NBA Standings 2020: Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets Fighting For No.2 Seed In West Playoffs

With teams scheduled to play just eight more regular-season games when the NBA resumes in Orlando, Florida, it’s essentially a two-team race for the No.2 seed in the West. The Los Angeles Clippers (44-20) or Denver Nuggets (43-22) are likely to enter the playoffs with the conference’s second-best record.

The Los Angeles Lakers (49-14) are all but locked in as the No.1 seed, trailing only the Milwaukee Bucks (53-12) for the best record in the entire league. The Clippers have been directly behind their rivals in the West standings since the season was suspended on March 11. The Nuggets have been a top-3 seed for much of the year.

Three other teams technically have a chance to catch the Clippers, though it’s highly unlikely any of them will be able to do so in the truncated season. The No.4 seed Utah Jazz (41-23) are three games behind Los Angeles’ second team. Don’t expect the Oklahoma City Thunder (40-24) or Houston Rockets (40-24) to make up four games with eight to play.

When play was halted, the Clippers appeared to be living up to preseason expectations. With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George finally both healthy and playing together consistently, L.A. won seven of its last eight games.

The Clippers’ only loss during that stretch came against the Lakers. They defeated the Nuggets, Thunder and Rockers—each win came by at least 15 points—over their last six contests.

Leonard is averaging 26.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He could very well finish as a top-3 MVP candidate.

Last year’s NBA Finals MVP hasn’t played in a back-to-back this season. Each team is expected to have one back-to-back scheduled in Orlando.

Denver wasn’t playing its best basketball at the time of the suspension, going 5-6 in its last 11 games. The Nuggets were the No.2 seed from Feb.8 through March 2.

Before struggling in March, Denver’s best player was playing better than most of the league’s superstars. Nikola Jokic averaged 23.4 points, 10.3 rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 16.6 shots per game in February.

Six Nuggets’ players are scoring more than 10 points per game.

Denver was the West’s No.2 seed last season with a 54-28 record. They were eliminated by the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 7 of the conference semifinals.

The Clippers (25-7) and Nuggets (25-8) have the two best records at home. No NBA team will have home-court advantage for the remainder of the season.