The top of our latest NBA Power Rankings are heavy on the Eastern Conference, thanks to the resurgent Boston Celtics.
If you had to pick one low point for the Bulls this week, where would you go? Firing Fred Hoiberg? Losing by 56 points? A player-led mutiny and Jim Boylen’s nonsensical explanation for what happened? The Sacramento Kings having a laugh at their expense? I’d like to say the Bulls have hit rock bottom but…well…I’m not sure how to finish this sentence.
The Suns lost all four games they played this week, by a total of 60 points. But, hey, at least their players aren’t working on forming a “leadership committee” to handle interactions with their coach.
In a much-needed positive sign, Frank Ntilikina has followed three DNPs with a pair of really strong games. On Saturday, he played 15 minutes, totaling seven points and three assists, making half his shots from the field. He followed with an 18-point outing on Sunday, hitting 4-of-4 on 3s. Ntilikina is still a big part of the Knicks hypothetical future ceiling so seeing him break through is great news.
Hey, at least Dellavedova is back?
John Collins had another monster week, averaging 28.0 points, 13 rebounds and 2.5 assists in their two games. He and Trae Young are still working on their chemistry but the pieces are continuing to look impressive in isolation in Atlanta.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Spurs split their two games this week but their point differential has continued to slide towards the bottom of the league. Even while racking up two wins, they still allowed 116.1 points per 100 possessions in their four games this week, a thoroughly un-Spursian number.
What the Magic are doing is not a trick, Michael, it’s an illusion.
The Nets had a nice week, losing a very close game to the Thunder before picking up wins over the Raptors and Knicks. However, in the grand scheme, they’re really just treading water and it might be time for them to look for some ways to shake things up.
We’re well past the point of considering the Rockets a championship contender waiting for a breakthrough. Chris Paul has regressed, the supporting cast is worse and they just aren’t very good right now.
As De’Aaron Fox goes, so go the Kings. Fox was electric this week, averaging 22.3 points, 7.8 assists and 2.3 steals per game, shooting 56.1 percent from the field and 60 percent on 3s. The Kings went 3-1.
The Miami Heat are going nowhere fast and it seems like it might be time for them to explore diving headfirst into the trade market in search of a rebuild. While the roster isn’t working as constructed they have plenty of useful pieces that could be cannibalized by better teams.
This was a disastrous week for the Pistons, dropping games against the Bucks, Pelicans and 76ers (twice). This should only serve to emphasize how delicate things are for the Pistons and how susceptible they are to wild swings because their outside shooting is so inconsistent.
The Timberwolves have found their footing since the trade but there is still a ways to go for them to cement themselves as a playoff team. If it wasn’t for Robert Covington’s defense, they’d really be in a tough spot.
When a flaming hot first quarter ejection by Rudy Gobert was the most interesting moment of the week, things probably aren’t going well. The Jazz are in danger of becoming the Kenny G of basketball.
The Mavericks have continued their climb in the standings, with Luka Doncic establishing himself as one of the most exciting NBA rookies in recent memory. Of all the pieces of Doncic’s rookie season that have impressed, performance in close games has to be near the top. In 33 clutch minutes this season, Doncic has racked up 40 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and just 2 turnovers, shooting 63.6 percent from the field and nailing 3-of-7 3-pointers.
Winning close games has been huge for the Mavericks surge and you can see how it’s building confidence for a team that struggled mightily to find a collective rhythm last season. Dorian Finney-Smith, Harrison Barnes and Wesley Matthews are all hitting 39 percent or better on 3-pointers, with Doncic’s explosion helping everyone settle and thrive in more constrained offensive roles.
What do the Pelicans do? Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and Julius Randle were all exceptional this week, each averaging better than 20 points per game in their four games this week, and with only Davis shooting under 50 percent from the field. In the 91 minutes they were on the floor together, New Orleans outscored their opponents by 22 points. In the 101 minutes they weren’t in the game together, the Pelicans were outscored by five.
For all the effort they’ve put into establishing depth, the Pelicans still have precious little to show for it. They get absolutely destroyed anytime Davis and Holiday aren’t in the game and they just can’t seem to build any sort of consistent momentum. Things may look better when they get to the playoffs and can feel better about shortening their rotation but even getting there will be a fight.
If you saw Joakim Noah back in the NBA, congratulations, you’re a visionary. If you saw him on the Grizzlies and actually making a positive impact, well then you may be a prophet. Noah played in all four of the Grizzlies games this week — wins over the Pelicans and Clippers, losses to the Lakers and Nuggets — and he’s averaging 14.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals, 2.1 blocks per 36 minutes. Memphis was still mostly outscored when he was on the floor but he has the look of a solid contributor as he continues to get his sea legs.
