Nba who is in first place

Phoenix Suns 3. Utah Jazz 4. Denver Nuggets 5. LA Clippers 6. Dallas Mavericks 7. Does that mean they'll finish with the best record? That preseason record would suggest a resounding no. But LeBron James feels as motivated as ever to prove skeptics wrong entering his 19th season. And for all of his warts, Russell Westbrook should take some considerable pressure of James and Anthony Davis.

Can Chris Paul stay healthy? Will the Suns pay Deandre Ayton? Can Mikal Bridges — who the Suns did pay — emerge as a more consistent high-level contributor? Will JaVale McGee fix the glaring frontcourt hole off the bench? Could they miss the playoffs?

Could they emerge as a legitimate contender to win the West? So much is riding on Klay Thompson who has not played in two full seasons. What's stopping teams from loading up on Stephen Curry and feeding him a consistent diet of double and triple teams? The season hasn't even started and yet the Pelicans season is already starting to slip given the surprise injury to Zion Williamson who will miss the start of the season as he continues to recover from foot surgery. Nine members of our person panel picked the Nets to come out of the East with a lone holdout riding with the defending champion Bucks.

But as the saying goes, the best ability is availability and the Nets are ultimately banking on their star trio seeing the floor together come playoff time. Votes: Brooklyn 9, Milwaukee 1. Welcome to the wild, wild West. Though more than half of our panel picked the Lakers to win the West, the prudent advice is to take a wait-and-see approach. What if Leonard comes back and the Clippers once again look like the class of the conference?

The Lakers may be favorites amid the uncertainty, but health, an aging roster and the integration of Russell Westbrook make them far from a lock. Votes: Lakers 6, Suns 2, Nuggets 1, Clippers 1. A Nets win over the Lakers would also give Durant a edge over LeBron on the biggest stage, opening the door for countless hours of unanswerable and unhinged debate.

Votes: Nets 8, Lakers 1, Bucks 1. MORE: How biggest trades, free agency signings impact rosters for every team. Going chalk is nearly as fun as calling your shot with a bold prediction. However unlikely, here are five bold predictions to look out for this season. With the amount of teams in the West that got better, namely the Lakers and Warriors, I don't know if Portland did enough this offseason to be a top-six seed.

While most of the noise in the East surrounds the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, the Miami Heat have quietly put together a roster capable of taking it to any team on any given night. The additions of Kyle Lowry, P. Whether this will result in a deep playoff run is another thing, but the Heat are going to win a lot of games this season. Zion came close last season, finishing eighth in scoring with an average of He obviously needs to stay healthy, but a slightly better version of the Zion we saw last season could be enough to take home the scoring title.

Offseason additions Dwight Howard 16 and Russell Westbrook 14 were among the league leaders in technical fouls last season. LeBron James is never shy about voicing his complaints, and neither is Frank Vogel. Coming off of a remarkable postseason debut, Booker will be hungry to try and return to the NBA Finals stage and all signs point to his continued improvement as one of the best young players in the league. Looks at the opponents for your remaining games, their winning percentage on the road or at home, and whether or not either team is on the second night of a back to back.

Ties for playoff positions including division winners will be broken utilizing the criteria set forth in subparagraph a. Two Teams Tied. In the case of a tie in regular-season records involving only two teams, the following criteria will be utilized in the following order:. More Than Two Teams Tied. In the case of a tie in regular-season records involving more than two teams, the following criteria will be utilized in the following order:.

The following guidelines shall be used when applying the above criteria to break ties for playoff positions:. Season