ESPN.com
Monday, Dec. 2
For all the talk about how many bad teams are weighing the league down these days, there's some solace to be found at the top of ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings, where things are rather competitive in the top seven.
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In both cases you can go ahead and blame the relentless Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and, yes, Portland Trail Blazers.
There is plenty of skepticism in circulation about Indiana's 16-1 launch, given that the Pacers have played all but four of those games against teams from their own pathetic conference, where only Indy and Miami sport winning records. Yet the fact remains that Indy, fresh off an impressive road win in L.A. against the Clippers, is only the 12th team in league history to uncork a 16-1 mark out of the gate, which makes Monday night's visit to Portland unexpectedly tasty.
The Elias Sports Bureau informs us that the Pacers' and Blazers' combined winning percentage of .882 is the highest shared by two opponents at least 15 games into the season for two decades, dating to the 1993-94 showdown that pitted 16-1 Seattle against 18-1 Houston. The ever-braggadocios Roy Hibbert is already convinced Indy can join the seven of those previous 12 teams that opened 16-1 to make it all the way to the NBA Finals, but let's see how outside opinions about the Pacers sound after the Portland stop and a weekend back-to-back in San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
The latest rankings, as always, were compiled by the committee (of one) with Chris Paul-esque dishing from ESPN Stats & Information and the Elias Sports Bureau. You can click here to rank the teams yourself until we return next Monday with a fresh 1-to-30 pulse take of the league.
| 2013-14 Power Rankings: Week 5 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 | 1 Last Week: 2 | Maybe it's not the most telling stat, but the Pacers -- off to a fine start on their first big swing West after fattening up on East foes -- are just the 13th team ever to start a season winning 16 of its first 17. Rather impressive to us even though only five of the other 12 went on to win it all. | ||
| 2 | 2 Last Week: 4 | Look out, world. Only seven points separate the two-time champs from a 17-0 start that would make the '72 Dolphins envious. As it stands, Miami has won 10 in a row by an average margin of 12.5 points per game and, of greater consequence, are making the Michael Beasley gamble work. | ||
| 3 |
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Last Week: 3 | You keep dissing Portland's start with cracks about a soft schedule. And I keep ignoring you. Too many wins on the road, plus too much Wes Matthews in addition to the stuff we've come to expect from Aldridge/Lillard/Batum, to call this a mirage. (Let's see, though, if Matthews' hip holds up.) | ||
| 4 | 1 Last Week: 5 | If you see the outcomes of super-close games to be random events, as many stat experts do, you won't be too impressed to hear that OKC has already won four games by three points or fewer after only three such W's last season. Us? We're more apt to tip our hats in these situations. | ||
| 5 | 4 Last Week: 1 | Asked one of the committee's most trusted confidantes if it's time to start worrying about Tim Duncan's pedestrian production. My guy is convinced it's merely a product of Pop managing Timmy's PT with even more caution than usual. I'd say those two have earned the benefit of the doubt. | ||
| 6 | 2 Last Week: 8 | The three-game break imposed on James Harden couldn't have gone much better. Houston swept all three without him and then welcomed back a fresher and more team-oriented Harden. Seeing his teammates succeed while he rested that persistently sore left foot clearly had an impact. | ||
| 7 | 1 Last Week: 6 | You cannot understate how well J.J. Redick has been playing alongside CP3. Yet as long as Redick can recapture that form when he returns in two months, L.A. should cope in the short term with Jamal Crawford and Willie Green filling the void. Frontcourt D is still the bigger long-term worry. | ||
| 8 | 4 Last Week: 12 | I would argue this six-game win streak, with half of those wins coming on the road and a shave of nearly eight points per game in team D fueling the surge, is as unexpected as Portland's recent 11-game win streak. Denver's next five are on the road, too, all against sub-.500 teams in the East. | ||
| 9 | 2 Last Week: 7 | The Dubs want to believe they're getting all of their injuries and a good chunk of their road games (11 down already) out of the way early. Wish I had a dime, in the meantime, for every time I've heard someone openly root for a Dubs/OKC playoff series in the spring. (Not that I disagree.) | ||
| 10 | 1 Last Week: 11 | Last Monday's 15-point loss in Miami was the first (and only) double-digit defeat of the season for Jeff Hornacek's scrappers. Suns fans will surely learn to live with Saturday's home L to the Jazz once someone reminds them that Portland is 0-2 in Phoenix thus far and 14-1 everywhere else. | ||
| 11 | 2 Last Week: 9 | No shame that K-Love hasn't quite been able to maintain his 25-point, 15-rebound, five-assist pace. The only players to do that for an entire season are Wilt (twice), Elgin Baylor and Kareem. The Wolves just wish the schedule would ease up some; San Antonio and Miami are next at home. | ||
| 12 | 2 Last Week: 10 | The Mavs have scraped through a November that served up six back-to-backs in passable fashion, but the reality is they haven't played well since that stirring fourth-quarter comeback at home against Houston, losing their grip on what would have been handy road wins in Denver and Atlanta. | ||
