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The Lakers are 13-4 but have played the league\u2019s 7th-easiest schedule in terms of cumulative opponent winning percentage.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re almost* at the quarter mark of the 2025-26 season, when teams have played an average of 20 games and we can place greater trust in records and stats. Ultimately, wins and losses are all that matter when it comes to who makes the playoffs and with which seed.<\/p>\n
* The precise quarter mark of the season (308 of 1,230 games played) will be when Monday\u2019s nine-game slate<\/a> is complete.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s still a lot of basketball to be played and context that can be added to the current standings<\/a>. That context \u2014 strength of schedule, point differential and shooting luck \u2014 can tell us just how real each team\u2019s record is and whether we can expect them to improve or drop off in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Here are some teams that, according to the data, have records that may be a little deceptive \u2026<\/p>\n Better than their record<\/p>\n 1. Orlando Magic (11-8)<\/p>\n After a disappointing 1-4 start, the Magic have won 10 of their last 14 games. They\u2019ve seen the league\u2019s biggest jump in points scored per 100 possessions from last season, and there\u2019s reason to believe that they\u2019ll ultimately be a top-four team in the East \u2026<\/p>\n Their opponents have overperformed in regard to the quality of their shots. The Magic rank fourth in opponent shot quality, according to tracking data, behind only the Thunder, Pistons and Spurs. But they rank 16th<\/a> in opponent effective field goal percentage. They\u2019ve already played six of their 13 scheduled games against teams<\/a> that currently rank in the top five on offense.<\/p>\n One of the Magic\u2019s worst defensive games<\/a> of the season was a loss in Detroit on Oct. 29. They\u2019ll be back at Little Caesars Arena for their final Emirates NBA Cup pool play game on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, League Pass<\/a>), when first place in East Group B will be on the line.<\/p>\n 2. LA Clippers (5-13)<\/p>\n The Clippers have been the league\u2019s most disappointing team, having seen the league\u2019s biggest jump in points allowed per 100 possessions (the Pacers are the only team that\u2019s seen a bigger drop in winning percentage from last season). But the door is open for the Clippers to climb in the West and they\u2019ve got reasons to believe that things will get better \u2026<\/p>\n They\u2019ve played the league\u2019s sixth-toughest schedule (cumulative opponent winning percentage of .544) and it\u2019s been a little road-heavy, with only eight of their 18 games having come at the Intuit Dome. Last season, the Clippers were 9.0 points per 100 possessions<\/a> better at home (plus-9.4) than they were on the road (plus-0.4), with that being the league\u2019s biggest differential.<\/p>\n They rank 14th in opponent shot quality (a little higher than they ranked last season), but 25th<\/a> in opponent effective field-goal percentage. They rank fourth in how much their opponents have overperformed according to their shot quality.<\/p>\n After playing their last seven games on the road, the Clippers are back home and will face two bottom-six offenses \u2014 those of the Grizzlies and Mavs \u2014 this weekend.<\/p>\n 3. Charlotte Hornets (4-14)<\/p>\n With the Wizards getting a win on Tuesday, the Hornets have the league\u2019s longest active losing streak at seven games<\/a>. But they\u2019ve been good offensively (119.6 points scored per 100 possessions<\/a>) with LaMelo Ball on the floor and the data says they\u2019re probably better than a 4-14 team \u2026<\/p>\n The Hornets have the point differential of a team that\u2019s 6-12. Their four wins have all come by double-digits<\/a> and they\u2019re the only team that hasn\u2019t won a game (0-5<\/a>) that was within five points in the last five minutes.<\/p>\n Their opponents have overperformed their shot quality by the league\u2019s widest margin. The Hornets rank 12th in opponent shot quality, but 29th<\/a> in opponent effective field goal percentage, with those opponents having shot a league-high 41.6%<\/a> from 3-point range.<\/p>\n The Hornets will face the Bulls (fourth in 3-point percentage<\/a>) on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, League Pass<\/a>), after which they\u2019ll play four of their next five games against teams \u2014 Toronto (x 2), New York and Denver \u2014 that rank in the top 10 offensively<\/a>.