Nov 9, 2009 - We're off to a great start. It only took us two weeks into the season to get the first week of Power Rankings up. We'll be bringing you the NBA's top and bottom teams each Monday.
The voting panel consists of the esteemed NBA bloggers here at SBNation. Hopefully you get some witty and/or insightful commentary to go along with the rankings.
We'll make a few tweaks next week once we have one round behind us.
As always, let us have it in the comments.
| Team | Rank (LW) | Record | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
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1 (1) | Boston Celtics 7-1 | Liberty Ballers: "Ball Don't Lie" |
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2 (2) | Los Angeles Lakers 6-1 | The Dream Shake: "No Pau hurts, but not as much as Artest's presence will...eventually" |
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3 (3) | Orlando Magic 5-2 | Motown String Music: "Walking through opponents (except the Pistons [Ed. Note - And now Thunder])" |
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4 (4) | Denver Nuggets 5-2 | Silver Screen & Roll: "I'm ready to accept Melo as leader and potential MVP, and we all know what Billups brings. The big question is, can the rest of the Nuggets keep up ... and keep their act together?" |
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5 (5) | Phoenix Suns 6-1 | Silver Screen & Roll: "Championship contenders? No. But as regular season phenoms, they appear to be back." |
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6 (6) | Dallas Mavericks 4-2 | Third Quarter Collapse: "Quietly having a great season, with a +7.3 differential, third-best in the league." |
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7 (7) | Miami Heat 5-1 | Peach Tree Hoops: "Wade is apparently that good, and the supporting cast is better. I have little doubt though that Jermaine O'Neal has 32 real games in him. He has already used up at least four." |
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8 (8) | Cleveland Cavaliers 4-3 | Silver Screen & Roll: "I'm supposed to believe that offensively challenged Mike Brown is going to figure out how to work Shaq into a halfway decent LeBron-centric offense? I'll believe it when I see it." |
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9 (9) | Atlanta Hawks 5-2 | Clips Nation: "Beating Denver by 25 is impressive. Losing to Charlotte by 20 is impressive in a different way." |
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10 (10) | San Antonio Spurs 2-3 | Peach Tree Hoops: "Lack of sample size is made up for by animal killing ability/history." |
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11 (11) | Portland Trail Blazers 4-3 | Clips Nation: "They have to be a little disappointed so far." |
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12 (12) | Houston Rockets 4-2 | Silver Screen & Roll: "Houston up here, and the Hornets and Blazers down there? Don't expect this in April, but that's the start these teams have had. It doesn't hurt that they're the hardest working team in basketball." |
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13 (13) | Chicago Bulls 4-2 | Clips Nation: "Wins over Cleveland and San Antonio, and their only losses to one loss teams Boston and Miami - a surprisingly strong start for the Bulls." |
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14 (14) | Toronto Raptors 3-3 | Silver Screen & Roll: "Beat the Cavs, lose to the Magic. Beat the Pistons, lose to the Griz. We believe in their potential, but they'll need more than potential to emerge from the middle of the pack." |
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15 (15) | Philadelphia 76ers 3-3 | Peach Tree Hoops: "As a Hawks fan, this team scares me. Not sure if this clouds my issue of how much they should scare the entire league." |
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16 (16) | Utah Jazz 2-4 | The Dream Shake: "Hahahaha!" [Ed. Note - I put this in here for some sort of karmic payback] |
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17 (17) | Oklahoma City Thunder 3-3 | Peach Tree Hoops: "They should probably be higher. I am trying to counteract the over obsession with this team." |
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18 (18) | Detroit Pistons 3-4 | Silver Screen & Roll: "They haven't looked like a playoff team coming out of the gates, and a win over Orlando is the only thing that has kept them from falling further." |
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19 (19) | Milwaukee Bucks 3-2 | Silver Screen & Roll: "Ranking the dregs of the league is no easy thing, but a win over Detroit, fewer total losses, and a less-than-miserable point differential keep the Bucks from ranking lower down." |
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20 (20) | Charlotte Bobcats 3-3 | Silver Screen & Roll: "Wins over New York and New Jersey aren't worth getting overly excited, but losses in Cleveland and Boston aren't worth getting overly upset, either." |
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21 (21) | Washington Wizards 2-5 | Third Quarter Collapse: "After a convincing win over Dallas on opening night, they're 1-5, despite the arrival of Andray Blatche (13.5 points per game, 6.2 rebounds, 55.6% shooting entering Sunday's action)" |
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22 (22) | Los Angeles Clippers 3-4 | Silver Screen & Roll: "Their only win came against the fang-less Wolves, but to be fair, the rest of their schedule has been quite tough." |
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23 (23) | New Orleans Hornets 2-5 | SLC Dunk: "A wasted season of Chris Paul?" |
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24 (24) | Indiana Pacers 2-3 | Silver Screen & Roll: "A -7.5 differential and a 1-4 record is nothing to be proud of. But at least the quality of their losses -- to Atlanta, Miami, and Denver -- gives them a couple teams to look down on." |
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25 (25) | Golden State Warriors 1-4 | Peach Tree Hoops: "If you do not have a crush on Stephen Curry, I demand you get one." |
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26 (26) | Sacramento Kings 3-4 | SLC Dunk: "Kevin Martin going down is not good for anyone that's a fan of basketball." |
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27 (27) | Minnesota Timberwolves 1-6 | Silver Screen & Roll: "It could be worse. A 19-point comeback is a hell of a way to open the season, and it's hard to complain about losses to Boston, Cleveland, and Phoenix." |
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28 (28) | New York Knicks 1-6 | Posting & Toasting: "The Knicks make me cry on a nightly basis." |
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29 (29) | New Jersey Nets 0-7 | The Dream Shake: "Ew." |
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30 (30) | Memphis Grizzlies 1-6 | Third Quarter Collapse: "Drafting Hasheem Thabeet, who is earning DNP-CDs behind Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, and even Hamed Haddadi, is shaping up to be one of the worst decisions in franchise history, which is impressive." |
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Comments
Knicks are ranked way too high
by Shivling on Nov 10, 2009 4:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Hard to put anyone ahead of them
But hell, at least the Nets try. They’re fielding eight healthy bodies, and they put in 110% even though they know they’re going to get blown out of the building.
Memphis should be last. What was wrong with drafting Evans and either sitting on their cap space or signing Lee?
To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
by Ben R on Nov 10, 2009 7:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Join the community and dive in!