Historically, fourth place stinks. Even third has a little dignity to it — bronze, show, Ralph Nader — but fourth is so pitiful no one wasted time cooking up a consolation label.
Which brings us to the NBA’s Northwest Division. You think this race is tight? The difference between first and fourth place could come down to, say, a J.R. Smith jumper (a scary thought indeed the way J.R. is shooting).
This week marks the halfway point in the NBA season, and entering tonight’s Nuggets game at Golden State, Denver is first in the Northwest, but three teams — Portland, Utah and, yes, Oklahoma City — are within 3 1/2 games. Come April, tiebreakers might be needed to sort out 1 through 4 and who gets home court in the playoffs. And to put this prospective logjam in perspective, since the NBA went to three divisions per conference five years ago, the closest a third-place Northwest team finished was six games back.
A Denver optimist would point to the Nuggets’ injuries in the first half of the season, and remind all that this team lost but four games when all its starters were healthy. But who’s to say the Nuggets will stay healthy? Moreover, Denver has 12 back-to-back series left, the most of the four contenders. And, Denver has 17 road games against .500-or-better opponents in the second half, four more than Portland and five more than Utah and Oklahoma City.
“We all know the division will be determined by one game in the standings, or a tie,” Nuggets coach George Karl said.
And, while a fourth-place finish could actually be respectable in this airtight division, only one place matters. That’s because the three division winners are guaranteed a top-four seed in the eight-team conference playoffs. This doesn’t guarantee home-court advantage — in every playoff matchup, the team with the better record gets home court — but it guarantees that a division winner, at worst, would be the No. 4 seed, playing the No. 5 seed in the first round.
In other words — you want that banner.
“I love (the race), it keeps you on your toes, keeps you ready to go,” Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said.
Defending division champion Denver has the edge because of experience and talent. But don’t forget that Portland last year finished with the same 54-28 record as Denver but lost the tiebreaker.
Utah figures to be in the mix to the end, but coach Jerry Sloan isn’t happy with his team.
“We’ve had our moments where we’ve played pretty well, but we’ve had our injuries, and I thought we’d play better with the injuries,” Sloan said.
And beginning tonight, nine out of the Jazz’s next 12 games are against teams with winning records.
The Thunder, meanwhile, won 23 games last season, and right now has 23 victories.
“I’m very nervous about them,” Karl said.
Of the West teams, only Portland and San Antonio allow fewer points per game than the Thunder, and only Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James average more points than Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant (29.1.)
“I look at him as similar when I came into the NBA, having to take an organization from nowhere to somewhere,” Anthony said. “And it’s finally starting coming around for him.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1254 or bhochman@denverpost.com
Keys to division
Three teams are close on the heels of the Nuggets in the Northwest Division near the halfway point of the season. NBA writer Benjamin Hochman takes a look at what X-factor could determine the race.
Denver (26-14)
X-factor: Portland (25-17)
X-factor: Oklahoma City (23-18)
X-factor: Utah (23-18)
X-factor:
Pros and cons
Nuggets beat reporter Benjamin Hochman takes a closer look at the Northwest Division’s four-team race (sorry, Minnesota).
First place: Denver
Pluses: The Nuggets have experience and confidence after last season’s playoff run to the conference finals. When their starters are healthy, they’ve lost just four games.
Minuses: The bench is not as consistent as it was a season ago, and the Nuggets have shown a disturbing pattern of blowing games to lesser opponents.
Second place: Portland
Pluses: Led by all-star Brandon Roy, this is a spunky bunch that has already knocked off the Lakers, Magic and Spurs (twice).
Minuses: Season-ending injuries to centers Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla figure to catch up to the Trail Blazers over the long haul.
Third place (tied): Oklahoma City
Pluses: Coached by former Denver assistant Scott Brooks, the Thunder plays a physical and tactical brand of defense that can be among the best in the league.
Minuses: This team is brutally young and will have to grow up fast to stay in the race, let alone win it.
Third place (tied): Utah
Pluses: This is pretty much the same team that competes for the division title every season, and point guard Deron Williams is having arguably his best season.
Minuses: The Jazz is 0-for-3 against Denver, and has struggled to be consistent because of injuries.
