Monday, Feb. 10
NBA Power Rankings: Week 15
Cary Chow and Marc Stein break down Week 15.
More on how this week's order was calculated can be found on Stein Line Live.
You're also invited, as always, to rank the teams yourself here.
| 2013-14 Power Rankings: Week 15 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | Haven't said nearly enough about Serge Ibaka's play during OKC's 13-2 surge without Russ Westbrook because we've all been so focused on Kevin Durant's play. Shame on us: Ibaka happens to be averaging 18.6 PPG, 8.2 RPG and 2.9 BPG while shooting 63 percent from the floor in that span. | ||
| 2 |
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Last Week: 2 | On your Bad Losses meter, falling in Orlando after a night of rest and fresh off a thrilling home win over Portland is up there. Especially when the Heat squeezed in an L at Utah between those two extremes. Indy's lead for the No. 1 seed, for all of Miami's ups and downs, is a mere 3.5 games. | ||
| 3 | 3 Last Week: 6 | How did the Jazz move to 4-3 lifetime against LeBron, D-Wade and Bosh? How is Utah one of only four teams with a winning record against the Heatles since they formed? They held 'em to 43.3 percent shooting Saturday night ... and Miami is 0-7 this season when shooting under 45 percent. | ||
| 4 | 1 Last Week: 3 | You don't want to get carried away with what we saw against a Philly team almost as supine as Chris Kaman on the Lakers' bench. But you struggle to resist now that CP3 is back. Blake Griffin and Co. lost no real ground without him and look legitimately tougher than they did when he went down. | ||
| 5 | 2 Last Week: 7 | Not too many problems in Houston at the minute. Dwight Howard is averaging 26.2 PPG and 10.8 RPG during the Rockets' five-game win streak. They're up to 12 straight wins when Dwight scores at least 20. And they've quietly welcomed Omer Asik back to the lineup after a 31-game exile. | ||
| 6 | 1 Last Week: 5 | The Blazers haven't finished the season as the league's No. 1 offense since the committee's senior year of high school in 1986-87 ... led by Kiki Vandeweghe and Clyde Drexler. A 5-6 record in the past 11 games doesn't seem quite as significant as the fact that the Blazers nearly swept Indiana. | ||
| 7 | 2 Last Week: 9 | I'm guessing you already know about the 8,989 miles they'll travel Feb. 3-26 without playing a home game. I suspect you also know that the Spurs, even with all of those injuries, are 3-1 on this Rodeo Road Trip so far and still possess the magic dust to coax a 32-point game out of Patty Mills. | ||
| 8 |
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Last Week: 8 | The game that sent Twitter into a tizzy about how Goran Dragic absolutely has to be in New Orleans (like we've been saying!) was a 34-point, 10-assist masterpiece in a home win over Golden State that took the lefty to seven straight games with at least 20 points for the first time in his career. | ||
| 9 | 6 Last Week: 15 | One of the surest signs this season's West is deeper than it used to be: Dallas is only up to No. 7 after a five-game win streak that has the Mavs at an even 10 games over .500. This group is a far stronger team than last season's 41-41 mess ... but you wouldn't know it looking at the standings. | ||
| 10 | 6 Last Week: 4 | More fodder for Mike Conley's All-Star campaign that never got enough attention in the first place: Memphis just dragged through a 1-3 week without its QB that included a hammering from visiting Dallas and an OT loss to the Cavs. Definitely put a dent in all that "Marc Gasol is back!" momentum. | ||
| 11 | 1 Last Week: 10 | The Dubs point to recent wins over the Blazers and Clips as evidence they aren't miles away from their 10-game winning streak form. The heartless standings, though, had them all the way down at No. 8 in the West when they awoke Monday thanks to some recent slipups at home. | ||
| 12 | 1 Last Week: 11 | I guess it was too ambitious, even in this East, to imagine two Raps going to the All-Star Game when there had only been three All-Stars in team history (Vince Carter, Antonio Davis and Chris Bosh) before DeMar DeRozan. I say "guess" because it still feels as though Kyle Lowry got jobbed. | ||
| 13 |
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Last Week: 13 | The Nets haven't seen .500 since they were 2-2, but they'll gladly take where they are now -- fresh off a rare W over the Spurs and within 2.5 games of Toronto atop the Atlantic Division -- as soon as someone reminds them how bleak things were Dec. 31 when they lost by 21 in San Antonio. | ||
| 14 | 2 Last Week: 12 | When the Wiz spend the All-Star break lamenting the fact they're not the East's undisputed No. 3 team, they'll be forced to relive home L's to Philly, Milwaukee, Detroit, Rajon Rondo-less Boston, San Antonio (sans Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard) and Cleveland twice. | ||
