Monday, Feb. 1
We're far enough along in the season that you're starting to hear the question with greater regularity: Can the Golden State Warriors really do it?
Can the Warriors really win 73 games?
(And on a smaller scale: Can they actually place No. 1, wire-to-wire, for 26 editions in a row on this ladder, which would be a first in the history of ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings?)
After another flawless week, which began with the 30-point dismantling of the No. 2-ranked San Antonio Spurs, Golden State made the skeptics wince yet again. The Warriors, at 44-4, have moved back ahead of Chicago's pace from the 1995-96 season, when the Bulls started 43-5 en route to a record 72 wins.
The latest data from ESPN's Basketball Power Index only gives Golden State a 23-percent chance to get to 73-9, even after the throttled the Spurs, but the Committee of One will happily let the BPI guys do the naysaying. We'll simply offer our thanks, as always, to Micah Adams and all of our pals within the NBA wing of ESPN Stats & Information, as well as the Elias Sports Bureau, for the trusty data assistance they provide week after week in helping us with all of our calculations. You can comment on the latest 1-to-30 order below.
| 2015-16 Power Rankings: Week 14 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |  |
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Last Week: 1 | When you're hot, you're hot. The Bay Area is about to host its first Super Bowl since 1985 ... and it just so happens to feature Steph Curry's beloved Panthers. The Dubs still have to go 29-5, good for a winning percentage of .853, to break the '95-96 Bulls' record of 72 wins, but they've made it to that ridiculous 44-4 mark without a single Warrior ranking in the league's top 25 in MPG. | |
| 2 |  |
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Last Week: 2 | The Spurs' first six losses came by a combined 33 points. So some panic is inevitable after the huge deficits they faced in both Golden State and Cleveland. We prefer not to overreact to one bad week, but there are some warning signs: Tim Duncan's knee is ailing, Kawhi Leonard's scoring has declined every month this season and San Antonio is now 4-6 on the road against .500-or-better teams. | |
| 3 |  | 1 Last Week: 4 | Only three teams had a better scoring margin in January than Toronto's +8.2 reading. They are: Golden State (+13.9), San Antonio (+12.8) and Cleveland (+8.3). More nice numbers: Canada's team is just the third in the East over the past five seasons to post a winning streak of 10-plus games without LeBron James' help; New York in 2012-13 (13 straight) and Atlanta in 2014-15 (19) were the others. | |
| 4 |  | 1 Last Week: 5 | When you really dig into the numbers, Ty Lue's Cavs are not playing faster than David Blatt's Cavs. But Cleveland's turnovers are way down, its overall offensive efficiency over the past five games is a robust 115.4 points per 100 possessions ... and Kevin Love looks revitalized. After Lue's rough start against Chicago, GM David Griffin is quickly getting the response he was hoping for. | |
| 5 |  | 2 Last Week: 3 | Carmelo Anthony's knee soreness denied Kevin Durant an opportunity to improve his (ugh) 2-11 lifetime mark against Melo, but KD has now scored at least 20 points in 41 of his 42 games this season, something we've only seen from Michael Jordan (1986-87, 1988-89) and LeBron James (2012-13) over the past 30 seasons. OKC's next project: improving its 11-9 record against the East. | |
| 6 |  | 1 Last Week: 7 | The Clippers are up to 15-3 without Blake Griffin ... and it's not all down to a favorable schedule. Chris Paul has naturally led the way, but the Clips' much-maligned bench is averaging 43.9 PPG in the 18 games without Griffin, compared to 31.3 PPG before Blake's absence. DeAndre Jordan has stepped it up, too, but -- in the ultimate snub -- doesn't even get mentioned much as an All-Star snubee. | |
| 7 |  | 3 Last Week: 10 | The schedule has broken completely in the Grizzlies' favor, but you still have to take advantage. And they most certainly have, going 12-1 at home since a bad loss at FedEx Forum to Charlotte on Dec. 11. Only the Warriors and Spurs have better home records in the same stretch, but Memphis must keep taking advantage when it sees a slew of sub-.500 teams in February. | |
| 8 |  | 3 Last Week: 11 | There is much joy in Boston because Isaiah Thomas is 13 days away from joining Calvin Murphy as the shortest All-Star of all time at 5-foot-9, as well as the lowest draft pick (No. 60) to become an All-Star since the league went to a two-round draft in 1989. Yet the glee isn't quite what it could be, because C's fans know this team really should have a grip on the East's No. 3 seed by now. | |
