Music to listen to: Univers Zero by Chaos Hermetique
1) Los Angeles Clippers: The “other” Los Angeles basketball team currently has a 16-game winning streak, is outscoring its opponents by more than 10 points per contest, have the best bench in the NBA, the frontrunner for MVP in Chris Paul and sixth man of the year in Jamal Crawford. The most impressive stat for the Clippers is that they’re fourth defensively in the NBA in points per game. The reliance on jump shots is high but defense wins in the playoffs which is a good sign for the Clippers’ postseason plans.
2) Miami Heat: One of the biggest lessons we learned from Miami’s win over Oklahoma City on Christmas is that when the Heat are motivated, they’re the best team in the NBA. Losses like the defeat at Detroit on Friday and at Milwaukee on Saturday aren’t worrisome, this happens to elite teams. The two biggest issues will be keeping Dwayne Wade healthy because even with LeBron James’ greatness, he needs support. The second issue is that Miami’s traditionally strong defense under Eric Spolstra has been severely lacking this season with the unit ranking 18th in the NBA at 97.8 PPG.
3) San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs are statistically top-five team in offensive and defensive efficiency which makes them a championship contender. Tim Duncan has had an outstanding season and is making a case to be a starter in the All-Star game at center for the West.
4) Oklahoma City Thunder: OKC scores the most points in the NBA and the combo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook continues to impress. Serge Ibaka has continued to improve his offensive skills as well. The defensive and rebounding struggles of Kendrick Perkins do raise slight concerns.
5) New York Knicks: The Knicks have found ways to win contests with an efficient offense, three-point shooting and an improved defense. However, with injuries to Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton as various points this season has shown that not only is Amar’e Stoudemire return essential to New York’s postseason efforts, but it may be needed to get home-court in the first round of the playoffs.
6) Memphis Grizzlies: Here’s your stat of the evening courtesy of Matt Dollinger at SI.com. Memphis is 0-5 this season when it gives up 99 or more points in a contest this year.
7) Golden State Warriors: They’re a legitimate playoff team and finished 12-4 in the month of December. If Steph Curry can stay healthy (head coach Mark Jackson may want to rest him more and let Jarrett Jack get more minutes at point guard) and Andrew Bogut can return and improve the post defense, could we see the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals?
8) Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks may have the second-deepest team in the NBA behind the Clippers which was in full display Saturday night as each starter scored at least 15 points in their 109-100 victory over Indiana.
9) Houston Rockets: The Jeremy Lin/James Harden combo is working well offensively as evidence in the blowout win over Chicago on Christmas night but the defense has been poor giving up nearly 104 PPG. However, Omer Asik has averaged a respectable 10 points and 11 rebounds per contest this year which are career-highs by a large margin.
10) Denver Nuggets: Denver plays 15 of its next 20 contests at home which will hopefully improve the inconsistent play from a team that relies on balance on the offensive side of the ball more than any other playoff-caliber team.
11) Los Angeles Lakers: Toughest team to rank because Steve Nash isn’t going to cure everything, especially the 25th ranked defense in the NBA, but the offense has looked better since he’s returned from the injured leg.
12) Indiana Pacers: The best hope is that when Danny Granger returns from injury in February, Roy Hibbert’s offensive struggles will be over and the team can gear up for a long postseason run.
13) Milwaukee Bucks: The backcourt experiment of Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings has been working so far as evidence by the Bucks’ solid 104-85 win over Miami at home on Saturday. The front court contributions of Larry Sanders on defense and rebounding along with the scoring of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute have made Milwaukee an early season surprise.
14) Chicago Bulls: The defensive effort on Christmas against Houston was deplorable but the Bulls have managed to stay above .500 with a top-five defense. The offense will have to increase greatly, with or without Derrick Rose, for the Bulls to have any impact in the postseason.
15) Brooklyn Nets: Firing Avery Johnson won’t help a team that has their best player, Deron Williams, shooting a career-worst 39% from the field, another top-level player, Brook Lopez, miss games due to injury and the most invisible above-average player in the NBA, Joe Johnson act like Joe Johnson. Going 3-10 in the last thirteen games and getting embarrassed on national TV by Boston at home on Christmas didn’t help Johnson’s cause but his dismissal was hasty and that’s being generous.
16) Minnesota Timberwolves: Be careful using Ricky Rubio…
17) Portland Trail Blazers: J.J. Hickson has averaged a double-double in each of his last nine home games, including getting 16 points and 13 rebounds in Portland’s 89-85 win over Philadelphia on Saturday. Portland has won seven of their last eight total contests.
18) Boston Celtics: If the Celtics make the playoffs and get a decent seed, they have the potential to make a long run in the postseason. However, to make it through the regular season, Boston needs to see more contribution from the secondary cast, particularly Jeff Green. His recovery from heart surgery is inspiring in thoughts but hasn’t translated to solid play on the court.
19) Utah Jazz: For a team with strong athletes, Utah’s defense has been underwhelming all season and the 116-114 home loss to the Clippers on Saturday showed that a decent effort on defense could have resulted in a much-needed win.
20) Philadelphia 76ers: The entire team was built around the prospect of having Andrew Bynum at center and his lack of playing time has resulted in a squad that consists of average perimeter players without a go-to offensive star. That’s how you’re 14-17 and only score 85 points at Portland on Saturday.
21) Dallas Mavericks: The Mavs aren’t going to make the playoffs because the 28th ranked defense in the league doesn’t allow for it to happen.
22) Toronto Raptors: The Raptors have won six of their last seven contests, including a destruction of Orlando on the road with a 123-88 win on Saturday. All of this has happened since Andrea Bargnani has been out of the lineup.
23) Orlando Magic: The Magic were a respectable 12-13 by its standards with Glen Davis in the lineup. Orlando is now 0-4 without Davis in the lineup since he’s been out with an injured shoulder.
24) Detroit Pistons: Their win over Miami on Friday shows that Will Bynum and Andre Drummond both need to start consistently for Detroit.
25) Phoenix Suns: Jared Dudley has improved his scoring over the last ten games which has allowed the Suns to at least be competitive in those contests.
26) Sacramento Kings: I’ve been an advocate for DeMarcus Cousins since he’s entered the league (I still think he has the potential to be the best center in the NBA). However, the Kings need to cut their losses and trade him this season.
27-28) Cleveland Cavs and New Orleans Hornets: You try deciding between these two teams.
29) Charlotte Bobcats: You would think losing 18 games in a row would be enough to earn last place in my Power Rankings but you’re wrong my friend.
30) Washington Wizards: When your record is 4-24 and you average only 88 PPG, that’s terrible. I know John Wall is out of the lineup but it takes effort to be that inefficient in professional basketball.
The Sports Inquirer 
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