<\/p>\n Toughest schedule thus far: Sacramento (5-14)<\/p>\n The Kings\u2019 opponents have had a cumulative opponent winning percentage of .643, the league\u2019s toughest mark by a wide margin. They\u2019ve already played three games each<\/a> against the Thunder, Nuggets and Wolves, plus two more against the Suns. But the Kings also have the point differential of a team that\u2019s 3-16.<\/p>\n Not as good as their record Brandon Ingram and the Raptors have enjoyed the NBA\u2019s 4th-easiest schedule to date.<\/p>\n 1. Toronto Raptors (14-5)<\/p>\n The Raptors have been the league\u2019s biggest surprise, seeing the biggest jumps in both winning percentage and point differential per 100 possessions. They\u2019re 6-3 against other teams currently with winning records, but there are a couple of notes of caution \u2026<\/p>\n They\u2019ve played the league\u2019s fourth-easiest schedule, with their opponents having a cumulative winning percentage of just .420. The Raptors (7-2) and Celtics (5-4) are tied for the most games played against the nine teams<\/a> that have fewer than six wins.<\/p>\n The Raptors rank eighth<\/a> in opponent effective field-goal percentage, but they\u2019re just 22nd in opponent shot quality. So they\u2019ve been a little lucky regarding how poorly their opponents have shot.<\/p>\n Up next for the Raptors is their only stretch of five games in seven days, which includes two games against the 4-14 Hornets. The first is in Charlotte on Saturday (6 p.m. ET, League Pass<\/a>).<\/p>\n 2. Los Angeles Lakers (13-4)<\/p>\n LeBron James is back, Luka Don\u010di\u0107 leads the league in scoring<\/a>, and the Lakers are in great shape. They\u2019ve won five straight games<\/a> and 11 of their last 13.<\/p>\n The Lakers are in second place, but have the West\u2019s seventh-best point differential<\/a> (plus-3.5 per game), that of a team that\u2019s 11-6. All four of their losses<\/a> have been by double-digits (two by 20-plus) and they\u2019re the only undefeated team (6-0<\/a>) in games that were within five points in the last five minutes.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve played the league\u2019s seventh-easiest schedule in regard to cumulative opponent winning percentage (.452), with only six of their 17 games having come against the other 16 teams<\/a> that currently have winning records.<\/p>\n The schedule remains soft through the weekend, with the Lakers facing the Mavs and Pelicans over the next three days. But it will get tougher after that.<\/p>\n 3. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-1)<\/p>\n There\u2019s no doubt that the Thunder are the best team in the league. They\u2019re just the fifth team in NBA history to have won at least 18 of its first 19 games and the first to have outscored its opponents by more than 300 points<\/a> at this point in the season. They\u2019ve somehow allowed 7.9 fewer points per 100 possessions<\/a> than any other team.<\/p>\n But the Thunder are probably not going 76-6, as their current point differential would project \u2026<\/p>\n They\u2019ve played the league\u2019s easiest schedule, by a healthy margin, regarding cumulative opponent winning percentage (.352). They can\u2019t play the best team in the league, but they\u2019ve also played just four of their 19 games against the other 16 teams<\/a> that have winning records through Wednesday.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve played just two of their 19 games against teams<\/a> \u2014 the Rockets and Lakers \u2014 that currently rank in the top 10 offensively, while they\u2019ve played 11 against teams<\/a> that rank in the bottom 10 on offense. That includes eight games against the bottom five.<\/p>\n Of course, the champs have played a role in how efficiently those teams have scored, and they\u2019ve held their opponents to an average of 10.3 fewer points per 100 possessions than they\u2019ve scored against other defenses.<\/p>\n Jalen Williams is expected to make his season debut<\/a> when the Thunder face the Suns for the first time and for first place in West Group A on Friday (9:30 p.m. ET, League Pass<\/a>).<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n John Schuhmann has covered the NBA for more than 20 years. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find his\u00a0archive here\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0follow him on Bluesky<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers are 13-4 but have played the league\u2019s 7th-easiest schedule in terms of cumulative opponent winning percentage.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[139372,49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-312467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-better-worse-records","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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