Ranking NBA's top five title contenders: Warriors ahead of Celtics; 76ers, Nuggets miss cut – CBS Sports

Play Now
Males’s Brackets
Play Currently
Female’s Brackets
An NFL Draft Podcast
March Is Right here!
With less than a month to go in the 2022-23 NBA routine period, there is still a lot to be made a decision in the seeding races. Yet nonetheless it cleans, I believe that a rather dependable champion image, albeit a rather large one, is beginning to develop.
Below are my top five title challengers as is stands today …
Winners of 21 of their last 23, the Bucks resemble the finest group in the Eastern Seminar, at the very least, as they remain to daunt Khris Middleton back into the layer.
That Milwaukee presently rocks the most effective record in the organization in spite of the Large 4 of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Middleton as well as Creek Lopez (who could be the Defensive Gamer of the Year) starting simply 5 games all period with each other is a bright-red caution to any kind of as well as all challengers, especially if Middleton, that had a season-high 31 in Milwaukee’s massive win over Sacramento on Monday, clears up right into something better to his normal manufacturing and efficiency in the playoffs.
Giannis ought to be getting even more MVP love than he is. He’s perhaps the single most unstoppable pressure in today’s game, and the Bucks are loaded behind him. Deepness. Adaptability. Capturing. In a playoff landscape made up of supremely tight margins, individuals like Rub Connaughton, Joe Ingles, Jae Crowder, Bobby Portis as well as Grayson Allen are reduced from the traditional big-shot role-player setting, and also Jevon Carter as well as Holiday are mosting likely to offer your point guard 48-minute fits.
What’s my interest in Milwaukee? Violation. This is a bottom-half device. They boost fives however can battle to develop high quality looks in the fifty percent court. An on-point Middleton goes a long way in treating that. If you make Giannis placed his head down and also barrel through numerous defenders in stationary settings, you might have a shot over seven games to withstand his ruthless force.
Kevin Durant can miss out on the remainder of the routine season after logging simply 3 video games having fun with the Suns, however if any superstar is equipped ahead off a prolonged absence and also throw himself directly into the postseason fire without missing a beat, it’s Durant, that has a background of coming back on fire after long injury absences ablaze.
If, theoretically, we were to wind up with a Phoenix-Milwaukee Finals, you could well suggest in support of the Suns, a little, because they are uniquely constructed to anxiety Milwaukee’s drop protection– and counteract Lopez’s edge– protection, with a trifecta of the most flexible pick-and-roll developers and also dangerous pull-up shooters in NBA history.
Also, the Suns have one of the finest pace controllers we’ve ever before seen in Chris Paul. Keep Milwaukee in a slower, half-court game, and also you’ve obtained your ideal chance of taking them out.
To me, the very first swing man is Deandre Ayton. In the three games Durant played, his touches reduced almost in fifty percent. He needs to be included offensively, not just so he’s involved defensively, yet due to the fact that he’s going to have a lot room to run on the short roll and on deep seals with defenders spread out on Booker as well as Durant.
Paul is one more swing individual. He has actually diminished this season, and he likely will not be the key shot developer or snake-dribble-into-elbow-pull-up robot that he’s been in the past, but presuming that whatever is happening in the moment is mosting likely to proceed occurring in the future is exactly how you go bust. Things alter, for far better or worse, commonly on a penny, and I would certainly bet pretty with confidence on Paul being a large consider the playoffs.
Groups are going to leave the similarity Josh Okogie, Torrey Craig and also even Damion Lee (that’s been on fire all season) open in an effort to keep Durant and also Devin Booker seeing double, yet Paul will see a lot of padding himself, and just how he makes the most of those opportunities, either by striking space as well as finding edge shooters or by shooting himself, can go a lengthy means in choosing Phoenix az’s fate.
Do I have any type of Phoenix worries? Yes. Depth and also 3-point shooting. Without a doubt, these electrical outlet shooters are going to need to take and also make a relatively significant quantity of 3-pointers for Phoenix az in the playoffs. The Suns are not a 3-point capturing violation as it is, and despite having perhaps both finest midrange players in the game, it’s tough to defeat threes with twos.
I don’t place any kind of stock whatsoever in Golden State’s regular-season roadway ineptitude. I can not clarify it, however as long as they enter a first-round collection (far from guaranteed), they’re mosting likely to reset and be as hazardous as they were last year, when we additionally attempted to write them off as a top-tier contender at numerous points of the period only to see the win the entire thing.
So, for the record, you’ve been cautioned: Sleep on this group at your risk.
