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Lakers
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Clippers
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Warriors
3 (tie). TWolves
3 (tie). Suns
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Nuggets
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Grizzlies
Expectations are high all over the West, even for a few teams I don’t even project to crack the top seven. A few teams are going to be terribly disappointed come April, and that could have some serious ramifications for the next offseason.
In the meantime, get your popcorn and appreciate the race we might have. It projects to be close enough for the gods of randomness to have a field day. It’s theoretically possible we have 11 teams tied at 44-37 on the last day of the season.
More probably, factors like injuries, shooting variance and unexpected breakout years tilt the playing field in favor of a few teams and away from some others. Nonetheless, the margins among the top seven in particular project to be razor-thin, portending both a regular-season chase for seeds and home-court advantage that could go to the final day of the season, and another topsy-turvy postseason with little to distinguish “favorites” from underdogs.
I’m not picking a seven-way tie, although I was tempted, because I do see at least some small margin between first and seventh in the regular season. But with only five games separating these teams in my projected standings, the capriciousness of random variance could easily offset any difference
It’s about time the grizzlies got their due, I am so tired of the California teams winning every year. It gets boring, grizzlies are better than any California team. The only reason the Lakers won last year was because we were without Stephen Adams and the loss of Ja Morant did not help either. But we can do it withoutJA It’s just gonna be harder but he’ll be back in time for playoffs. We are always getting slammed by the haters!