NBA Power Rankings – Week 20

The NBA’s top teams struggled this week as eight of the last week’s top 10 teams lost two games while five teams in the mid-range all went undefeated. The Bucks keep the top spot even with a loss to Phoenix to start their week but finished with wins over Indiana and Charlotte before losing to the Spurs on the road. Houston is now the league’s hottest team, riding an eight-game win-streak and also moving up to third in the rankings, maybe getting higher next week if the Bucks and Warriors continue this week’s mediocrity.

Last week’s biggest movers were the Boston Celtics (up five), Brooklyn Nets (up three) and New Orleans Pelicans (down four). The Celtics are red-hot lately, almost to the level that Houston is at. Boston has the talent to make a deep playoff run and seems to be getting ready for that now. Brooklyn has up and down weeks and I can’t seem to place where they actually are, causing them to move up or down several spots each week depending on if they went undefeated in a week or lost every game. New Orleans moved down a bunch because they stink. I ranked them too high last week (sorry readers, just deal with me) but realized they are actually that good.

Golden State continues to be good at scoring the ball but terrible at defending it. The Warriors are just 17^th in defensive rating since the All-Star break and 20^th in net rating in that time period. The team will likely turn it on in the playoffs, but it’s 100 percent turned off right now.

The battle of the tanks happened last week! Phoenix took on New York for the Zion Williamson sweepstakes, and the Knicks came out on top (or bottom?). New York stinks and Phoenix stinks slightly less than the Knicks do is all that you can take from this matchup, other than gouging your eyes out at the terrible basketball being played.

Last week was huge for LeBron James, as he passed Michael Jordan for fourth all-time in NBA scoring with over 32,000 points. James team also fell basically out of playoff contention, and it’s been reported that he will have a minutes restriction the rest of the season and likely not play in back-to-backs anymore. The Lakers also found out Brandon Ingram has deep vein thrombosis, basically a blood clot in his arm/shoulder, that will end his season and Lonzo Ball got ruled out for the season as well with an ankle injury. So much for Magic Johnson’s playoff plans this season.

Gordon Hayward has been phenomenal for the Celtics this week. Hayward put up 30 points against the Warriors and finished the week averaging 19 points per game. It’s been the best stretch of his Celtics career, and Boston is starting to come alive, winning all three of its games last week over Golden State, Sacramento and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Donovan Mitchell is still one of the best young players in the league, and recently became the fastest Jazz-man to reach 3,000 points. Mitchell did it in 139 games, 11 less than the former leader Darrell Griffith. LeBron James accomplished the feat in 133 games, to give it some perspective.

Trae Young is making the Rookie of the Year award look less and less like its going to Luka Doncic with his performances recently. Young is averaging 23.4 points and 8.7 assists per game over his past 15 games. Young is second in points scored by rookies, behind Doncic, but leads rookies in assists, with almost 200 more than Doncic. Maybe we should just give out co-Rookie of the Year this season because both players are amazing.

Next week’s biggest games are Oklahoma City at Utah on Monday, Golden State at Houston on Wednesday, Golden State at Oklahoma City on Saturday and Philadelphia at Milwaukee on Sunday.

Power Rankings

1. Milwaukee Bucks 48-15 SAME
2. Golden State Warriors 45-21 SAME
3. Houston Rockets 41-25 UP 1
4. Toronto Raptors 48-19 DOWN 1
5. Denver Nuggets 43-22 SAME
6. Philadelphia 76ers 42-25 SAME
7. Oklahoma City Thunder 40-26 UP 1
8. Boston Celtics 41-26 UP 5
9. San Antonio Spurs 38-29 UP 2
10. Utah Jazz 37-28 DOWN 3
11. Portland Trail Blazers 40-26 DOWN 2
12. Indiana Pacers 42-25 DOWN 2
13. Brooklyn Nets 35-33 UP 3
14. Los Angeles Clippers 38-29 DOWN 2
15. Detroit Pistons 34-31 DOWN 1
16. Miami Heat 31-35 UP 2
17. Orlando Magic 31-37 DOWN 2
18. Sacramento Kings 33-32 UP 1
19. Minnesota Timberwolves 32-35 UP 2
20. Los Angeles Lakers 30-36 SAME
21. New Orleans Pelicans 30-39 DOWN 4
22. Memphis Grizzlies 28-40 UP 2
23. Charlotte Hornets 30-36 DOWN 1
24. Washington Wizards 27-39 UP 1
25. Dallas Mavericks 27-39 DOWN 2
26. Atlanta Hawks 23-45 SAME
27. Phoenix Suns 16-52 UP 2
28. Chicago Bulls 19-49 DOWN 1
29. Cleveland Cavaliers 16-50 DOWN 1
30. New York Knicks 13-54 SAME