| 15 | 1 Last Week: 14 | If you can pardon his eruption in Sacramento, Joakim Noah continues to play as well as he ever has no matter how much he presumably misses his pal Luol Deng, averaging 13-ish rebounds over the past 22 games and leading Chicago to a heady 11-7 mark since Deng was dealt. | ||
| 16 | 2 Last Week: 18 | Why do we keep saying Al Jefferson was such a big All-Star snub? Because Charlotte, which had 28 wins in the previous two seasons, has 22 already, with Big Al leading all players who switched teams during the offseason in PPG. In short: He's making Michael Jordan look good (MJ the exec). | ||
| 17 | 1 Last Week: 16 | The Hawks can live with finally losing one to Indy after 12 straight home wins over the Pacers. The bigger worry is their 1-7 mark in road games against Western Conference teams after falling in New Orleans ... with a rough five-game swing through the West looming at the start of March. | ||
| 18 | 1 Last Week: 17 | The rumbles have already started, as captured by Portland's seen-it-all Kerry Eggers, that Rick Adelman could walk away at season's end. Kevin Martin's injury isn't going to help the Wolves slice into the whopping six-game deficit they suddenly face just to move into the West's last playoff spot. | ||
| 19 | 1 Last Week: 20 | Anthony Davis is on pace to be just the fifth player since they started tracking blocked shots in 1973-74 to lead the NBA in his first or second season alongside Mark Eaton, Manute Bol, David Robinson and Serge Ibaka. Mutombo Finger Wag to anyone disputing The Brow's All-Star worthiness. | ||
| 20 | 1 Last Week: 19 | Mike Woodson is convinced he'll still be coaching the Knicks after the All-Star break despite all the speculation to the contrary. And we tend to agree given that the Knicks, at 11-10 in 2014, are just two games out of the No. 8 spot. (And mostly because they still have no obvious interim option.) | ||
| 21 | 1 Last Week: 22 | Once in a while it's still tough to go to Salt Lake City and get out of there alive ... just like the old days. OKC found that out a month ago despite Durant's 48, and Utah just stunned Miami, too. Hard to believe given the Jazz display that the committee was, uh, treated to Friday night in Dallas. | ||
| 22 | 7 Last Week: 29 | The only thing that went wrong during the dream week Orlando just enjoyed is the fact that we no longer hand out ornate Team of the Week honors like we used to. Maybe that practice needs to be resuscitated after a stunning weekend sweep of OKC and Indy by a combined two points. | ||
| 23 | 2 Last Week: 21 | As rough as this season has been for Carmelo Anthony in NYC, Denver would appear to have squandered all justification to gloat in the wake of all the big changes since last season ended and the steady stream of injuries that has just saddled the best Nugget -- Ty Lawson -- with a broken rib. | ||
| 24 | 1 Last Week: 23 | Elias says Mo Cheeks' 50 games in charge is the fifth-shortest tenure for a Year 1 coach in NBA history; Jerry Tarkanian's 20 games in San Antonio in 1992-93 is the all-time low. Brandon Jennings, at 25.1 PPG over the last nine games since going scoreless Jan. 20, is one Piston who will miss him. | ||
| 25 | 1 Last Week: 24 | DeMarcus Cousins came back and the Kings' seven-game skid promptly ended. Problems on the road persist, though, with Sacramento up to six straight L's on its travels to sink to the bottom of the West. On the plus side: Boogie, Rudy Gay and Isaiah Thomas keep meshing surprisingly well. | ||
| 26 | 1 Last Week: 27 | The Celts are 3-1 in February -- after a two-win January -- heading into Monday night's eminently winnable game in Milwaukee. Better yet: While Rajon Rondo continues to work his way back to top form, Jared Sullinger has suddenly averaged 21.2 PPG and 13.4 RPG in his last five games. | ||
| 27 | 1 Last Week: 28 | You know the committee (of one) hates to even talk like this -- and I tend to believe he'll be back on the floor this week after how hard he worked just to get to this point -- but Steve Nash thoroughly deserved that 40th birthday party he threw himself. Old pal Kevin Ding sums it up well. | ||
| 28 | 2 Last Week: 26 | Said it already on Twitter but feel as though it needs to be said again after the week we just witnessed: Really felt as though the Cavs restored hope post-LeBron in record time when they won the Kyrie Irving lottery and he broke in with such promise. Now? Now I just feel for Cavs fans. | ||
| 29 | 4 Last Week: 25 | The Sixers are the only team in the league, at 0-5, yet to win in February. What happened Sunday night, though, should count for at least two losses. I know Brett Brown knows what he signed up for this season, but can't imagine that the Pop disciple coped too well during Clips 123, Sixers 78. | ||
| 30 |
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Last Week: 30 | All-Star Weekend, starring Giannis Antetokounmpo in the Rookies vs. Sophs game Friday night and then the skills thingy, is almost here. Don't have a clue, though, what we're going to write about in this cyberspace after that to keep anyone but Bucks die-hards (wherever you are) tuned in. | ||
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