The Golden State Warriors (31-14) have pulled away from the rest of the pack and sit on top of the Western Conference standings following their victory over Denver Nuggets (29-14) on January 16.
This could be a start of a lengthy run at the top for the Warriors who defeated the Nuggets 142-111 on Tuesday night. The match was very much won in the first quarter where Golden State won 51 points compared to their opponent's 38. Star players Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were at their imperious best as the duo scored 31 points each to stretch their team's winning run to five consecutive games.
Having won seven of their last eight games, the Warriors have well and truly put their early season bumps behind them. At the start of the 2018-19 season, there were some issues with injury but that is a matter of history as, in this winning stretch, they have beaten teams by more than 20 points on four occasions.
For the Warriors, Curry is having a stellar season and is very much in the running to win the MVP (Most Valuable Player) award. He's averaging 29.5 points on 49.1 per cent shooting from the field and 45.6 per cent shooting from three-point range with an average of 11.6 attempts from behind the arc.
If Curry can help the Warriors keep their good run going, they can very well pull further away from the Nuggets and the rest of the field does not seem like they will provide them with much competition for the No. 1 seed.
Oklahoma City Thunder (26-17) trail Golden State by 3.5 games and have very little chance of catching up with Clint Capela and Chris Paul injured. The Warriors are 4.5 games ahead of the Houston Rockets (25-18).
LeBron James' LA Lakers are too far behind (24-21) to make a dash for the top seed and they will have to focus on the postseason.
Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference Milwaukee Bucks (32-12) and Toronto Raptors (33-13) occupy the top two seeds, respectively.