| 9 |  | 3 Last Week: 6 | First Jimmy Butler announced that the team wasn't being coached hard enough. More than one Bull then publicly suggested that E'Twaun Moore should be getting more PT. And then it was the ever-polite Pau Gasol lamenting out loud over the weekend about how the Bulls are undisciplined. That's a LOT of commentary in the air for a rookie coach like Fred Hoiberg to deal with. | |
| 10 |  | 3 Last Week: 13 | Can't remember the last stat in circulation that has made us feel older (and sadder) than hearing 1997 was the last time we saw an All-Star Game without Dirk Nowitzki or Tim Duncan. Dirk's corner J to beat the Lakers was his 12th go-ahead FG within the final three seconds of the fourth quarter or OT over the past 20 seasons, tying him with Kobe and Melo for tops in the league in that span. | |
| 11 |  | 5 Last Week: 16 | Such is the volatility from roughly No. 7 down in these rankings that a four-game winning streak -- even when it follows a 1-7 slide and a rash of injuries -- can move you up the ladder quickly. Best of all for Miami is the fact that Dwyane Wade, at 34, fueled the five-spot jump, playing at high efficiency throughout the Heat's unbeaten run while making it 45 of 48 games played this season. | |
| 12 |  |
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Last Week: 12 | Maybe we should be giving bonus points to Detroit like we do here later on with the 76ers. Ever since the Pistons beat the Warriors on Jan. 16, Golden State has been a monster, pulverizing Cleveland, Chicago and San Antonio by a combined 95 points and winning its last seven games by an average margin of 21.6 PPG. How much credit should Detroit be getting for its role as a spark? | |
| 13 |  | 5 Last Week: 8 | Really thought the Rockets, at worst, would be ahead of their old friends from Dallas by now. The Mavs, though, have managed to cling to a three-game lead over Houston in the West standings despite a rough 9-9 January in which they were moved to give Dirk Nowitzki five games off for rest. Defense remains a huge issue (tied for 27th), and Houston's February is filled with road games. | |
| 14 |  | 1 Last Week: 15 | Having recovered from a broken thumb, Myles Turner suddenly looks like the Pacers' most productive rookie since a kid named Reggie Miller in 1987-88. The Pacers, though, have to be a bit concerned that Paul George has basically been a 40 percent shooter for the past two months, while Monta Ellis only just produced his first 30-point game of the season (after 10 last season). | |
| 15 |  | 6 Last Week: 9 | Jeff Teague's team is in the midst of a 1-5 funk caused in part by a sputtering offense. Teague himself is averaging just 12.5 PPG and 5.5 APG in his past 10 games. Yet you can rest assured trade interest in Atlanta's PG will be robust between now and the Feb. 18 trade deadline, because Teague's contract is too cap-friendly for anyone to pay too much attention to the Hawks' struggles. | |
| 16 |  | 3 Last Week: 19 | Derrick Favors is safely reunited alongside Rudy Gobert for the first time since last November. Rodney Hood continues to blossom offensively. And Gordon Hayward just had his best scoring month of the season as he threatens to nudge his PER into the 20s. The only thing missing is a top-flight point guard. Which is precisely why you're hearing so much about Utah and Jeff Teague. | |
| 17 |  | 3 Last Week: 20 | Damian Lillard had an undeniably good case to earn a spot on the West All-Stars as soon as you remember that he has Portland in the hunt for a playoff spot despite last summer's exodus of four starters. Thursday's home date with Toronto pits the snubbed duo of Dame and C.J. McCollum (41.4 PPG, 10.4 APG combined) against East All-Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan (44.2 PPG, 10.4 APG). | |
| 18 |  | 4 Last Week: 14 | What should be remembered as the best month of DeMarcus Cousins' NBA career -- 31.5 PPG and 12.9 RPG in January -- ended in such disheartening fashion. Boogie's play forced us to hike the Kings to a heady 14th last Monday, but he's suddenly dealing with an ankle sprain and a costly four-game skid that dropped the Kings out of the West's top eight as quickly as they got there. | |
| 19 |  | 2 Last Week: 21 | From the depths of 11-26, New Orleans awoke Monday just two games back in the loss column behind No. 8 Portland, fueled not only by Anthony Davis and man-in-demand Ryan Anderson, but also the surging Jrue Holiday. Why is Anderson such a trade commodity? He's one of only five players in the league (and the only big man) averaging 17-plus PPG while shooting 40-plus percent from deep. | |
