NBA Playoff Picture: Outlook, concerns for Rockets, Warriors and the other title contenders - CBSSports.com

With only a few weeks remaining in the regular season, it is clear that the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets have been in a class of their own and stand out as true contenders to win the NBA title. Behind them, though, the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers warrant our attention. 

While other teams jostle for playoff position (or tank), let's take stock of the very best teams in the NBA.

The best of the West

Houston Rockets (57-14)

The outlook: Thanks to some bad injury luck in the Bay Area, it would now be surprising if the Rockets didn't end up with the league's best record. No one doubts the champs' ability to win on the road, but Houston needs every edge it can get in a potential conference finals matchup between two juggernauts. By the way, if we somehow don't get to see that series, NBA fans will feel robbed. 

The Rockets deserve to be treated as worthy challengers to the Warriors' throne, not just a nice regular-season story. James Harden might win MVP almost unanimously, Daryl Morey should win Executive of the Year and I believe Luc Richard Mbah a Moute should be seen as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, too. It is absurd that anybody doubted Chris Paul's ability to play next to Harden, and it will be fascinating to see whether or not they look dominant in the first couple of rounds of the playoffs the way they have in the regular season. 

Fun stat: The Rockets take 46.3 percent of their shots from behind the 3-point line, up from 43.8 percent last season. No one has ever launched like this, and I suspect it's only a matter of time before a team -- probably Houston -- shoots more 3s than 2s for a full season. It turns out the presence of Paul, one of the best midrange shooters of all-time, has not changed the way Morey and coach Mike D'Antoni want the team to play. 

Biggest concern: I'm genuinely more interested in the (historically great) offense than the defense. By the end of their series against the San Antonio Spurs last season, their Harden-led attack looked limited and predictable. Optimists would say that Paul changes everything in this regard and there is no defense for Harden's unbelievable stepback 3-pointers. Pessimists might point out that making isolation play after isolation play can tire anybody out, even with a bit of help.

Further reading: Check out Rob Mahoney at Sports Illustrated and Seerat Sohi at SB Nation writing about the Rockets' iso-ball. It's funny how the game evolves -- Houston runs so much isolation, supposedly a thing of the past, in part because its opponents are always switching pick-and-rolls, a relatively new trend.

Games remaining: vs. Pistons, vs. Pelicans, vs. Hawks, vs. Bulls, vs. Suns, @ Spurs, vs. Wizards, vs. Blazers, vs. Thunder, @ Lakers, @ Kings

Golden State Warriors (53-18)

The outlook: The Warriors haven't been quite as incredible as they have been for the past few seasons, but that's understandable. As coach Steve Kerr has continually pointed out, winning is no longer a new and exciting thing for this group. Despite losing focus at times and dealing with an assortment of injuries in recent weeks, Golden State still has the league's best net rating. No team has more top-end talent and, while the Rockets might be better than any team it has faced in the past few years, it still should be seen as the favorite to win the title.

After winning four straight games coming out of the All-Star break, Klay Thompson told reporters he wanted the Warriors to win the next 20 and lock up the No. 1 seed. Unfortunately for them, they have now lost four of their last six games. It would be unfair, however, to judge them on any of those performances -- they were the result of all of their All-Stars and several bench players missing time with injuries. 

Fun stat: Stephen Curry isn't getting MVP consideration, but compare his per-36 numbers to his unanimous MVP season a couple of years ago:

	2015-16	2017-18
Points	31.7	29.5
Rebounds	5.7	5.7
Assists	7.0	6.9
Steals	2.3	1.8
True shooting percentage	66.9 percent	67.5 percent

Biggest concern: Injuries. There is a degree of wear and tear that should be expected when a team reaches the NBA Finals year after year, but the Warriors have never been more beaten up than they have been recently. They might not need to be 100 percent in the first round, but if any of these issues are still lingering against Houston, there will certainly be cause for concern. I worry much more about Stephen Curry's right ankle -- he has sprained it four times since December -- than I do about their turnover problems.

Further reading: Thompson is on the cover of SLAM, and Tzvi Twersky talked to him about dogs, chess and skating. 

