Final NBA Power Rankings
Milwaukee finishes the regular season with 60 wins and the top ranking. The Bucks dominated all season, leading the league in points per game with 118.1 and point differential at +8.9. They finished with the second-best home record in the league, behind Denver by one game, at 33-8. Giannis Antetokounmpo should be the MPV (At least if I had a vote).
This week wrapped up the careers of two of the greatest to ever play the game. Dwyane Wade has been on a farewell tour all season and Dirk Nowitzki announced after Tuesday’s game that he would also be retiring. Both players played their final home game Tuesday, and both finished with a season-high 30 points.
A bunch of NBA records were broken this season unsurprisingly. The Rockets set an NBA record for 3-pointers made in a season with 1,323. There were 13 different players to have a 50-point game this year, James Harden with nine of them. Devin Booker was the only other player with more than one, and he got his in back-to-back games. 127 triple-doubles were gotten, with Russell Westbrook leading the way with 34 of them. 27,955 threes were hit by the league this season, James Harden hitting the most with 378.
I believe that Antetokounmpo should be the MVP, but Harden is probably the best MVP runner-up we’ll ever see. He’s posted the highest point-per-game average since Michael Jordan while also putting up almost eight assists per game. Harden’s pretty much been good for 30 points a night for the past five seasons, which is just incredible. The most interesting stat of all is that Harden almost scored more points this season, 2,818, than he did in his entire career with Oklahoma City, 2,849. But Giannis won more games and plays better defense. Sorry James, maybe next year (but probably not, