NBA Power Rankings: Week 23

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The NBA did not have to wait long for a team to get on another tear after the Nuggets and Heat both lost their winning streaks in the same week as the Knicks have picked up the slack and moved up the rankings yet again with an NBA high 12 game winning streak.  The Eastern Conference playoffs are set as to who will be in, but the Western Conference is a totally different story.  There are still spots up for grabs, as the race for the eighth seed in the Western Conference looks like it will come down to the last days of the season and seeding is still being worked out as well.  Were coming down the stretch run of the NBA season and it will be exciting to watch.

1.) Miami Heat (60-16) – Miami is sitting pretty right now; they are still dominating teams while their stars get healthy.  While the Knicks and Pacers still battle for second in the East and the West big dogs struggle with injuries, the Heat are gearing up and resting their players for another championship run.

2.) San Antonio Spurs (57-20) – It will be worthwhile to watch if Gregg Popovich can make some magic again in San Antonio.  The Spurs will need it with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker ailing recently.  Tim Duncan cannot carry the team at his advanced age like it is 2003 can he?

3.) New York Knicks (50-26) – The longest current winning streak in the NBA resides at Madison Square Garden as the Knicks went into Oklahoma City Sunday afternoon and handled business.  Things could not be going better for the Knicks, who watch Carmelo Anthony put on a historic performance this past week and Mike Woodson has led the Knicks to the fourth most wins in the NBA since he took over as head coach, trailing only the Heat, Spurs and Thunder.

4.) Oklahoma City Thunder (56-21) – Things cannot be lining up any better for the Thunder currently heading into the end of the season, as the Spurs, Nuggets and Grizzlies all deal with injuries and the Clippers just cannot seem to get everything clicking.  The Thunder have everyone healthy, but could the loss Sunday to the Knicks be a precursor of them not clicking as well as they need to be?

5.) Denver Nuggets (53-24) – The Nuggets were going to struggle to make too much noise in the playoffs without home court but the injuries are mounting against them making it an either harder mountain to climb.  Losing Danilo Gallinari for the season and Ty Lawson hobbled it will be tough for them to go anywhere, even with home court.

6.) Memphis Grizzlies (52-25) – Marc Gasol is playing tough through an injury and it is paying dividends for the Grizzlies are staying within striking distance of getting home court.  Getting him healthy and moving up in the standings are two things the Grizzlies need to do, but can you do the second without the first?

7.) Los Angeles Clippers (51-26) – The Clippers got their first season sweep over the rival Lakers for the first time ever while clinching their first division title in franchise history as well.  But, unless they shake their funk that will be all they have to celebrate this season.

8.) Indiana Pacers (48-29) – The Pacers clinched their first division title since 2003-2004, but it was not in the fashion that they would like as they backed in with a loss.  It was momentum crushing after their impressive west coast swing, as their swoon coincided with the Knicks hot streak.

9.) Houston Rockets (43-34) – The Rockets have a chance to make some noise in the playoffs this season with how explosive of an offense is, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.  72 percent of the minutes played this season by Rocket players have been under 25 years old, meaning the future is bright in Houston for the first time in a while.

10.) Golden State Warriors (44-33) – The Warriors were playing good basketball, going on a 9-3 stretch before losing to the Jazz, who sport an 11-27 road record, in Oracle Arena.  Even with the let down, the Warriors have a good chance to make some noise with all of the top teams suffering from so many injuries and slumps.

11.) Utah Jazz (41-37) – The Jazz are clinging to the eighth seed in the Western Conference and look to have no intentions of surrendering it to the Lakers.  The Jazz are in the driver’s seat and control their own destiny, holding the tiebreaker over the Lakers and Mavericks.

12.) Brooklyn Nets (44-32) – Are the Nets truly happy with how things have shaken out this season? After coming so close to taking over the Atlantic Division lead two weeks ago, they watched the Knicks rip off a 12-game win streak and put a stranglehold on that.  Now they are matched up with the Bulls in the first round, a team they just lost to last week, and if they make it past them a matchup with the Heat in the second round. 

13.) Chicago Bulls (42-34) – It is looking more and more likely that ending the 27-game winning streak of the Heat a couple weeks back will be the defining moment for this Bulls team.  Injuries are beginning to mount, making it harder to fathom the Bulls beating whoever they end up being matched up against in the first round.

14.) Boston Celtics (40-37) – The Celtics have looked mortal lately, but with Kevin Garnett returning they have a shot to move up to sixth in the East and overtake the Hawks.  Do they really want to do that though? A first round matchup against the Knicks is something the Celtics may actually welcome, as they have owned the Knicks prior to this regular season in recent history.

15.) Atlanta Hawks (42-36) – The Hawks are an interesting bunch as many people are surprised they are sitting as pretty as they are in the playoff picture.  Many people thought they would be miserable without Joe Johnson, but Al Horford has shown he is a capable leader alongside Josh Smith and Jeff Teague.  Winning seven games this season while trailing in the final minute of regulation or overtime helps as well.

16.) Los Angeles Lakers (40-37) – The Lakers handled their business in beating the Mavericks and Grizzlies even with Metta World Peace and Steve Nash sitting.  It all went for naught though as the Jazz unexpectedly pulled off a win in Golden State.  The Lakers are in serious trouble of missing the playoffs, as they need to have two more wins than the Jazz to end the season.

17.) Milwaukee Bucks (37-39) -  The Bucks have locked up their first playoff appearance in three seasons, but with a poor 5-10 stretch they have effectively locked themselves into the eighth seed of the playoffs, also known as the first victim of the Miami Heat.

18.) Dallas Mavericks (38-39) – The Mavericks playoff hopes are as close to being extinguished without them actually being put out, as an 18-11 stretch was not enough to get them in.  A victory in Phoenix though will get them to .500 and the chance to shave off those beards they have been sporting.

19.) Washington Wizards (29-48) – We are all finally witnessing John Wall play like a number one overall pick.  Wall scored 37 in a victory over the Pacers this past weekend, showing once again that he is capable of being an above average point guard in this league.  A damper on all of this though is the loss of Bradley Beal officially for the season with a stress reaction in his right fibula.

20.) Philadelphia 76ers (31-45) – It is hard to say the 76ers made the correct decision on trading for Andrew Bynum thinking of what a front court consisting of Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Nikola Vucevic and Moe Harkless would look like.  But then again, how many people would pass on the opportunity to bring on an All-NBA Center to their roster?

21.) Minnesota Timberwolves (29-47) – Kevin Love was officially announced as out for the remainder of the season after having a minor procedure on his knee to clean out some scar tissue.  That did not stop the T’Wolves from getting Rick Adelman his 1000^th career win this past week after beating the Celtics and Bucks.

22.) Portland Trail Blazers (33-44) – Operation tank is in process full blown in Portland, losers of eight games in a row.  It will be interesting to see if they get up for Wednesday’s game against the Lakers to try and stick it to their old rivals who have caused them so much pain in the playoffs.

23.) New Orleans Hornets (27-50) – The Hornets will look to play spoiler this week, going to Los Angeles to play the Lakers Tuesday night and the Mavericks in their last two games of the season this weekend and next week.

24.) Detroit Pistons (26-52) – The Pistons got the monkey off their back, ending an 18-game losing streak against the Bulls this past weekend after coming so close the weekend prior.  Brandon Knight got a little redemption of his own as well, accumulating two 20-point scoring nights this past week.

25.) Toronto Raptors (29-48) – With the Clippers surpassing the 50-win mark, there is a new team that holds the mark for most consecutive seasons without one and they reside in Toronto.  With how this season went, it seems as that distinction will be in Toronto for quite a few seasons to come.

26.) Cleveland Cavaliers (24-52) – The Cavaliers pulled off their first back-to-back victories this past week for the first time since the end of February, but even with that the future of head coach Byron Scott is still cloudy.  Making things murkier is the fact that Kyrie Irving will not answer questions about the situation.

27.) Sacramento Kings (27-50) – If Sacramento is unable to secure a deal to keep the Kings in town, there will only be two more games played in Arco Arena before the Kings pack up operation and move on up to Seattle.  Even with how poor the fan support has been recently, it would be a blow to what was a passionate fan base when times were good.

28.) Phoenix Suns (23-54) – This will go down as the second worst season statistically in Suns history, as only the inaugural expansion season saw a worse winning percentage as that team went 16-66.  This Suns team will struggle to even match the 27 wins put up by the Suns during the 1999-2000 lock shortened season, needing to end the season on a 4-0 run to do so.

29.) Charlotte Bobcats (18-59) – With the latest head-to-head matchup between them and the Magic going in their favor, the Bobcats sit above the cellar for now.  They might not reach the basement for the remainder of the season, as two of their five games remaining are against lottery teams, compared to the Magic who have all playoff teams left on the docket.

30.) Orlando Magic (19-59) – You know it is rough when for the second consecutive week you are unable to pass the Charlotte Bobcats in the standings.  The Magic suffered through a road trip in which they went 0-5 and were really close in only two games.  The end of the season cannot come soon enough, but there are some good, young pieces in place in Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris and Moe Harkless.