The New York Knicks are NBA Cup champions, but that still wasn't enough for them to break into the top-five in our latest NBA Power Rankings. They're rolling, and they beat the Spurs, but San Antonio is ranked ahead of them by virtue of the most impressive win of any team in the top 10 — their 111-109 victory over the Thunder this weekend.
Several other teams in the East made big moves up this week — the Magic jumped three spots, and the Celtics jumped six. But overall, the Knicks notwithstanding, the cream of the crop is still playing in the Western Conference.
NBA Power Rankings, Week 8
TEAM | RECORD | LAST WEEK |
|---|---|---|
1. Oklahoma City Thunder | 24-2 | 1 |
2. San Antonio Spurs | 18-7 | 6 |
3. Houston Rockets | 16-7 | 2 |
4. Denver Nuggets | 19-6 | 4 |
5. Detroit Pistons | 21-5 | 3 |
6. New York Knicks | 18-7 | 7 |
7. Orlando Magic | 15-11 | 10 |
8. Boston Celtics | 15-11 | 14 |
9. Minnesota Timberwolves | 17-9 | 11 |
10. Los Angeles Lakers | 18-7 | 5 |
11. Miami Heat | 14-12 | 8 |
12. Toronto Raptors | 16-11 | 9 |
13. Cleveland Cavaliers | 15-12 | 13 |
14. Golden State Warriors | 13-14 | 16 |
15. Atlanta Hawks | 15-12 | 12 |
16. Phoenix Suns | 14-12 | 15 |
17. Philadelphia 76ers | 14-11 | 17 |
18. Memphis Grizzlies | 12-14 | 21 |
19. Portland Trail Blazers | 10-16 | 20 |
20. Milwaukee Bucks | 11-16 | 18 |
21. Chicago Bulls | 10-15 | 19 |
22. Dallas Mavericks | 10-17 | 24 |
23. Utah Jazz | 10-15 | 23 |
24. Charlotte Hornets | 8-18 | 22 |
25. Indiana Pacers | 6-20 | 26 |
26. Brooklyn Nets | 7-18 | 28 |
27. Los Angeles Clippers | 6-20 | 25 |
28. New Orleans Pelicans | 5-22 | 29 |
29. Sacramento Kings | 6-20 | 27 |
30. Washington Wizards | 4-20 | 30 |
The West is ready to dominate the East ... I think
Right now, the top four in our power rankings are all Western Conference teams, ranked ahead of Eastern Conference teams like the Knicks and Pistons, despite similar records. It can be hard to objectively measure the difference in competition level between the conferences this early in the season, but it's not just that I'm an East-hater.
So far, the top six seeds in the West (OKC, SAS, HOU, DEN, LAL, MIN) have played 15 games against the top six in the East (DET, NYK, TOR, ORL, BOS, PHI). And they're 11-4 in those games, including the Spurs' loss to the Knicks in the NBA Cup Finals. Before the end of the season, we'll have 72 matchups between the top two teams in each conference so we're still looking at a very small sample. But right now, the best teams in the west look to be a cut above.
The Miami Heat's isolation machine
The Miami Heat are an entirely different team on offense this season, an evolution Michael Pina broke down at The Ringer at the beginning of this month:
"Spoelstra tossed his playbook (and, in a sense, his ego) to the side and instituted an offense that’s all gas and no breaks, with few regular opportunities to call out instructions and put his fingerprint on the action. They’ve jumped from 21st in fast-break points all the way to second. It’s an identity that better fits his superstar-less roster and was introduced on the heels of an epic shellacking against the Cavaliers in last year’s playoffs."
Part of that freedom to attack means a ton of isolations run by players who, traditionally, haven't dominated in that setting. Tyler Herro (in the four games since he returned to the lineup), Norman Powell and Davion Mitchell all rank in the top-35 in isolation possessions per game, ahead of players like LeBron James, Jimmy Butler and Cade Cunningham. And they rank first, third and fifth in points per possession on isolations among all players who average at least two possessions per game.
That's a huge shift, for Powell and Mitchell in particular. Powell used just 75 possessions on isolations all of last season, totaling 61 points — 0.81 points per possession). So far this season, he's already scored 53 points on 44 isolation possessions — 1.12 points per possession. Mitchell is the same story — 69 points, 59 possessions, 1.17 PPP this year, up from 72 points, 82 possessions, 0.88 PPP. Herro, albeit in a small sample, has gone from roughly league average last year to elite this year.
It remains to be seen how much of this is sustainable and how well the formula might work in a potential playoff series, against better defenses with more time to game plan. But for right now, the Heat are playing free and absolutely rolling.
NBA Cup bonuses
The Knicks won the NBA Cup over the Spurs on Tuesday night, taking a home a title of questionable value and a $500,000 in bonus money for each player. Jalen Brunson has already talked about sharing some of it with the Knicks training staff, but some of his teammates may, rightfully, want to keep it. Brunson will make just over $39 million this year, meaning that bonus is just 1.3 percent of his salary. But young players like Ariel Hukporti, Mo Diawara and Tyler Kolek each make under $2.2 million this season, which means they just earned a bonus of about 25 percent.
Players on the Spurs receive a $200,000 payout for making the final, which will be a bonus of between 9 and 7 percent for players like Bismack Biyombo, Jordan McLaughlin, Lindy Waters and Julian Champagnie.