Rough weeks for Mike Conley Jr., Marc Gasol and Jaren Jackson Jr. really impacted the Grizzlies offense. They are never going to be among the league’s elite offenses but when they can’t score somewhat efficiently even their elite defense can’t hold their heads above water.
The 76ers have kept winning but the margins are tightening and the fact that Joel Embiid has expressed frustration with changes to his role since the Jimmy Butler trade isn’t encouraging, particularly when you consider how things ended for Butler in Minnesota and how much his poor relationship with Karl-Anthony Towns seemed to feature.
Embiid highlighted the amount of time he was spending on the perimeter as his biggest frustration, but he’s actually averaging more post touches since the trade, 8.8 per game compared to 7.1. That’s obviously just one data point, but this may be more a matter of feel and perception than a functional difference. If Embiid can manage this change, it may turn out to be a better scenario for both him and the team.
The Trail Blazers went through a dramatic slide, losing eight of 11 games, before bouncing back wtih two consecutive wins to end this week, over Phoenix and Minnesota. Playing against the Suns can cure a lot of what’s ailing a struggling team but, as usual, it was Damian Lillard leading the charge to help the Blazers get right.
In his three games this week (those two wins and a nine-point loss to the Mavericks), Lillard averaged 28.7 points, 7.3 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game, shooting 40.9 percent from the field. He continues to be Portland’s ace of trump, the one player on the roster with the ability to catch fire and dig them out of any hole. Getting where they need to go in the playoffs is going to take him being at his best, and the depth playing as well as they did early in the season.
I just can’t quit the Charlotte Hornets. Yes, they’re floating at .500. Yes, they can look downright awful when shots aren’t going down for Kemba Walker. But they still have a statistical profile that suggests they can be much more than their record shows. Charlotte has the eighth-best point differential in the league, better than teams like the Pelicans, Blazers and Lakers. Their offensive efficiency has been elite, top-five in the league, and their defense is hovering just below the league average.
I also can’t quite the Hornets because I believe in Malik Monk. Shots still aren’t going down for him but he’s a rookie with immense offensive potential and at some point, I believe, that jumper is going to start hitting. There may be a hard ceiling for them on the defensive side of the ball but their offense can be even better than it has been and at some point, they’ll balance out.
This was another week of LeBron James proving just how little his ceiling has been lowered by age. Through four games, and three Laker wins, he averaged 31.3 points, 9.5 assists and 7.5 rebounds, shooting 52.8 percent from the field and 40 percent from the line. He also benefited from strong performances by the surrounding cast with Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope chipping in 31-of-80 3-point shooting (38.8 percent).
The turnaround of the Lakers has slipped under the radar to some degree (this is their first week in the top 10 of these power rankings) because there is still so much that seems to be going wrong. Brandon Ingram is out with a sprained ankle and neither he nor Lonzo Ball has taken the leap that one might have expected from playing alongside LeBron. You can take it as either heartening or discouraging that this team still isn’t playing as well as it could.
The Clippers have hit a bit of a rough patch, dropping two games this week and losing three of their last five, with the only two wins coming over the Pelicans and Suns by a combined seven points. The sterling offense, which has sustained them for most of the year, has really been grinding its gear, averaging just 98.4 points per 100 possessions this week.
Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari still put up impressive point totals but both players weren’t quite as sharp shooting the ball and Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley and Avery Bradley were a combined 7-of-25 on 3-pointers. This is a reminder that, as well as their offense has played, there is not a of margin for error. It has been fueled by the rise of Montrezl Harrell, Harris smashing his career-best marks and strong shooting from supporting scorers like Gallinari. If one of the legs of that stool slips, the whole thing could fall apart.
The Pacers have, somewhat remarkable, seemed to find their footing without Victor Oladipo. It wasn’t necessarily a murderer’s row but wins over Chicago, Orlando, Sacramento and Washington still make for a 4-0 week. Altogether, the Pacers are now 7-4 in the 11 games that Oladipo has been out of the lineup. With their star scorer essentially out indefinitely, every win the Pacers can pick up in the interim will be enormously helpful for their playoff chances.
With Oladipo out, Bojan Bogdanovic has been sensational, averaging 19.4 points per game, shooting 53.1 percent from the field and 44.9 percent on 3-pointers. The offense has also settled into a nice balance with four additional players — Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, Thad Young and Doug McDermott averaging double-figures while shooting at least 50 percent from the field. This may not be what the Pacers expected but it seems to be working for now.
