By Guillaume Mahot
In the West, the announced predominance of the Lakers and the Clippers over the common people is not exactly happening. Admittedly they are occupying the first places of the ranking with an interesting victory rate (the Los Angeles Lakers are first with 79% while the Clippers are third with 69%), but their adversaries are not outdistanced at all, they even do better than that.
Take for instance the Denver Nuggets, ranking second between the two Los Angeles franchises after a win last night in Indianapolis (124-116). You can have a mediatized (and efficient) duo like James-Davis or George-Leonard and still be disturbed by some squads where no big star prevails. In the midst of an environment that is each day more individualist and self-centered, we sometimes tend to forget that basketball is a collective sport in which the individuality, as strong as it may be, does not make everything.
Behind the trio Lakers-Nuggets-Clippers, four teams are waiting in ambush: the Houston Rockets, the Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz of Congolese point guard Emmanuel Mudiay and the Oklahoma City Thunder of German Gambian point guard Dennis Schröder. If those teams were more or less expected at this level, it is quite stunning to see the squads left behind.
As a matter of fact, the eighth place is occupied by the San Antonio Spurs, five victories less than the seventh one (OKC). Again, it is only the first months of the season, but still. The Portland Trail Blazers, finalists of the Western Conference last year (yes last year already), are occupying a disappointing ninth place even though their starting lineup, with Damian Lillard, C.J McCollum, Carmelo Anthony and Hassan Whiteside, looks appealing.
Playoffs will be tough to get for Malian power forward Cheick Diallo with the Phoenix Suns (10) as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves (11) of Gorgui Dieng (Senegal) and Josh Okogie (Nigeria). These teams are not that bad, but the competition seems too fierce in the West for them to ever stand a chance. And on top of that, the Warriors are not warriors this season (15).
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