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NBA Power Rankings: Spurs on top? Kawhi not

By Brandon Jefferson

Mar 4, 2017; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) drives to the basket as Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio (9) defends during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2017; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) drives to the basket as Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio (9) defends during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 6, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. The Warriors defeated the Hawks 119-111. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 6, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr looks on in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. The Warriors defeated the Hawks 119-111. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
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Golden State Warriors 52-14

Last week: 4-4
Last rank: 1st

Since Kevin Durant’s injury, this team has not just looked like a shell of themselves, they’ve looked plain out bad. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson couldn’t have picked worse times to go on shooting slumps (though their tight win over Philadelphia on Tuesday might’ve been the game they needed to break them). With Durant out the biggest hole, it’s caused is with their defense. They hovered between one and two for most of the season with Durant playing, but have since dropped down to 11th since Durant was sidelined. Draymond Green did all he could against the Sixers to bring home a win defensively, but the rest of the lineup looks out of sorts with Durant not playing.

There also seems to be some brewing tension in the locker room that we haven’t seen from this franchise in the past two seasons. Was Luke Walton really that important to the Warriors chemistry? The Lakers aren’t doing so hot right now so I think it would be incorrect to give Walton a majority of the credit for what went right during his time at Golden State. However, we weren’t hearing anything like Andre Iguodala’s “massa” post game comments when Walton was around. Yet, even though this team has shown that it has some flaws (mainly issues with depth) they are just a healthy Durant and a hot-shooting Curry or Thompson away from making a run at another NBA title. They have a relatively easy schedule for their final 15 games so it looks like they’ll be able to hold on to the top spot in the West even with the Spurs right at their heels. Much like San Antonio, the philosophy for this team to close out the season will be health over wins. If they slip to the second seed in the process so be it. When they are fully healthy and in sync, they have proven to be the best team in the league.

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