Current Western Conference Standings: Record Wins/Losses Warriors 23/12 Nuggets 21/11 Thunder 21/12 Lakers 20/14 Clippers 20/14 TrailBlazers 19/15 Rockets 18/15 Spurs 19/16 Kings 18/16 Grizzlies 18/16 Jazz 17/18 What Each Team needs to get to 55 Wins: Warriors 32 15 Nuggets 34 16 Thunder 34 15 Lakers 35 13 Clippers 35 13 TrailBlazers 36 12 Rockets 37 12 Spurs 36 11 Kings 37 11 Grizzlies 37 11 Jazz 38 9 Barring Major injury. I think the Rockets can get to 55 wins. I'm an Optimist. I think 55 wins is a TOP 3 team in the West this year I am pessimistic on other teams. The Warriors may go 32-15 BUT I am not sure about these guys and these numbers: Nuggets 34 16 Thunder 34 15 Lakers 35 13 Clippers 35 13 TrailBlazers 36 12 QUESTIONs are DO YOU THINK THE ROCKETS CAN GET TO 55 WINS? and DO YOU THINK THESE 5 Teams can maintain to get more than 55 wins? Do you think someone beneath us can get hot and jump to 55 wins. Rocket River
I’d be surprised if they got to 55 wins with what I’ve seen so far but I’d also be shocked if they didnt win atleast 50 Games. I do feel like we’ve really turned a corner. I think getting to 55 wins really comes down to how we play over this next 7 game stretch. This is easily the toughest stretch of games all year. So far we’re 2-0 on this tough xmas past New Years stretch. If we can go 5-2 over the next 7 I like our chances.
Without a trade bringing in a 3&D wing player in exchange for Knight, no. Without a trade we are heading for more injuries, and it's not bad luck it's highly predictable. If the team stayed magically healthy the rest of the season, it would certainly be possible. However you have to be honest in looking at this team and telling yourself: if you ever wanted to induce injuries, you would allocate minutes to the oldest team in the league exactly the way we have been doing it.
I wouldn't put it past the Spurs to go on a run and leapfrog us eventually. That's another example of a team with new players (both starters and role) that have yet to find their niche within their new system. The Nuggets are a pretty solid team with depth on the wings, I could see them staying in contention for 55. The Lakers just lost LeBron for a few games (according to their doctors) but could regress if he misses much more than a handful of games. The Blazers are the Blazers. The Thunder will continue to miss the defensive presence of Andre Roberson, who can make them a defensive juggernaut if he EVER returns to full health. Other than those teams, I don't see much the West has to offer in terms of competition for that 55 win mark, excluding the Warriors, they're always on the verge of a hot streak.
I don't think we'll win 55, but i don't think we'll need to. Golden St. will win 55, even without caring. OKC could possibly do it. After those 2 teams, I'm not confident in any other team getting far past 50. I think 50 wins will have you right in the mix for a 2/3 seed. Nobody besides us and GS won 50 last year.
I think they need Roberson and couple of shooters, boy, Houston did outplay them but their Offense went to shet in the 2nd half. Russ is a shell of his fomer self who wasn't too efficient.
Somehow finding a way to scrap their way to 50 was always the mark of achievement for this season after the first two weeks. The second marker is health and momentum going into the playoffs. If they found a way to get 55 it would be a remarkable achievement and Harden should be the front runner for MVP again.
ehh i think the west is just too deep this year. also, we ask too much of harden. cp3 will never stay healthy.
I think the most important question is what seed will we finish with. If we lead the division and get the 4th seed, and GS get the 1st seed, we will likely see them in the semi-conference finals. Seeing how close the conference is, I do think it's possible to finish with the second seed, as I don't think Denver will hold up its level of play for the entire season.
It's too hard to predict. I think a lot hinges on CP3 being able to be hamstring injury free and whether or not we can get another 3&D player to fill the void left by Ariza/Luc
"Barring a major injury" well Chris Paul already has an injury keeping him out weeks. We blew too many easy games to win 55+ this season. Maybe we can get to 50, but that is a stretch.
Assuming good health AND Morey having a good trade deadline (i.e. adding two key rotation pieces) I think 50-55 is possible. I will be more concerned to see how they play the last month of the season. The NBA is wide open right now.
fwiw: consider this: 55 Wins is a .670 win percentage Currently, NO TEAM in the West is on track for 55 wins DEN and GSW are tracking at only 54 Wins
We have to win 37 out of the remaining 49 games to reach 55 wins. That's 75% of our remaining games which is analogous to having a 60 win season. Not saying we can't do it, but without more depth we'll be too worn down to make a deep playoff run regardless.