NBA Rest of Season Power Rankings: Who's No. 1?
The NBA arguably has the most parity league-wide since the mid 2000's.
This has certainly made for an interesting season - there are numerous worthy contenders despite the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets being considered the front-runners in their respective conferences.
Now it's time to predict the six teams who will finish the season the best in a year full of so many quality teams.
HM. LA Clippers
The Clippers have been a fairly average team over the last month, having gone 7-6 since a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on February 7.
They still loom large as a potential threat going forward - namely due to Kawhi Leonard, but their recent showings could cause some trepidation over the last month of the season.
5. Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks suffered a pair of tough losses to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers in the last week - but have largely stabilized in recent weeks.
Milwaukee's biggest revelation has been the uptick in production/efficiency from Damian Lillard - that was always the key to unlocking another level this Bucks team was capable of reaching.
4. Phoenix Suns
The Suns still have bouts of up-and-down basketball, but they have become far more consistent over the last two months.
Yes, the Suns also face the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA as well, but some very winnable games against teams such as the Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks are there for the taking - Phoenix can ultimately finish the season on a strong note despite playing many upper-tier teams in the home stretch.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City has been the model of consistency out West this season.
OKC sits at 45-19 and continue to somewhat fly under the radar due to lack of playoff experience and questionable center depth behind Chet Holmgren.
The Thunder are still almost a shoe-in to finish the season at around 55 wins despite the questions and will be a dangerous team to play in a seven-game series.
2. Boston Celtics
Boston has been the best team in basketball all season.
They will also almost assuredly secure home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
But the recent losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets, along with the near-loss to the Suns have given a level of credence to the belief that Boston has a small handful of fatal flaws that can be exposed in the stretch run.
1. Denver Nuggets
Denver finishes the regular season as title favorites, along with securing home-court advantage throughout the West playoffs.
The Nuggets' loss to Phoenix was their only loss in the last ten games - Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. have been playing incredible basketball in conjunction with another MVP-caliber season from Nikola Jokic.