2 keys: Andrew Wiggins and also Gary Payton II. Wiggins is irreplaceable on this group. He was the second-most vital gamer on the 2022 title team. One, is he mosting likely to come back? And also 2, if he does, is he mosting likely to leap right back into rhythm?As for Payton, the Warriors outscored opponents by practically 16 points per 100 properties when he was on the court throughout last year’s playoffs, per Cleaning up the Glass. His sphere stress, his transition energy, his half-court cutting, he’s definitely important, which is why the Warriors paid to bring him back after letting him stroll to Rose city over the summer.
So, same offer as Wiggins: Will Payton come back healthy for the playoffs? And also if he does, will he leap right into rhythm? Since this has to take place right away. The Warriors are mosting likely to have an extremely tough first-round competition regardless of exactly how it drops.
But if they obtain it going, this is a sleeping giant. Stephen Curry is still, for my cash, one of the most prominent player in the world, and also Klay Thompson has been in classic type given that the turn of the calendar.
Boston is right there with any one of the leading contenders. They have all the champion markers: top-five violation and defense, elite duo in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, top-end depth with the addition of Malcolm Brogdon, shooting, schedule as well as protective convenience, individually development, rim protection with Robert Williams, experience, the bitter taste of getting so close last season, and so on.
A prospective Boston-Milwaukee meeting finals would be a war, as well as though I’ve preferred Boston in a lot of my analysis throughout the season, I am leaning Milwaukee currently. They’ve simply been so wonderful over the last 6 weeks, and I can not neglect that Milwaukee likely success last period with a healthy Middleton.
I’m taking a look at Boston’s bigs as a huge swing variable. Very first agenda: obtain the aforementioned Williams back healthy, and also keep him healthy and balanced for the postseason duration. In in 2014’s playoffs, the Celtics were 8.2 points per 100 possessions better defensively, per CTG, when Williams was on the flooring. He’s about as impactful as any kind of rim protector in the organization when he’s clicking with his coverage radius as well as upright pop, and also on the other end his offending rebounding is a major benefit.
Then there’s Al Horford, that is a couple of months from turning 36 as well as still unfailing. Among all players who are attempting a minimum of four 3-pointers per video game, Horford is second in the league (behind colleague Malcolm Brogdon) with a 45.3% clip. Over a quarter of Horford’s sixes are coming from the edge this period, without a doubt a career high, as well as he’s making 49% of them. If he remains to be that kind of safety-valve choice while Tatum and Brown are attracting the attention, Boston is going to be really difficult to defeat.
Problems? That support shooting does not proceed, which the Celtics need because they do not reach the rim at a high price. The Celtics quit moving the ball the wrong time, get one-on-one intoxicated, and Robert Williams, that has actually never been able to stay healthy and balanced for long stretches, obtains harms once again. Tatum’s wrist is currently mosting likely to need offseason surgical procedure; what if he re-aggravates it? That recognizes just how much it’s truly troubling him currently.
What concerning Grant Williams, the person who essentially won Video game 7 versus the Bucks last season for Boston with 7 3-pointers? He is among the largest postseason wild cards. If he’s warm at the correct time, very same as Horford, Boston becomes truly tough.
When the Clippers signed Russell Westbrook, I wrote that if they were to win a championship, it would certainly remain in spite of Westbrook, not because of him. There’s still a tiny part of me that assumes they can pull it off despite him.
Because Jan. 1, Kawhi Leonard’s 49% 3-point clip is the second-highest in the league amongst all gamers taking at the very least 4 per game, routing only Kevin Durant, that has just played in seven video games over that stretch.
With Leonard dipping into this degree, and apparently as healthy and balanced as he’s ever going to be and all set to play huge minutes for an ideally lengthy postseason stretch, the Clippers have what could be the most harmful guy in the playoffs. He’s proven that in the past. I believe, under the ideal scenarios, he can do it once again.
When Leonard and also Paul George have gotten on the floor together this period, the Clippers are scoring an elite 120 points as well as outscoring challengers by almost eight per 100 belongings, per CTG. We’ll see just how typically Ty Lue goes tiny in the non-Zubac mins with the enhancement of Mason Plumlee, but whatever his lineup choices, he has alternatives.
The Clippers have the bench scoring in Normal Powell. I love Terance Mann. They have capturing, protection (in theory) and half-court production. I wish they got to the free-throw line extra, as well as it’s troubling that simply six groups reach the rim less regularly than the Clippers. They need to make a great deal of shots to compete with the top groups, and also I’m not exactly sure I rely on Lue to continually bench Westbrook for nevertheless lengthy is required. But I just can not get Kawhi and PG playing at their height out of my head. If they strike that top, the Clippers can win everything.
© 2004-2023 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.CBS Sports is a
signed up trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered hallmark of CBS Interactive Inc.Images by Getty Images as well as US Presswire

source