NBA Power Rankings: Here comes the trade deadline

The trade deadline is Thursday, and teams are finalizing their rosters for a postseason run or a top-five lottery pick run. There were a couple triple-doubles this week, and a couple buzzer beaters — mix it all together and the league continues to be a great source of entertainment.

The big game on Sunday for the NBA was the Boston Celtics and the Portland Trail Blazers, with Al Horford knocking in a buzzer beater to help Boston at least win one important game this weekend. The Pelicans responded to the DeMarcus Cousins injury by trading for Nikola Mirotic, and the Grizzlies have benched Tyreke Evans to prevent him from suffering an injury before Thursday.

Meanwhile in Cleveland, the Cavaliers can’t stop getting blown out on national television, and it sounds like LeBron James is buckling his seatbelt on a Viking funeral pyre for his career in burgundy and gold. Let’s kick off these rankings with the worst team in the league.

The Magic were able to be a part of history on Monday, giving up the first 60 point triple-double in NBA history to James Harden. The Magic stayed fairly close to the Rockets, taking advantage of the absence of Chris Paul, Trevor Ariza, and Eric Gordon, who left the game early with back spasms. The game was tied with a few minutes remaining, but Mario Hezonja fouled Harden on a 3-point shot and that was too much offense for Orlando to overcome.

Orlando returned home for their next game, and were able to pull out a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers behind a 43-point outburst in the third quarter. The Magic knocked down nine 3-point shots in the third quarter, and made 18 of their 32 3-point attempts overall, finding a groove against the lethargic Lakers defense. The big third quarter drained whatever energy the Lakers had left at that point, and they rolled to a 127-105 win. The good vibes didn’t carry over for their final game of the week, and they got thumped by the Wizards on their home court, 115-98. Their defense looked chaotic all evening, and the Wizards finished with 35 assists on 46 made field goals, finding open shots trip after trip down the court.