NBA Power Rankings Week 6: Heat Rise to Third, Magic Plummet
Here are my Power Rankings for Week 6 after Sunday’s Games: Enjoy!
(+1)1. Oklahoma City Thunder (16-3): 4 game winning streak, and 9 wins in their last 10 games. The Thunder are really heating up at a good time. I think having Westbrook locked up is a real comfort to this team.
(-1) 2. Chicago Bulls (17-5): Luol Deng’s injury isn’t supposed to be too serious, but if they want to win the East, they have to be more healthy than the injury prone Heat.
(+5) 3. Miami Heat (15-5): They have had a much better week for sure, but these losses to teams like Milwaukee at home suggests that they aren’t there yet. Still, they are on a 4 game winning streak, and they got a much needed win over the Bulls yesterday.
(+/-)4. Philadelphia 76ers (14-6): They’ve had an easy schedule including back to back games against the Wizards. But they are capitalizing off of it, and Doug Collins has his young team playing good basketball.
(+1) 5. Atlanta Hawks (15-6): They got whopped by the Spurs, but the return of Kirk Hinrich should help them out, and add more depth to their already deep bench.
(+1) 6. Denver Nuggets (14-6): I keep thinking the Nuggets can play well without a definite star. But they have proved me wrong thus far. They are playing good team basketball, and they are a very unified/unselfish team. Nuggets are doing a lot of things right.
(+8) 7. Dallas Mavericks (13-8): The loss of J-Kidd for a week doesn’t help, but the emergence of Rodrigue Beaubois has really given this team a nice lift. Mavs are starting to get out of their post-championship funk.
(-3) 8. Indiana Pacers (13-6):Roy Hibbert is playing through injury, and really stepping up as a leader on this team.
(+5) 9.Los Angeles Clippers (11-6): If they keep healthy, they’re gonna be scary.
(+/-) 10.Utah Jazz (11-7): They’ve had some puzzling performances at home against Toronto (loss) and Sacramento (win by 3), but they are they use their interior players on offense more than any other team in the NBA, and it’s overall working. The fact that their best player isn’t Al Jefferson, but Paul Millsap is reason to be afraid of this team.
(+/-) 11. Los Angeles Lakers (12-9): I don’t care what other people may think, Bynum and Gasol are under utilized, and they have to use them more if they want to succeed.
(-3) 12. San Antonio Spurs (12-9): They have had some tough losses including tonight against the Mavericks in OT. But once Ginobili comes back, they’ll get a boost. Tim Duncan is still getting work done, which is impressive.
(+/-) 13. Portland Trailblazers (12-8): A lot of people were saying these guys were supposed to be giving the Thunder a run. But losses @ Detroit and Golden State suggest otherwise.
(+2) 14. Houston Rockets (12-8): I don’t see a team with Kevin Martin and Luis Scola as a real serious threat, but they’ve won 9 of 10 games, beaten the Spurs in that stretch, and they are really “taking off” in Houston. Kevin McHale is a smart guy and a good hire, who is getting this team to play good basketball.
(-3) 15.Memphis Grizzlies (10-9): After that impressive 7 game winning streak they’ve lost 3 games in a row. Those uniforms against the Clippers were hideous, but even more troublesome is how they are going to survive until Zach Randolph comes back.
(+6) 16. Boston Celtics (9-10): They thumped the Magic in Boston, and then came back on them from 27 points down in Orlando. A good week for these guys considering they were playing with no Rondo or Allen.
(-14)17. Orlando Magic (12-8): The Dwight Howard trade rumors are hanging over this team like a dark cloud, and it shows in their poor performances on the court.
(-1) 18. Minnesota Timberwolves (9-11): Getting Kevin Love to sign for a 4 year extension has really eased a lot of tension in Minneapolis, and now they are on the clock to convince Kevin Love to stay for the even longer future. But they got Love some good pieces such as Rubio to work with, etc. They are a fun team to watch, but still a work in progress. I do like what I see from them though.
(+1) 19. Milwaukee Bucks (8-11): The loss of Andrew Bogut will once again weigh down on an otherwise very talented team. The Knicks going down the toilet may help these guys sneak in the playoffs, and maybe make a little noise.
(-2) 20. Cleveland Cavaliers (8-11): Kyrie Irving is starting to look more and more like the right guy to draft.
(-2) 21. Phoenix Suns (7-12): I wouldn’t suggest they trade Steve Nash, but it might not be a bad option.
(-1) 22.New York Knicks (7-13): Between D’Antoni, Anthony, and Stoudemire, two of those three guys has got to go.
(+3) 23. Toronto Raptors (7-14): Big win for them in Utah on the road. That will really bolster the confidence of this team that is still trying to find their footing.
(+1) 24. New Jersey Nets (7-14): They are 2-6 at home and 5-8 on the road. They gotta make Jersey a tough place to win until they move into Brooklyn.
(-1) 25. Golden State Warriors (6-12): All the hype, all the hope, all the talk about Mark Jackson changing things seems to look more and more like pre-season hype than a real possibility.
(-3) 26. Sacramento Kings (6-14): Jimmer is starting to wake up, and that has to feel good for the Kings and their fans.
(+2) 27. New Orleans Hornets (4-16): That win over the Magic must have felt really good! Also, it sounds like Chris Kaman is out the door. Eric Gordon might be also leaving soon, too.
(+2) 28.Washington Wizards (4-16): They fired Flip Saunders. Was anybody really surprised by that?
(-1) 29. Detroit Pistons (4-17): Brandon Knight is giving this team belief. I think I said that last week, but I really don’t know what else to say about these guys at the moment.
(-3) 30. Charlotte Bobcats (3-18): After some hard fought losses early in the season, they have really let the air out the balloon. Kemba Walker’s triple double was nice to see though.
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