Western Conference Playoff Picture: Top 6 Teams Update

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00:00Playoff picture in the Western Conference. This is just the top six teams. The teams that would

00:05be in the playoffs not having to deal with the play-in tournament to begin the NBA postseason.

00:10The Thunder have already clinched the best record in the Western Conference. They have already

00:15clinched that number one spot. They have won 11 in a row. It's really after that DRS where it gets

00:22interesting. The Rockets, pretty good. 50-27. Only five games remain and they have a four and a half

00:30game lead for that spot between the distinction there with the Lakers in the three spot. The

00:37Lakers a game up on the Denver Nuggets who lost last night at home after the double overtime

00:44thriller. Maybe not so much for Denver on Tuesday night against Minnesota, but a pretty good gap

00:49there for the Nugs. Two games in front of the Warriors who now have a half game lead over

00:54Minnesota and that's how the top six stands. It really does seem OKC, of course, has clinched that

01:00number one overall seed and Houston is in a great position with a three-game advantage over the

01:05Lakers to hold on to that two spot as well atop the Western Conference standings. And here's also

01:11the the addition of, wait a second, you're telling me the Western Conference this year is going to

01:14have a number one seed OKC, the number two seed the Houston Rockets. What actually happened to

01:18the standby blue bloods of this conference that typically can roll through? Now understand this

01:23as well. We do discredit teams that haven't done it before. Rockets 15-27, good luck in the playoffs

01:29when they face a rested and ready veteran team that maybe has won championships in the past and

01:33we're still doing the same thing to Oklahoma City. The regular season is one thing. Yeah, they might

01:38win 70 games, but wait till they get to the playoffs. I don't necessarily think that stands up

01:42because it's repeatedly every time we look at OKC, they're on another run and particularly this time

01:46an 11-game run to end the season. So not taking their foot off the gas pedal, they're still playing

01:51their best basketball of the season. But the questions are always going to be there. Seven-game

01:55series, you take on the Lakers, it's LeBron James, it's Luka Doncic. They're going to be rested, not

01:59playing all back-to-backs in different cities each and every night. The Denver Nuggets, you got to

02:03play them in elevation. They're going to get a couple days off and some breaks here for Nikola

02:07Jokic who's putting up 60-point triple doubles late into the season. The Golden State Warriors

02:12who add Jimmy Butler to that lineup on already a championship-made team from a few years back

02:16and Steph Curry playing great basketball to end the season. Those are the question marks that come

02:21up, which is why we ask, are they worthy? Yeah, look at Houston, they're three games ahead of the

02:25Lakers and Nuggets. That's a good spot to be in, the number two spot to try to avoid OKC as long

02:30as possible. But you will play quality teams across the way, talking about the Lakers and the Nuggets

02:35once again and the Warriors. I'm interested to see where they fall back or also once we get to the

02:39playoffs, who are going to be the favorites when these teams actually play each other? Are we going

02:43to disregard the rocket season and say they're too young, we don't trust them, let's go with LeBron

02:47and the veterans here or otherwise?