of three matchups with the Rockets.

Utah is on a three-game winning streak, facing all sub-.500 teams. The Jazz are 12-15 against teams that have winning records.

The Clippers, Nuggets and Rockets are all at least five games above .500 against winning teams.