Northwest Division Race Winding down to Decide the Top Spot in the Western Conference

Oklahoma City, Denver and Minnesota make up the top three spots in the conference, but one will be crowned a divisonal champ with No. 1 bragging rights into the postseason.

It's been a grind of a season for the teams at the top of the West, battling it out and swapping conference placing virtually every other night.

There's a common denominator among the three teams who have ran away with the top three spots while seeking a first-seed bid into the postseason, and that is they are all Northwest Division rivals.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves have all shown why they are at the upper echelon of the Western Conference seeding. Denver, coming off a championship season still in pristine form, and Minnesota and Oklahoma City bursting onto the scene following their Play-In matchup just a year ago.

It's a stark contrast between each of these teams, but they all offer a formidable starting five along with two or three very valuable bench players, along with the ability to close games out down the stretch.

Though, with Oklahoma City losing its two stars in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams in its past two contests on a road trip, they've dropped both of those games to regress back into the third seed to sit at 52-24 on the year. While the Thunder await the return of their two-way anchors, the Timberwolves and Nuggets remain tied in first with the same record of 53-23.

This isn't the worst situation for Oklahoma City to look in an optimistic light. Matched up against either the seven-seeded New Orleans Pelicans or sixth-seeded Pheonix Suns would arguably be much better matchups than the ninth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers who have given them fits all season.

The Thunder's remaining schedule isn't too daunting following their loss to Boston, but the Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks are no pushovers.

For Denver and Minnesota, they will meet one final time before the season's end on April 10, which will surely have high implications on the ultimate playoff seeding in the Western Conference.

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