Monday, March 3
NBA Power Rankings: Week 18
Cary Chow and Marc Stein break down Week 18.
Chicago's leap into the top 10 (No. 13 to No. 8) and Philadelphia's plummet to No. 30 are the other major developments in the latest assemblage of the rankings, which were compiled, as always, with the assistance of ESPN Stats & Info and the Elias Sports Bureau.
You're invited to rank the teams yourself here.
| 2013-14 Power Rankings: Week 18 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | Let's see how much of a blow Miami will come to regard losing out to the Thunder in the Caron Butler sweepstakes. The champs' consolation: After upcoming stops in Houston, San Antonio and Chicago, they'll be able to say that their last tough trip of the season is in the rearview mirror. | ||
| 2 | 1 Last Week: 3 | I know Evan Turner is younger/more versatile than Danny Granger and serves as Lance Stephenson insurance in free agency. I still can't shake the notion that since Indy felt it had to bring in two new guys (Andrew Bynum, too), Miami has a psychological edge on top of its easier remaining schedule. | ||
| 3 | 1 Last Week: 2 | Russ Westbrook is looking more and more like Russ Westbrook. Caron Butler was kind enough to snub Miami for Loud City just as the Thunder were losing Thabo Sefolosha. And at 45-15, KD & Co. have their best-ever record through 60 games in the team's OKC existence. Things could be worse. | ||
| 4 | 1 Last Week: 5 | The Clips still don't have a third big man and have been signing vets for weeks in hopes of upgrading their wing rotation. But it's hard to find fault with Doc Rivers' roster shuffling now after he turned the roster spots vacated by Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens into Big Baby Davis and Danny Granger. | ||
| 5 | 1 Last Week: 6 | Clinching another winning season isn't exactly parade material in the Alamo City. In this case, though, Friday night's win No. 42 was notable because it clinched the Spurs' 17th straight winning season. Which is the second-longest such streak in history behind Utah's 19 seasons in a row (1985-86 to 2003-04). | ||
| 6 | 2 Last Week: 4 | It has come to our attention, in the wake of the annual Sloan Conference in Boston conceived by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, that the math was actually rather basic for Team Analytics in February. Houston was 8-0 when it scored at least 100 points and 0-2 when it fell short of triple digits. | ||
| 7 |
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Last Week: 7 | Damian Lillard, according to Elias, recently became the first Blazer since Sidney Wicks back in 1973 to score at least 25 points in Portland's first four games after the All-Star break. Better yet: Portland just won a badly needed four in a row sans LaMarcus Aldridge (groin injury) after losing seven of 10. | ||
| 8 | 5 Last Week: 13 | If Jeff Hornacek's Suns somehow slip up enough to open up the Coach of the Year race over the regular season's final few weeks, Tom Thibodeau is going to be right there. As usual. The Derrick Rose-less, Luol Deng-less Bulls, in case you've forgotten, were 9-16 on Dec. 19. Since then? 24-10. | ||
| 9 | 1 Last Week: 10 | Remember back when we used to joke that it would be tough to settle on a Rookie Head Coach of the Year before we even got to the actual COY? Such claims are no longer funny or true with only one first-year coach not named Jeff Hornacek sporting a record above .500: Dave Joerger and his surging Griz. | ||
| 10 | 2 Last Week: 12 | Don't think anyone in Toronto is over the Kyle Lowry All-Star snub just yet. But it has to help that the Raps went into the break leading the Atlantic Division at that juncture for the first time since 2006-07 ... and that DeMar DeRozan averaged a whopping 26.4 PPG in February to slam home the merits of his selection. | ||
| 11 | 2 Last Week: 9 | Here's yet another Western Conference stalwart that's lucky to generate a sentence of MVP buzz because Kevin Durant and LeBron James have been that good: Steph Curry is on pace to become the only player since 1991-92 besides Gary Payton to average what he's averaging (24.1 PPG and 8.8 APG). | ||
| 12 | 4 Last Week: 8 | Dirk Nowitzki has a real shot to become just the third player ever, along with Larry Bird (two) and Steve Nash (four), to post multiple 50-40-90 seasons. He'd give it all up, of course, for a ticket to, say, at least Round 2 of the playoffs. At the moment? His Mavs still aren't sure they'll even get there. | ||
| 13 | 2 Last Week: 15 | Common sense says the Wiz lost any shot they had to finish No. 3 in the East -- as Charles Barkley repeatedly says they should -- with Nene (knee) lost for six weeks. But here they are with a shot at the club's first seven-game winning streak since January 2005 if they can beat Memphis on Monday night. | ||
| 14 | 3 Last Week: 11 | What more can we say about Goran Dragic that we didn't say in our Most Improved Player nomination? Here's something, actually: The Dragon established a new career-high three times in February alone ... most recently Friday with his 40 points on a bad ankle to power the Suns past visiting New Orleans. | ||
