L.A. is dominating the West right now, with two teams to represent the city. The 19-8 Clippers have been playing better it seems since the last time we saw them falling to the underdog Denver Nuggets in the playoffs. Paul George is fitting in a bit more smoothly into the system, and Kawhi Leonard is still doing what Kawhi Leonard does. The Lakers look like the same team that just won the finals, but even better. With some good pickups in the offseason, it is not hard to imagine a repeat for the Lakers who are sitting on a 21-6 record. Both teams have been having a great year but with all that said they still fall short of the #1 seed in the West. The boys from Salt Lake City, Utah have claimed the best record in the NBA so far with 22 wins and 5 losses. They are closely followed but have shown the resolve that makes me believe that they have the teamwork and talent to control their own destiny and finish with the top seed this year.
Moving on from the top three, we have what may come as a shock, the Phoenix Suns are in fourth. Devin Booker is nothing less than a scoring machine. Night in and night out he proves to be too much for any defense to control. Adding Chris Paul has been great for the Suns, giving them some great leadership as well as a point guard that makes everyone else better. All this combined with a solid supporting cast has made the Suns a top-four team in the West.
The Nuggets and the Warriors have had their fair share of struggles this year. Each is getting off to a slow start and is just holding on to the last two spaces in the top eight. Two teams that should have a better record are the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks. These two Texas teams better figure things out quickly with around 50 games left, there is not much time to make a big push for the playoffs.
