Western Conference Top 4 February Schedules

The NBA trade deadline and the All Star Break are ahead in February as teams have recently passed the halfway point in their schedules. February will be a key month of separating the contenders from the rest of the pack in the NBA standings. Here is a look at the schedules in February for the current top four teams in the Western Conference standings.

Oklahoma City Thunder: With already six losses in January, the 38-11 defending champions have had some inconsistency in recent weeks, even while still maintaining a healthy lead for the top spot in the Western Conference standings. Growing that lead looks unlikely in February as the Thunder will see their current #27 ranked strength of schedule stiffen considerably. Denver has a gauntlet of difficult games for two weeks before the break, with road games against the Nuggets, Spurs, Lakers and Suns. The Rockets will also look to challenge the great 21-4 home record for the Thunder next weekend. Things aren’t much easier after the break facing a trio of top Eastern Conference teams in succession with games against Cleveland, Toronto, and Detroit, with the second two of that trio being road games. While the Thunder remain the heavy favorites in the West, there may be an opportunity for one of the other contenders to close in on Oklahoma City by the end of the month. 

San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs have more top tier wins than any other contender but a recent loss at home to New Orleans illustrates that this team may not be ready to rise to the top of the standings just yet. Early February will provide the final regular season meeting with the Thunder with the Spurs 3-1 head-to-head so far in that series. Overall, the February path is reasonable for San Antonio to maintain a steady pace in the West race, but it will be a road-heavy month with six of the final nine games on the road. After two home games out of the All Star break, the Spurs start a long east coast trip opening in Detroit and Toronto but there are four games in the month vs. losing teams as well. The head-to-head game hosting the Thunder February 4 might be telling whether the Spurs can tighten the race on top of the Western Conference standings. 

Denver Nuggets: Even while battling injuries this season, Denver remains within reach of the top of the Western Conference. Nikola Jokic’s return timeline is still unclear while the Nuggets have dealt with Jamal Murray, Cameron Johnson, Christian Braun, and Aaron Gordon missing recent games. With a game to go the Nuggets are 9-6 in January but the run upward in the standings may cease in February. Denver has a very difficult 11-game schedule for the month including facing Oklahoma City home and away, plus road games with Detroit, New York, the Clippers, Blazers, and Warriors. Home games with Cleveland and Boston are also squeezed into the schedule with Denver having two separate three-game road trips going east and west. The Nuggets are third in the tightly packed Western Conference standings but there are several quality teams sitting only a few games back and there is a risk that Denver might not be in the top four of the conference by the end of the month.

Houston Rockets: The Rockets started the season 15-5 in the first 20 games but Houston is only 14-12 in the 26 games since. After a rough patch in early January, the Rockets have posted quality recent wins over the Timberwolves, Spurs, and Pistons. The schedule in February is manageable as six of 11 games are at home, and seven of 11 games are against losing teams. That figure is a bit misleading as four of those games are vs. the Hornets and Clippers, losing teams that have been playing like much stronger teams in recent weeks. The Rockets do have home games with the Jazz and Kings for a few favorable late February games while five of six games in the three sets of back-to-back games will be home games. Houston looked like the top threat to the Thunder in the West early in the season and the Rockets could be showing signs of that potential again by the time March starts.