| 13 | 2 Last Week: 15 | Nothing against what we're seeing from Xavier Henry, Jordan Hill, Wes Johnson and, most recently, Robert Sacre's yeoman efforts. Yet for all the 3s and all that better-than-expected D, I'm very ready -- and I bet you are, too -- to see Kobe make his long-awaited return this week (or next). | ||
| 14 | 7 Last Week: 21 | Best PG in the game? Not quite yet. But give John Wall and the resurgent Wiz this much: He's one of only five players in history to average at least 16 points, eight assists and four rebounds through the first 200 games of his pro career ... joining The Big O, Magic, Damon Stoudamire and CP3. | ||
| 15 | 2 Last Week: 13 | All-Star Weekend in New Orleans is sure to be good. But it'd be even better if the Pels have a rep in the big game, which is a far longer shot today than it was yesterday after The Unibrow (ugh) suffered a fracture in his left hand ... just as things were looking up due to Ryan Anderson's return. | ||
| 16 | 2 Last Week: 14 | All the scrutiny rookie coach Dave Joerger has been subjected to figures to fade (at least temporarily) now that Z-Bo has joined Marc Gasol on the injured list. The Grizz obviously ain't the Grizz without those two and have lost four straight at home for the first time since the spring of 2010. | ||
| 17 |
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Last Week: 17 | Ninety-eight points against the Heat? Sticky D from Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on LeBron despite a stubborn plantar fasciitis issue? A one-point L against the two-time defending champs, suffered only because Chris Bosh uncharacteristically drained three late 3s? Lots of moral-victory material there. | ||
| 18 |
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Last Week: 18 | It's one thing to start the season without D-Rose, as the Bulls did in 2012-13, and know from the start he might miss the whole season. Losing him 11 games in when you thought D-Rose was healed -- in the middle of the dreaded Circus Trip, no less -- looks a lot harder to play through. | ||
| 19 | 3 Last Week: 16 | The Hawks had won 11 in a row against Orlando and 18 of 19 against Washington and wound up losing to both last week. If not for an utter fourth-quarter meltdown from Dallas, Atlanta would be sporting a five-game skid to leave the East with no less than 13 teams sporting sub-.500 records. | ||
| 20 | 3 Last Week: 23 | Hard as it is to overlook some of the early season tension in Motown, as well as his FT woes, Andre Drummond's gaudy numbers on Sunday sure help: 31 points, 19 boards and six steals are levels no one has hit in the same regular-season game since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990. | ||
| 21 | 1 Last Week: 22 | Winning in a rout Tuesday night in Atlanta delivered the Magic their first road win since March 4 after 17 straight defeats (yikes). Yet something tells me they won't be terribly excited to play eight of the next nine games away, especially with Tobias Harris unable to shake that nagging ankle problem. | ||
| 22 | 6 Last Week: 28 | Daunting as it is to hear KG has scored in single digits 13 times in 15 games while D-Will continues to nurse that ankle problem, tell me who in the Atlantic can keep the Nets from roaring back to win it? Division-leading Toronto has six wins so far ... against teams with a combined mark of 35-69. | ||
| 23 | 3 Last Week: 20 | The committee (of one) was floored this week when its 10-year-old son Alexander The Greatest announced he's a bit of a Rudy Gay fan. Not sure how to tell him Rudy's .383 shooting from the floor is the second-worst among players with at least 200 FG attempts, behind only Kemba Walker. | ||
| 24 | 5 Last Week: 19 | Safe to say MCW is about to be named Philly's first Rookie of the Month since Allen Iverson back in April 1997. Equally safe to say Sixers fans are watching what happens with New Orleans as closely as their own team, with the Pels owing them a first-rounder in June unless it falls in the top five. | ||
| 25 | 1 Last Week: 24 | One of the most frequent questions I get: Can Boogie Cousins make the All-Star team? Instinct tells me West coaches aren't ready to vote for him -- especially with the Kings still losing so often -- but do you know how many other centers rank among the NBA's top 30 scorers? Try none. | ||
| 26 |
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Last Week: 26 | Andrew Bynum just uncorked the first 20-point, 10-board, five-block, three-assist game from any Cav since Shawn Kemp back in 2000. And Dion Waiters answered all the trade talk with his two best games of the season. It'll take more than that, though, to lift the gloom around Kyrie's crew. | ||
| 27 | 2 Last Week: 25 | No one will remember any of this if the Celts strike lottery gold ... but this keeps happening in the sobering present: Milwaukee just joined Charlotte and Cleveland to become the third team in the calendar year of 2013 to halt to a skid of 10 or more consecutive defeats at Boston's expense. | ||
| 28 | 1 Last Week: 27 | No Carmelo Anthony team, with Melo on the floor, had ever lost more than six straight games before this season. The craziest part of a drought that has reached nine straight L's -- including a franchise-worst seven in a row at home -- is how close the Knicks came to beating Indy on Nov. 20. | ||
| 29 | 1 Last Week: 30 | Utah just enjoyed its first two-win week of the season ... capped by a road triumph at Phoenix just days after the Suns had halted Portland's 11-game winning streak ... with prized rookie point Trey Burke healed and leading the way. Add it all up and you can only have a new No. 29! | ||
| 30 | 1 Last Week: 29 | 2-0 against the Celtics, compared to 1-13 against everyone else, just ain't enough to spare Milwaukee from plummeting all the way into our basement. We've got worse news, too: After the Bucks visit Boston on Tuesday, they've got one date left with the Celts on Feb. 10. For the season. | ||
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