| 20 |  | 2 Last Week: 22 | Was Kemba Walker actually the biggest All-Star snub in the East? Walker is one of just four players in the conference averaging at least 20 PPG and 5 APG. The other three are all Toronto-bound: LeBron James, Kyle Lowry and Isaiah Thomas. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has indeed returned, but keep your eye on Walker: Charlotte is 12-8 when he scores 20-plus points, 11-17 when he doesn't. | |
| 21 |  | 3 Last Week: 18 | The Knicks, no matter what happens from here, have left their mark on their season ... thanks to the huge gash Carmelo Anthony unwittingly opened up on Steph Curry's forehead. For a far more serious (and deep) discussion about the Knicks, we refer you to the podcast from Sunday night's return of the NBA Insiders on ESPN Radio and our long chat with Knicks lifer Jerry Ferrara. | |
| 22 |  | 5 Last Week: 17 | John Wall & Co. were moved to call a team meeting after a three-loss stretch that began with the Celtics completing a 4-0 season sweep of Washington reminiscent of the Wizards' 4-0 blanking of Orlando. Injuries, though, remain an ever-present part of the story for the Wiz, who lead the league in man-games lost to injury (197) according to the aptly titled @ManGamesLostNBA feed. | |
| 23 |  | 1 Last Week: 24 | Toronto's current hot streak has left just four franchises in the whole league -- Memphis, Indiana, Washington and, yes, Orlando -- without a double-digit winning streak in any one season. Scott Skiles, though, has far more pressing concerns; Sunday night's unexpected win over Boston halted an eight-game skid for this young, inexperienced and inconsistent squad. | |
| 24 |  | 1 Last Week: 23 | After a warm welcome back to the bench for Jason Kidd against Orlando, Milwaukee reverted to the form that has kept the Bucks submerged in the bottom five in defensive efficiency. And to offset Giannis Antetokounmpo's big January, Jabari Parker remains one of just four PFs with at least 30 starts who has yet to sink a 3-pointer (with LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Garnett and Kenneth Faried). | |
| 25 |  | 3 Last Week: 28 | Never expected the Sixers, even at 6-11 in the Ish Smith Era, to rise as high as No. 25 in the rankings this season. But we couldn't resist giving them some bonus points for what has to go down as a college-style "good loss" to the Warriors on Saturday night. Philly held mighty Golden State to 35 points in the second half, which is the lowest-scoring half of the Dubs' season. | |
| 26 |  | 1 Last Week: 25 | Incremental progress from Emmanuel Mudiay and Jusuf Nurkic -- in support of the more established Danilo Gallinari and Will Barton -- is certainly promising. But restoring a Fear Factor at home has to be a Nuggets priority. They dropped to 9-15 at the Pepsi Center with last week's loss to Atlanta, Denver's first defeat at home to the Hawks since December 2006 ... when Ty Lue was Atlanta's starting PG. | |
| 27 |  |
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Last Week: 27 | As of last Thursday, there were 10 players in the NBA averaging a double-double, seven of whom proved unable to earn selection to the upcoming All-Star Game: Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, Kevin Love, Zaza Pachulia, Rajon Rondo and Hassan Whiteside. But the Wolves' Karl-Anthony Towns couldn't get much closer to making it eight, sitting at 16.6 PPG and 9.9 RPG. | |
| 28 |  | 2 Last Week: 26 | Although the Lakers and Suns are really the only teams on the Committee's radar these days as contenders for the dreaded No. 30 cellar, Brooklyn is advised not to get too comfortable. The Nets, according to this handy Tom Haberstroh tweet, have the league's third-worst net rating since Christmas at minus-9.6, behind only those aforementioned Lakers (minus-10.6) and (yikes) Suns (minus-15.2). | |
| 29 |  |
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Last Week: 29 | The recent flashes of promises from Archie Goodwin and Devin Booker can't camouflage what a mess this team has become. Injuries to Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight naturally have to be factored into the Suns' 2-19 record since Dec. 18, but the microscope focuses fully now on the front office to bring a halt to Phoenix's free fall. Because the organization is out of coaches to blame. | |
| 30 |  |
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Last Week: 30 | Happy Anniversary: Saturday marked a full 20 years since the Committee of One proudly sat on press row for Magic Johnson's near triple-double in his first game back from a 4 1/2-season retirement. Unhappy Anniversary: The Lakers have not only sunk to No. 30, but have lost 10 consecutive games for the first time since April 1994, when they were coached by a certain Magic Johnson. | |
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