A few teams from each conference are beginning to set themselves apart in the SBNation.com NBA Power Rankings, with the Thunder in front.
Jan 30, 2012 - The West is back on top of our SBNation.com NBA Power Rankings this week, as the Oklahoma City Thunder have leaped to the lead on the strength of a 3-0 week. The Miami Heat were also perfect (4-0), and earned a big win over the Chicago Bulls (No. 3), but we'll credit OKC for doing business with a league-low three losses.
Further down the list, the New York Knicks continue to struggle to rise above even the New Jersey Nets, let alone decent teams in the East. The Charlotte Bobcats have almost assuredly taken the league's "worst team" tag for the remainder of the season by virtue of two losses to the Washington Wizards. This assumes, of course, that the New Orleans Hornets somehow don't get even worse than they already are.
All win-loss records include Sunday's action
| Rank | Team | Record | Last Week | SB Nation Blog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Oklahoma City Thunder | 16-3 | W: DET, NO, GSW | Welcome To Loud City |
| The Thunder haven't allowed dominance to get boring; that awful loss to the Wizards was a one-time slip, not an indication OKC would sleep-walk through the the regular season. | ||||
| 2. | Miami Heat | 15-5 | W: CLE, DET, NY, CHI | Peninsula Is Mightier |
| A 4-0 week for the Heat and a great win over the Bulls lands Miami as our best Eastern team at this point. But they couldn't knock the Thunder out of the top spot. | ||||
| 3. | Chicago Bulls | 17-5 | W: NJ, MIL; L: IND, MIA | Blog-a-Bull |
| That the Bulls near knocked off Miami without Luol Deng, with LeBron James on his game and with Carlos Boozer getting Boshed is a testament to how flippin' good the Bulls are. | ||||
| 4. | L.A. Clippers | 11-6 | W: MEM, DEN; L: LAL | Clips Nation |
| You can't understate the Clippers' huge win in Denver on Sunday. While the L.A. offense looked discombobulated late against the Lakers this week, Chris Paul showed that he's the smartest player in the league with the ball in his hands in Denver. | ||||
| 5. | Denver Nuggets | 14-6 | W: SAC, TOR; L: LAC | Denver Stiffs |
| The Nuggets continue to hang above the fray in the West, earning wins away from Denver in the process. This will be a very tough out in the playoffs, based on how things look now. | ||||
| 6. | Philadelphia 76ers | 14-6 | W: WAS, CHA, DET; L: NJ | Liberty Ballers |
| Philadelphia is not as good as they looked very early on, and that's bearing out in the nightly results. But they are still dang good, even with Spencer Hawes' fighting with an injury. | ||||
| 7. | Atlanta Hawks | 15-6 | W: MIL, DET, NO; L: SA | Peachtree Hoops |
| They just keep on winning ... | ||||
| 8. | Dallas Mavericks | 13-8 | W: PHX, UTA, SA; L: MIN | Mavs Moneyball |
| The Mavericks are not just in the playoff chase in the West, but could join the Nuggets and Clippers as teams poised to break away from the big pack. Lately, the Mavericks have looked better than teams like the Lakers and Jazz, and a big comeback against the Spurs on Sunday was a nice cap on the week. | ||||
| 9. | Indiana Pacers | 13-6 | W: CHI, ORL; L: BOS, ORL | Indy Cornrows |
| The Pacers will eventually normalize to a few games above .500, not at the blazing pace they initially set against a weak schedule. That still makes Indiana one of the better teams in the East, of course. They'll apparently battle with Atlanta and Orlando for a top-four seed. | ||||
| 10. | Houston Rockets | 12-8 | W: MIN, WAS, NY; L: MIL | The Dream Shake |
| Kyle Lowry hasn't been perfect late, but Houston continues to win. They are literally in the middle of the playoff hunt, a testament to Daryl Morey's ability to build a feasible roster without locking up long-term salary commitments. | ||||
| 11. | San Antonio Spurs | 12-9 | W: NO, ATL; L: MIN, DAL | Pounding The Rock |
| Danny Green is learning amid the burning flames, if nothing else. | ||||
| 12. | Utah Jazz | 11-7 | W: SAC; L: TOR, DAL | SLC Dunk |
| The Jazz had a poor week; had the refs called a fairly obvious shooting foul on Earl Watson, who challenged Jimmer Fredette's potential game-winning three-pointer late, Utah could have gone 0-3 for the week. Instead, the Jazz remain a couple games above .500. How long will they remain in playoff position? | ||||
| 13. | Portland Trail Blazers | 12-8 | W: SAC, MEM, PHX; L: GS | Blazer's Edge |
| The Blazers remain bipolar: brilliant at home, mediocre on the road. You can't survive like that forever in the West, where every win matters in terms of that vital playoff seeding, where Portland obviously can't afford to finish below No. 4. | ||||
| 14. | L.A. Lakers | 12-9 | W: LAC, MIN; L: MIL | Silver Screen And Roll |
| The Lakers rarely look powerful enough to walk away from any opponent, and last year's playoff dismissal simply hasn't been dismissed enough to renew faith in the West power. | ||||
