On any given night, several teams in the NBA look dominant, but only three teams have a real claim to being the best in the league.
Entering Sunday, the Detroit Pistons have the best record in the NBA at 44-14. They lead the Oklahoma City Thunder (46-16) by half a game and the San Antonio Spurs (43-16) by two games.
The fact that this race is this close is surprising when you consider the start the Thunder jumped out to earlier this season. It looked like OKC was going to run away with a perfect record when they started 24-1. Then the Spurs changed the season in Las Vegas with their win against the Thunder in the semifinals of the NBA Cup.
Injuries played a role, too. The Thunder have fought hard to keep their spot at the top with key members of their rotation sitting out for a long time. The Pistons have happily filled that void and stepped up in the last two months.
The odds are slim and with nearly 20 games remaining, all three teams have a fair chance to finish with the best regular season record.
Looking at the remaining schedule for all three teams, there are several reasons to believe that the Spurs can leapfrog both teams in the standings.
Since that NBA Cup semifinal matchup with the Thunder, no team has been better than the Spurs when it comes to on-court metrics. They are tied for the best scoring differential in the NBA with a plus-10.1 Net Rating, according to Cleaning the Glass.
The Spurs have nine games left against the top six teams in either the Eastern or Western Conference, all teams guaranteed to make the playoffs when the season ends today.
One of those games is on the road Sunday against the New York Knicks, but six of those games are at home and include their toughest rivals: the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets. The Spurs beat the Celtics and Nuggets on the road earlier this season and lead the season series against the Rockets.
The Thunder also have nine games against the top six teams with six home games. They still have to play the Celtics twice and have games left against the Nuggets, who narrowly escaped Friday, the Pistons, who beat Detroit and the Minnesota Timberwolves, who lead their season series.
The Pistons have nine games left against the top six teams, but only four of those games are at home. They have the most road games (14) in the NBA until the end of the regular season and have five returning starters, the second most in the league.
The Pistons also have to play the Spurs and Thunder again on the road. The Spurs have already beaten the Pistons at home and the Thunder lost a close game against the Pistons on Wednesday without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.
Betting on the NBA?
At the end of the season, the Spurs would have the upper hand over the Pistons and Thunder in head-to-head matchups. However, oddsmakers have them behind both the Pistons and Thunder to finish with the best record in the NBA.
The Thunder are -290 to have the best record in the regular season, with the Pistons listed at +300 and the Spurs listed at +900. Those odds translate to a 68 percent chance for the Thunder, a 23 percent chance for the Pistons and a nine percent chance for the Spurs.
That number is too low for how good the Spurs have been. I’ll happily hold them to win the most regular season games and have the best record at the All-Star break.
Pick: Spurs to win most regular season (+900, DraftKings) | Spurs’ best record after the break (+320, DraftKings)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Malik Smith has been involved in the sports betting industry since 2017. He is a data scientist specializing in the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for tips on NBA player games for extra money.