| 15 | 1 Last Week: 14 | A 4-2 overall record for the road trip, Jason Collins' historic (and helpful) return to the franchise and the fact that Brooklyn is steadily inching away from a first-round matchup with either Indiana or Miami will all serve to help the Nets get over that 44-point pounding they absorbed in Portland. | ||
| 16 | 1 Last Week: 17 | If the banged-up Wolves have a move left to make in the West, they better make it now. Six of Sota's next seven games are against non-playoff teams. The stats, meanwhile, say Kevin Love has more gas in his fourth-quarter tank than he did earlier in the season ... even without Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin. | ||
| 17 | 1 Last Week: 16 | I understand that the Bobcats no longer had any use for Ben Gordon. I can infer by the timing of the decision to waive Gordon that they weren't happy with the nature of the sides' buyout talks. But I also have to ask: Is the message sent worth the potential hit they take on the player-friendly front? | ||
| 18 | 3 Last Week: 21 | LeBron had Cleveland's last 28 triple-doubles, dating to March 2010, before Kyrie Irving's 21 points, 12 assists and 10 boards in Friday's win over Utah. The extra gear he found at All-Star Weekend is just about the only thing stopping us from saying that the East's playoff field of eight teams is set. | ||
| 19 | 3 Last Week: 22 | Is there still time for Trey Burke to overtake Michael Carter-Williams in the Rookie of the Year race? Or is the smarter question: Is Burke still stuck in third place behind Victor Oladipo? I suspect it'll be closer between the latter two compared to the gap at the top. Just one man's read, though. | ||
| 20 | 2 Last Week: 18 | The Hawks were No. 3 in the Leastern Conference on Feb. 1. They were down to No. 8 on March 1 thanks to a 2-10 record in February. But before you conclude that means they'll be 13th come April 1, show us even two teams capable of erasing the 4.5 games that currently separate Atlanta from the lottery. | ||
| 21 | 1 Last Week: 20 | Concern about missing the playoffs and finishing too low in the lottery to keep their first-round pick is obviously mounting. The only consolation: Anthony Davis eased some fears on the other big concern in NOLA with a career-best 32 points in the wake of his latest health setback. | ||
| 22 | 1 Last Week: 23 | If the Pistons wind up missing the playoffs in the East, one nagging culprit could well be their 0-2 mark against the eminently beatable Lakers. Boston (0-2) and Sacramento (0-3) are the only other teams on the NBA map that have failed to beat the worst Laker team anyone can remember at least once this season. | ||
| 23 | 4 Last Week: 19 | I don't want to overreact here, because FIBA referees have been known to make Tim Duncan snap, but it seems safe to suggest DeMarcus Cousins' tech total and his recent tangle with Patrick Beverley are of prime consideration to USA Basketball when it comes to assembling national teams. | ||
| 24 | 2 Last Week: 26 | The good news: Orlando has legitimately been better than advertised at home of late and finally found a way to halt that stubborn 16-game road losing streak as part of a two-win week. Now for the bad news: Celebrations were naturally muted because both wins came at the expense of the 76ers. | ||
| 25 | 1 Last Week: 24 | Life was supposed to be calmer in Denver post-Andre Miller. The Nuggets have instead sunk to the sort of depths -- even accounting for how much injuries have weakened them -- that increasingly leave you with the feeling nobody won the Carmelo Anthony trade. Kinda like the Dwight Howard trade. | ||
| 26 | 1 Last Week: 27 | The Lakers have missed the playoffs twice since 1976. Both times L.A. rebounded within six seasons (or less) to win another championship. Whether or not Kobe Bryant comes back this season -- amid rising fears he won't -- something tells me most of us are taking the over for Rebound No. 3. | ||
| 27 | 1 Last Week: 28 | In place of Rajon Rondo trade updates that are on hold until June, or further debate about Rondo's unauthorized birthday activities, here's a developmental update: Jared Sullinger is in the mix to finish fourth among second-year players in scoring behind only Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis and Bradley Beal. | ||
| 28 | 3 Last Week: 25 | Can't sit here and pretend that the folding Knicks survived Steph Curry's latest MSG visit when, instead of 54 points, he had a triple-double before the start of the fourth quarter. These Knicks now have three losing streaks at least five games long; only Milwaukee (with four) has done that more often. | ||
| 29 | 1 Last Week: 30 | The Bucks not only won the only game they're expected to win these days -- Monday's visit to Philly -- but O.J. Mayo also emerged from a season-long funk in the same game to join Jamal Crawford, Vince Carter and Carmelo Anthony for this first: It was the first time in NBA annals that four players each drained at least seven 3s on the same day. | ||
| 30 | 1 Last Week: 29 | How could any team bump the Bucks out of the basement? Philly's 0-11 record in February -- with an average nightly margin of minus-18.9 PPG -- is the NBA's worst month on record since a winless month posted by the Clippers way back in January 1989, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That's how. | ||
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