Phil Jackson said1 that a true contender in the NBA must win 40 games before they lose 20.
With the Nets loss yesterday to the Celtics, they reached the 20 loss mark with only 31 wins on the board. Prior to that, 24 other teams had lost 20 games.
Now only five remain: the Celtics, Nuggets, Bucks, Sixers, and Grizzlies.
The Celtics need to win 3 of their next 7 to reach 40 wins before 20 losses. In this stretch they play the Suns, @ Pistons, Sixers, Hornets Grizzlies, @ Bucks, Pistons.
The Nuggets need 5 of their next 8. They play the Warriors, Hawks, @ Wolves, Wolves, @ Magic, @ Hornets, @ Heat, Mavericks.
The Bucks need 6 of their next 8. They play the Clippers, Heat, @ Blazers, @ Lakers, @ Clippers, Celtics, @ Bulls, Heat.
The Sixers need 7 of their next 9. They play @ Spurs, @ Knicks, @ Celtics, Knicks, @ Nets, Rockets, Cavs, Grizzlies, Celtics.
The Grizzlies need 8 in a row. They play @ Cavs, Raptors, Bulls, Wolves, @ Celtics, Jazz, @ Sixers, Nuggets.
For a bit of context, last season the Warriors reached 40 wins well before 20 losses, while the Celtics only had 18 wins when they reached 20 losses (and 31 losses when they reached 40 wins). Both teams ended up in the finals.
Which of these teams do you think will fall short, and who do you think is a contender that has already lost 20 games?
1 Supposedly he said this, but I googled it and could only find Facebook NBA pages and links back to Reddit, but no actual source.