2019 NBA Mid-Season Review

The 2018-2019 NBA season is in full swing. April isn’t so far off at this point, and by now we can see what the playoffs are going to look like in just a few months. Here’s your NBA season update to see where your team stands!

The Eastern Conference

Milwaukee and Toronto lead the Eastern conference right now, with the Bucks going 28-11 and the Raptors right behind them at 30-12. The Pacers and the 76ers are hot on their heels, though, at 26-13 and 26-14 each. The Celtics round out the top 5, though, with Boston chugging along with 24 wins and 16 losses. The Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, and the Brooklyn Nets finish off the top 8, with perhaps Brooklyn being the one surprise so far this season, considering they haven’t had a single-digit conference finish in three years.

The Western Conference

In the west, the Denver Nuggets are on top of the heap right now with 26 wins and 12 losses, followed closely at no surprise to anyone by the 26-14 Golden State Warriors, still on fire from back-to-back NBA Finals wins. The Oklahoma City Thunder and the LA Clippers 25-14 and 23-16 respectively, are putting out some very respectable performances this season so far as well. The Clippers, as well as the Rockets, Spurs, and Trail Blazers, are all just 3.5 games behind, while the LA Lakers are bringing up the rear of the top 8 with a 22-19 season so far.

Injuries by the Numbers

As always, injuries can be a real problem for teams angling to make the playoffs. The Golden State Warriors lost center Damian Jones in early December with a pectoral injury bad enough to expect him to be benched for the rest of the regular season, though the Dubs don’t seem to be slowing down much as a result. Compare that to the six Brooklyn players injured and expected to be out most of January and it’s unlikely the Nets will dig themselves out of the hole they’re in right now.

Meanwhile the Lakers have lost LeBron for a week due to a groin injury, sure to put a dent in their own bids to climb up the Western Conference rankings. The big losers this year, the currently 8-32 Cleveland Cavaliers, are absolutely feeling it from the seven players they’ve got riding the pine currently.