RealGM

San Antonio is in 3rd place, comfortably and they have won 8 of their last 10 games.

Looking at 4-7 we see Minnesota, Denver, Portland, New Orleans and all four of these teams have won 5 of their last 10 games.

Utah is in 8th place and they have won 7 of their last 10 games.

What am I saying? those four teams, including Denver, need to get their acts together because Utah could climb right through all four of them and right behind Utah is OKC and if they get their act together, they could climb fast through those four teams also.

If any one of those four teams, including Denver, doesn't start winning more than 50%, they won't be in the playoff race very long. It's called, "Being in control of your own destiny".

We are favorites to reach #6 spot on West before Millsap injury. Since that moment we are 7-9, let's be realistic, or even 8-9 if Davis does not miss 10+ games till the end of the season. OKC will overtake us soon or later no doubt, and good to see Clippers are already out of the race. But surprisedly, Utah recovered from Hayward exit overnight, thanks to spectacular rookie Mitchell and notable improvement of their other backcourt players, Ingles and Hood, so I see 6+1 spots already locked on West, and a tough battle between Denver and Utah for the last 8th spot for WC playoff. Portland seems right now too strong for us without Millsap, and our chances to be better than Pelicans depending now only on Davis health, especially if other NOP player with injury issues from past, Rondo, stays healthy now when he is back. So I see it now like two-teams race, Denver, and Utah. Utah is .500+ team, but Mitchell is not this good in October and Gobert was injured lately, but on long-term, they are over .500 team now. Compared to previous season when Millsap is not in Denver and we have Gallinari on SF, and other TOP8 teams from West is not good like this season in general, our advantages are:

- I expect Jokic and Harris even more to improve
- Barton is already much better than ever
- Murray to become more consistent

I give Utah 45% chances to get short for a playoff, Denver 35%, and New Orleans 20%.