Biggest Gainers, Losers in the West
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 16 Apr 2024
Aside from the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves which finished first and third in the Western Conference at the end of the 2023-24 regular season, the other biggest gainer from the West is the Dallas Mavericks.
The Thunder ended at #10 with a record of 40 wins and 42 losses while the Timberwolves were at #8 with 42-40 and figured in the play-in in the 2022-23 season.
OKC defeated the New Orleans Pelicans to earn the right for the 8th and final seed versus Minnesota who were beaten by the Los Angeles Lakers who got the #7 seeding. The Timberwolves eventually got the #8 and last seed by beating the Thunder, 120-95 in their sudden death game.
The Timberwolves did not go far as they were eliminated in the first round of playoff by the then #1 Denver Nuggets.
But this season, the Timberwolves experienced tremendous improvement with their version of Twin Towers in Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns and the continuous all around play of Anthony Edwards.
The Thunder on the other hand found a great duo in superstar in the making Shai Gilgeous Alexander and Chet Holmgren.
The Mavericks did not make it to the play-in, finishing at eleventh place with a record of 38-44.
This season the Mavs are #5 with a record of 50 wins and 32 losses. They will however be up against the LA Clippers in the first round to be a best of seven in the 2-2-1-1-1 format with the Clippers holding the homecourt advantage. LAC beat the Mavs 2 games to one in their season series.
With Luka Doncic playing his best and the addition of Kyrie Irving, the Mavs however figure to make it a very exciting first round against the Clippers which are still missing Kahwi Leonard.
Meanwhile the biggest losers from the West are the Memphis Grizzlies which fall to #13 this season from #2 last season, the Sacramento Kings which went down to #9 from a high of third as well as the Golden State Warriors which fall to #10 this season from #6 last season.
The Grizzlies surely felt the long absence of their star scorer Ja Morant.
The Warriors and the Kings meet in sudden death in Sacramento for the right to play the loser of the #7 seed game between the LA Lakers versus the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, for the 8th and final seed.
Should the Lakers win and earn #7, they will be paired against the #2 seed Denver Nuggets in the first round. Last season Denver and LAL meet in the Western finals with the eventual NBA champions Nuggets scoring a 4-0 sweep.
Should they lose, the Lakers will have another chance to earn #8 seeding versus the winner of the Warriors versus the Kings which will give us a helluva of a game.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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