| 15. | Cleveland Cavaliers | 8-11 | W: NY, BOS; L: MIA, NJ | Fear The Sword |
| Kyrie Irving is just unbelievable, playing better than even John Wall did as a rookie. The questions about his pro potential are being dismissed quite quickly. | ||||
| 16. | Boston Celtics | 9-10 | W: ORL x 2, IND; L: CLE | CelticsBlog |
| Boston is showing real signs of life ... but not enough to hold off a surge from the insurgent Cavaliers. It's looking like a low seed and maybe even a first-round match-up against the Bulls or Heat for the C's. | ||||
| 17. | Memphis Grizzlies | 10-9 | W: GS; L: POR, LAC, PHX | Straight Outta Vancouver |
| Memphis began last week's road trip with an epic, very Memphis-y comeback against the Warriors ... then fell flat in three straight losses. This team desperately needs Zach Randolph back to normalize things on offense. | ||||
| 18. | Orlando Magic | 12-8 | W: IND; L: BOS x 2, NO, IND | Orlando Pinstriped Post |
| What a bad week for the Magic: two losses to Boston (including an awesome collapse), followed by blowout losses to the Hornets and Pacers, the latter of which saw Dwight Howard shoot 4-15 from the line. Somewhere, Mark Jackson is feeling totally justified. | ||||
| 19. | Minnesota Timberwolves | 9-11 | W: DAL, SA; L: HOU, LAL | Canis Hoopus |
| A perfectly average team! Huge progress! | ||||
| 20. | Milwaukee Bucks | 8-11 | W: HOU, LAL; L: ATL, CHI | BrewHoop |
| Andrew Bogut's devastating ankle injury could have such deep impacts on the Bucks and those associated with them. The team's expected slide will sully the reputations of John Hammond and Brandon Jennings, and could lead to Scott Skiles' ouster in the end. What an unfortunate turn of events. | ||||
| 21. | Phoenix Suns | 7-12 | W: MEM; L: DAL, TOR, POR | Bright Side Of The Sun |
| Marcin Gortat over his last 10 games: 16.5 points, 12.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. The Polish Hammer is the only possible saving grace from that awful string of trades and signings in 2010 and 2011. | ||||
| 22. | Toronto Raptors | 7-14 | W: PHX, UTA, NJ; L: DEN | Raptors HQ |
| The Raptors couldn't win without Andrea Bargnani until he turned the first time. Toronto won a pair, then Il Mago retreated again. But they have survived! Amir and James Johnson deserve a sitcom, surely. | ||||
| 23. | New Jersey Nets | 7-14 | W: PHI, CLE; L: CHI, TOR | NetsDaily |
| The Nets have begun their rise. If only they wouldn't have gotten blown the frig out by Toronto on Sunday. | ||||
| 24. | New York Knicks | 7-13 | W: CHA; L: CLE, MIA, HOU | Posting And Toasting |
| You'd be hard-pressed to find a team not named the Bobcats who have looked worse than the 'Bockers over the past two weeks. At what point does legit concern about the Knicks' ability to make the postseason pop up ... or is that already here? | ||||
| 25. | Golden State Warriors | 6-12 | W: POR; L: MEM, OKC | Golden State Of Mind |
| The Warriors have the No. 6 shooting offense in the NBA, and the No. 22 shooting defense. Seems like their hands are down a little too often! | ||||
| 26. | Sacramento Kings | 6-14 | L: POR, DEN, UTA | Sactown Royalty |
| The Kings are definitely the worst 6-14 team in NBA history. Three losses of at least 29 points, six 20-point losses and a high probability of being run out of the building by halftime any given night. | ||||
| 27. | Washington Wizards | 4-16 | W: CHA x 2; L: PHI, HOU | Bullets Forever |
| How does a team double its win total in a single week? Why, it faces the Bobcats twice, of course! | ||||
| 28. | New Orleans Hornets | 4-15 | W: ORL; L: SA, OKC, ATL | At The Hive |
| When the fairly anonymous Jason Smith is telling fans he feels bad for them ... | ||||
| 29. | Detroit Pistons | 4-17 | L: OKC, MIA, ATL, PHI | Detroit Bad Boys |
| The Pistons are No. 29 in opponent effective field goal percentage. That's not very Lawrence Frank. | ||||
| 30. | Charlotte Bobcats | 3-18 | L: NY, WAS x 2, PHI | Rufus On Fire |
| Only the Bobcats couldn't be blown out by the Knicks and Wizards on back-to-back nights. What an awful mess of a team. | ||||
2 comments
Comments
Every week I look at this...
…and pray that the Kings are at least in the top 20. I know they won’t be, but I hope anyway. My brain is probably riddled with holes.
"You saw us pretty bad," Petra answered.
"I saw you magnificent," said Ender.
by BlackSoxDown on Jan 30, 2012 10:26 AM EST reply actions
Methodology
what is it for these rankings? Standings? Strength of schedule? Margin of victory? Recent results? Some weighting of the above?
I find that the Clippers ranking to be quite a bit higher than it should be if this exercise is saying that the Clippers are the 4th best team or have played like the 4th best team so far.
Dodger Sims | Twitter | Xei On Sports
by Xeifrank on Jan 30, 2012 2:43 PM EST reply actions
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