The NBA standings only provide wins and losses with precious little context about what's driving them. There are so many different factors that can affect a team's record, including things like injury, how good their defense is compared to their offense, or how they produce in clutch games.
One thing that can define how great a team or player is, is their performance in clutch games. Clutch time is defined by the NBA as the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the game is within five points.
The teams that win these games should be at the top of the standings but it also shows that these teams are calm, cool, and collective in tense situations. This makes the perfect recipe for a championship contender. Here are the NBA standings based off of clutch records.
Eastern Conference standings by clutch record:
Western Conference standings by clutch record:
Takeaways from the NBA Standings if only clutch games counted
The West has more competitive games: The San Antonio Spurs currently have the 12th-best clutch record in the Western Conference but they have the same clutch record as the Charlotte Hornets who have the eighth-best clutch record in the Eastern Conference. This means that the games between Western Conference teams have gone to the wire more often than the games between two Eastern Conference teams.
Biggest risers and fallers: The biggest faller is without question the Philadelphia 76ers who have an 8-3 record and second best record in the east. Which means that all of their losses have come in clutch games. The biggest risers are also in the east where the Toronto Raptors went from the 11th seed to the five seed and the Charlotte Hornets who went from the 13th seed to the eighth seed.
Big time players win big time games: All of the teams that have a win percentage better than 70 percent all have a great player. The Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, the Heat with Jimmy Butler, Mavericks with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, Nuggets with Nikola Jokic, Timberwolves with Anthony Edwards, and the Lakers with LeBron James.
KD isn't leading the Suns: The Suns went into this season with high expectations but are currently the nine seed in the west and have one of the five worst records in clutch games. Kevin Durant is known for being a clutch player yet he hasn't been leading the Suns to clutch wins. If they want to get back on track they have to start playing better in the clutch.
