NBA West Playoffs: What could have happened in a virus-free year

MANILA, Philippines – It has been more than a month since the last game in the NBA was played.

Had things gone normally, the regular season would have been in its final stages right now, with the hype for the playoffs peaking as it always had.

However, 2020 has been a historic year for all the wrong reasons in the world of sports, and the league has since been suspended due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Sports reporters and fans have been left to reminisce about the past and speculate about the future, which includes the now-postponed NBA playoffs.

Through pure speculation with an assist from analytics, this is what the postseason picture probably would have looked like had the season gone through.

All playoff seedings were determined with ESPN’s projections and their respective strength of schedule (SOS), which is a metric used to determine how easy or difficult a certain team’s remaining schedule is. SOS is provided by Power Rankings Guru.

Basically, the higher the SOS rank a team has, the more difficult its schedule would have been.

Take a look at how the Western Conference playoffs will likely shape up in the first round, both with expected and unexpected winners coming out on top.

Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (8)

Lakers projected record: 63-19 (SOS rank: 6)

Grizzlies projected record: 38-44 (SOS rank: 17)

It seems that super rookies Ja Morant and Zion Williamson are really destined to fight tooth and nail in the near future for the title of the Western Conference’s next rising team.

ESPN projected both Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies and Williamson’s New Orleans Pelicans to finish with the same record for the final playoff spot in the West. This was fought over by multiple teams, including underperforming contenders San Antonio Spurs (37-45) and Portland Trailblazers (37-45).

The tiebreaker for this situation was the SOS, in which Memphis ranked 17th while New Orleans was 1st. This means that the Pelicans have the most difficult remaining schedule in the entire league, which ideally makes them lose out to the Grizzlies for 8th place.

However, this pre-playoffs battle is practically useless as the young Grizzlies will still likely lose to the Lakers in 5 or 6 games. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are getting up in age and have no time to lose to 8th seeds on their way to a championship.

Morant’s time will surely come, but not yet this year.

Projected result: Lakers win over Grizzlies, 4-1

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Los Angeles Clippers (2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (7)

Clippers projected record: 57-25 (SOS rank: 9)

Mavericks projected record: 49-33 (SOS rank: 19)

The theme of intense battles between veterans and young stars continues as the loaded Los Angeles Clippers face the tantalizing prospects of the Dallas Mavericks.

Unlike Memphis, however, Dallas’ young star core of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis are way more proven and will likely give the Clippers’ new duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George a very tough first-round matchup.

This matchup will come down to which team has the better supporting cast, and the Clippers win this one hands down. Thanks to a starting-caliber bench mob of Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Reggie Jackson, and Marcus Morris, the Clippers will likely survive the sheer talent of Doncic, Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Seth Curry.

The Clippers will win this battle for now, but the Mavericks will likely win the war.

Projected result: Clippers win over Mavericks, 4-3

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Denver Nuggets (3) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (6)

Nuggets projected record: 53-29 (SOS rank: 16)

Thunder projected record: 50-32 (SOS rank: 10)

In one of the most inspiring turnaround stories of the league this year, the Oklahoma City Thunder shunned all the naysayers and continued right where Russell Westbrook and Paul George left off after their departure from the team.

Led by the future Hall of Famer Chris Paul and Most Improved Player candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder will likely continue making noise in the postseason and complete the first series upset at the expense of the Denver Nuggets.

Outside the continued dominance of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the Nuggets have been mired with inconsistency all season long.

Paul Millsap, Jerami Grant, Will Barton, and Michael Porter Jr are fighting for the starting forward spots with varying levels of success, while guard Gary Harris has lost a lot of confidence in his shot following nagging injuries.

Consistency will be the turning point of this series, and barring all injury concerns, Paul and the steadier Thunder will likely outperform the Nuggets just enough to keep their Cinderella run going way past midnight.

Projected result: Thunder win over Nuggets, 4-3

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Utah Jazz (4) vs. Houston Rockets (5)

Jazz projected record: 52-30 (SOS rank: 14)

Rockets projected record: 51-31 (SOS rank: 13)

For the third straight year, the Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets are likely destined to clash in the NBA playoffs as middle-of-the-pack teams with dark horse title chances.

This year, however, will be different for one side as the Rockets are parading their “micro-ball” lineup with 6-foot-5 PJ Tucker as the starting center. Meanwhile, the Jazz are in the second year of growing their team around All-Star duo Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.

Assuming that Gobert and Mitchell’s alleged chemistry issues never started due to coronavirus, it is safe to say that the traditional Jazz have the upper hand on the Rockets’ bold experiment heading to their postseason series.

With bench boosts coming from Bojan Bogdanovic and Filipino-American Jordan Clarkson, Utah also have the firepower to match Houston’s bench mob of Austin Rivers, Ben McLemore, and Jeff Green.

Prior to the season shutting down, the Rockets lost 4 of their last 5 games to mediocre teams like the New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets, and the Orlando Magic. This switch came after they won 7 of their first 9 games with the micro-ball lineup.

Because of this, assuming that the Rockets stay firm with their experiment, the more battle-tested Jazz will likely come out on top in 6 or 7 games.

Projected result: Jazz win over Rockets, 4-3.

Once again, the wild, wild West proves to be as exciting as it has always been in the postseason picture. The same, however, cannot be said for the East. Stay tuned for the next part to find out why. – Rappler.com