Injuries are mounting for the Nuggets and this next stretch is going to be hugely important for them. Will Barton is still out, Isaiah Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. haven’t played yet, Gary Harris is still out of the lineup and Paul Millsap will miss the next few weeks as he recovers from a broken toe. The last injury is particularly troublesome given how important Millsap has been to the Nuggets.
On-off splits can be misleading but they intimate that no one has had as big an impact on the Nuggets performance this season as Millsap has. In the two games he’s been out of the starting lineup, the Nuggets have tried Trey Lyles and Mason Plumlee in his place. The Plumlee-Jokic pairing has been intriguingly good in small samples so far this season but it might not be enough to keep the Nuggets near the top of the West while Millsap recovers.
Thank goodness for Paul George. He and Russell Westbrook appear to have established a new on-court dynamic this season and George is thriving with more offensive responsibility. This week, George averaged 32.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.7 steals, shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 46.4 percent on 3-pointers. At this point, Basketball-Reference’s MVP-tracker gives George better MVP odds this season than Westbrook.
While George is leading the offense, it’s the team’s defense that is really cementing themselves among the league’s elite. Stronger perimeter defense has helped Steven Adams control the middle of the floor and even without Andre Roberson, perhaps their best perimeter defender, they have been incredible. The Thunder are allowing just 101.6 points per 100 possessions, the best mark in the league and that number drops to just 95.2 when their starting lineup — Westbrook, Terrance Ferguson, George, Jerami Grant and Adams — is in the game.
The return of Stephen Curry has cured a lot of what was ailing the Golden State Warriors. He’s been back in the lineup for five games and the Warriors have won the last four by a combined 59 points. Curry, for his part, is averaging 31.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, shooting 51.0 percent from the field, 51.8 percent on 3s and 96.6 percent from the free throw line.
Curry’s offensive gravity is enormous and his presence is already paying huge dividends for the Warriors shooters. Over the last five games, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Jonas Jerebko, Alfonzo McKinnie, Andre Iguodala and Quinn Cook are all shooting better than 36 percent on 3s. The Warriors have plenty of time to keep building this rhythm and there’s no reason to think they won’t once again be the prohibitive favorites by the time the playoffs start.
The Celtics are back in a big way. They’re riding a six-game win streak with five of those wins coming by double-digits. This hot streak has coincided with a fairly large soft spot in their schedule (the six wins are against New Orleans, Cleveland, Minnesota, New York, Chicago and New Orleans again) but for a team that was struggling, the value of simply generating some momentum and making up ground in the standings cannot be discounted.
The most important improvement for Boston over this stretch has been getting their offense right. During this win streak, all six of the lineups that have played at least 10 minutes together averaged at least 121.4 points per 100 possessions. The new starting lineup — Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Marcus Morris, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford — played 48 minutes together, scoring 121.8 points per 100. If they can carry that sort of production over once the schedule toughens up, they should be right back in the mix at the top of the East.
The Raptors let several huge opportunities slip through their fingers this week, dropping games against both the Bucks and Nets. On top of their loss to the Nuggets to end last week, they have now dropped three of their last four games. Every team, even the very best, will go through small rough patches like this one over the course of a season, but dropping winnable games against some of the other top teams in the league keep them from separating themselves.
Kawhi Leonard has continued to play MVP-level basketball but Kyle Lowry struggled this week and some of the other supporting players missed shots they normally make. Because of their playoff failures in the past and because Leonard’s impending free agency is looming make them seem a bit more fragile than a team this good otherwise would. However, all the pieces are still there and next week may just wipe it all away.
After a week having slid back to No. 2 in these rankings, the Bucks are back on top. They went 3-1 this week, dropping an understandable game to the Warriors but notching wins against the Pistons, Cavaliers and, most importantly, the Toronto Raptors. Of Milwaukee’s eight losses this season, just three have come against the Eastern Conference. The Bucks are currently 7-2 against the other teams currently in position to make the playoffs in the East and have taken both of their games against Toronto.
It feels like the Bucks will still have a lot to prove over the rest of this season and into the playoffs but they are currently the only team in the NBA ranked in the top five in efficiency on both offense and defense. Giannis Antetokounmpo is looking like the MVP favorite George Hill was a fantastic pick-up to help them build depth and it’s hard to see many weaknesses in what they’ve built so far.