Time for another NBA Power Poll
Music to listen to: One Thought At A Time by Massive Attack
1- Miami Heat: It looks like the Heat have figured out the regular season by rebounding as a team, letting Lebron James, who you can argue has been the MVP of the league so far this season, and Dwayne Wade, who you could place in the top-10, take turns dominating the ball on offense and speeding the pace of the game. While they won’t be able to increase the pace in the playoffs at this rate, having only one loss in 22 games makes you the top team in my rankings.
2- San Antonio Spurs: I’ve had the Dallas Mavs in this top spot for weeks but due to injuries, I’m going to place San Antonio in this spot for the moment as the top squad in the West. The Spurs were the first team to reach 30 wins in the NBA and have been able to do this without over reliance on Tim Duncan.
3- Boston Celtics: They’re may be clamors for the team ranked directly below the Celtics to be in this spot but I still like Boston in this spot. While the return of Rondo in the past two weeks was nice, the loss of Garnett is worrisome, even if its only a calf injury and he’ll return in a few weeks. Old legs are always worrisome for a team that relies on them as greatly as the Celtics do.
4- Orlando Magic: A nine-game winning streak is always a nice way to move up the Rankings. This stat courtesy of Marc Stein of ESPN.com says it all during the winning streak. “Most interesting element of the Magic’s nine straight wins by eight points or more? They’ve averaged 16.1 fast-break points in those wins. In its first 28 games, Orlando was the league’s worst running team at 7.9 ppg.”
5- Los Angeles Lakers: It only took 39 games into this season for Ron Artest to have his first “moment” of the year when he tried to choke out Wilson Chandler in the Lakers’ victory over New York on Sunday. This hints at the defending champs having some tensions such as Kobe’s unhealthy knee, the lack of production from Derek Fisher, over usage of Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, the overall health of Andrew Bynum, Artest being Artest and you have a squad that looks like it can’t wait to get to the playoffs.
6- Chicago Bulls: I know that the Bulls lost to Philadelphia and New Jersey this week but those came without Noah. I liked the victory over Boston though.
7- Dallas Mavs: Losing Dirk to the knee injury is one thing, but the loss of Caron Butler for the season has taken the Mavs from a legit title contender to a peak of making the conference finals. I do agree with sitting Nowitzki for rest and to heal his ailing knee even though Dallas has been 2-6 without him during the games he’s missed.
8- Oklahoma City Thunder: While there has been talk about the defense regressing to the point that the Thunder are currently 20th in the NBA in points allowed, the offense is 7th overall and will continue to improve over the year. Plus, the Thunder are first in the Northwest division which also includes Utah, Denver and Portland. What may hurt OKC in the playoffs is the lack of rebounding because the Thunder are in the bottom half of the league in that category.
9- Atlanta Hawks: I’ve been accused of casting a negative bias towards Atlanta but that’s not true. I just happen to see the Hawks the most because I live in Atlanta, therefore I have a closer view to the flaws of the squad beyond looking at a box score which I honestly do for a few teams in the league. Atlanta did have a nice win at Utah, finally beating a top-10 team in the league, on the road no less.
10- Utah Jazz: They can’t continue to fall behind by large margins in games and expect to win every time. The latest came on Saturday at Houston, making it the seventh time this year they’ve come back from 15 points or more in a contest to win the game.
11- New York Knicks: The two truest measures of a good team are beating opponents with a record of .500 or better and winning on the road, even if the opponent is sub standard. The Knicks just won two games on the road this past week, at San Antonio and Phoenix, that they wouldn’t have won in the past three years.
12- Portland Trailblazers and New Orleans Hornets: Both teams are similar in the fact that they will probably win 45 games this season, barely make the playoffs and lose in the first round.
14- Denver Nuggets: This will probably be the highest the Nuggets will be ranked in the Power Poll for a while with the impending Carmelo Anthony trade taking place very soon.
15- Memphis Grizzlies: What is it with NBA players and gambling debts. The latest one comes between Grizzlies’ teammates Tony Allen and O.J. Mayo, who fought on the team plane earlier last week. The good news is that Memphis has won three straight games against the Lakers, Oklahoma City and Utah despite the fighting.
16- Houston Rockets: You have to give credit to the Rockets for staying scrappy despite the loss of Yao Ming for the season. However, Houston hasn’t been given any favors to the schedule makers who started 2011 with games at Portland, at Denver, Portland, at Orlando and Utah, all losses. The next four games are at Boston, Oklahoma City, New Orleans and at Atlanta.
17- Milwaukee Bucks: Still hard to gauge this team with Brandon Jennings out for a few weeks and Andrew Bogut still hobbled with his hurt right arm.
18- Los Angeles Clippers: If they didn’t start the season so badly, the Clippers would be in contention for a playoff spot. I’ve been split on Blake Griffin being an All-Star but if you look at his productivity, the prospect of some other forwards not playing in the game due to injury or wanting time off, plus the All-Star game is in Los Angeles, I think you may see Griffin make the squad.
19- Philadelphia 76ers: Elton Brand has played well enough to potentially become an interesting trade option for a playoff squad that wants to improve its front line.
20- Golden State Warriors: The Warriors have 17 of their next 20 games at home and are within striking distance of making the playoffs. What would help the cause even more would be the nucleus of David Lee, Monta Ellis and Steph Curry being able to play all of those games together and healthy.
21- Phoenix Suns: As a Knicks fan, I wouldn’t make a Raymond Felton for Steve Nash trade if I was New York. Nash is a great player, maybe even a Hall of Famer, but he has several years on Felton in a demanding position, costs more and plays less defense. However, if someone like Portland came calling to the Suns about Nash…
22- Toronto Raptors: The Raptors are still in contention for the playoffs…that’s the state of the East.
23- Charlotte Bobcats: So are the Bobcats…
24- Indiana Pacers: So are the Pacers…ok, I’ll stop because this is a place to state that Roy Hibbert may be your second-best center in the East, which is something positive.
25- Detroit Pistons: The Pistons are a prime example of an NBA team that was unwilling to part with a core player until it was too late. The trade value of Rip Hamilton has been decreasing for the past two years yet Detroit held out from moving him. Now, the Pistons are getting less value than ever for him in the Carmelo Anthony trade.
26- Minnesota Timberwolves: Similar to Blake Griffin, the All-Star candidacy of Kevin Love will be up for much debate because despite all of the positives that he has shown this season, particularly having the best rebounding numbers the league has seen in years, Minnesota is still a below-average team.
27- New Jersey Nets: The Nets may be a day or two away from acquiring one of the top ten players in the league in his prime for only the third time in its history, joining only Jason Kidd and Julius Erving.
28- Sacramento Kings: I’m still sticking with DeMarcus Cousins because he’s still a young kid who can mature and its not easy to find a 20/10 post player in this league, especially one that’s a rookie.
29- Washington Wizards: They have to find a way to win on the road.
30- Cleveland Cavs: Cleveland is 1-20 in its last 21 games.
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?
The Sports Inquirer 
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