Games remaining: vs. Hawks, vs. Jazz, vs. Pacers, vs. Bucks, @ Kings, vs. Suns, @ Thunder, @ Pacers, vs. Pelicans, @ Suns, @ Jazz

The Eastern Conference challengers

Toronto Raptors (53-19)

The outlook: Wednesday's loss in Cleveland notwithstanding, it is difficult to imagine this season going better for the Raptors. They have been essentially injury-free, with DeMar DeRozan reaching a new level and their emerging young players negating the loss of Patrick Patterson, P.J. Tucker and DeMarre Carroll last summer. They play a more modern style on both ends of the floor and, statistically, they have finally gone from good to great. It is possible that they win 60 games for the first time in franchise history. LeBron James said Tuesday that the Raptors are "in a better place than we are" and "they know who they are and we are still trying to figure that out."

This success, of course, means that expectations have never been higher. Few consider Toronto a true threat to the two teams tearing it up in the West, but making the Finals no longer feels like a pipe dream. There is immense pressure here, and losing another playoff series opener would inspire panic. (The Raptors have not won a Game 1 since May 6, 2001, against Allen Iverson's Philadelphia 76ers.) Their potential first-round opponents -- Milwaukee and Miami -- have given previous iterations of this team some trouble in the past two postseasons. 

Fun stat: Toronto is third in the league in net rating -- 8.4 points per 100 possessions -- and that mark is much closer to that of the Warriors (9.6 points per 100 possessions) and Rockets (9.0 points per 100 possessions) than the fourth-place Celtics (3.9 points per 100 possessions). 

Biggest concern: I could have written this section months ago. The worry is that the Raptors have underperformed offensively in past playoff series, and much of their success has come from their young, dominant bench. Will their old, bad habits return? Can they count on O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam to defend James? The new system seems like it should translate better to a playoff environment, but it doesn't matter if it looks prettier if the stars -- DeRozan and Kyle Lowry -- are uncomfortable and the role players are missing open 3-pointers again. 

Further reading: I wrote about Lowry this week. 

Games remaining: vs. Nets, vs. Clippers, vs. Nuggets, @ Celtics, @ Cavaliers, vs. Celtics, vs. Pacers, vs. Magic, @ Pistons, @ Heat

Boston Celtics (48-23)

The outlook: Depends on your perspective. If the Celtics' 16-game winning streak early in the season had you thinking they were a shoo-in for the NBA Finals, then you're probably disappointed with how things have gone in the 2018 calendar year. No longer does it look like Boston is the favorite to come out of the East, and no longer is Brad Stevens the obvious choice for Coach of the Year. Bummer. 

I'd argue, though, that that winning streak came way ahead of schedule. At the time, Stevens said, "We haven't played well enough to consider this win streak to be valid, in my opinion," via the New York Times' Benjamin Hoffman. The Celtics showed fortitude in a bunch of close wins, but they were not shooting particularly well and often had to erase large deficits. Given that they are fourth in the league in net rating despite Gordon Hayward's serious leg injury on opening night, this season has been extremely encouraging regardless of how it ends. It is impossible not to be bullish on the future of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, and Kyrie Irving seemed to be in his element the first time he put a Boston jersey on. 

Fun stat: The Celtics are second in the league when it comes to limiting corner 3s, per Cleaning The Glass. The only team better? The Brooklyn Nets, who have been fully committed to running shooters off the 3-point line and allowing midrange shots. The difference is that Brooklyn, a terrible defensive team, is dead-last when it comes to defensive field-goal percentage in the midrange, while Boston is second-best in that category. 

Biggest concern: Health. Marcus Smart is confident he'll be back for the playoffs and it seems like Brown will be back soon, but Daniel Theis is done for the season and Irving's knee issue is troubling. The Celtics don't have as much margin for error as a traditional No. 2 seed, so they'll need to be relatively injury-free once the playoffs arrive. Even with everybody available, it's unclear how their 17th-ranked offense will hold up under playoff pressure -- imagine if they don't have the luxury of Irving bailing them out. 

Further reading: Paul George says Tatum, his protege, looks like a star, via MassLive's Tom Westerholm. 

Games remaining: @ Blazers, @ Kings, @ Suns, @ Jazz, vs. Raptors, @ Bucks, @ Raptors, vs. Bulls, vs. Hawks, @ Wizards, vs. Nets 

Cleveland Cavaliers (42-29)

The outlook: A few weeks ago, I made the mistake of assuming the Cavaliers would separate themselves from the teams just beneath them in the standings. The No. 3 seed still seems like their most likely landing spot, but predicting anything about Cleveland this season has been a fool's errand. If it drops a few games, watch out for the Pacers, Wizards and Sixers. 

The big news now is that coach Tyronn Lue stepped away from the team this week to get his health in order. The Cavs are obviously not in a comfortable

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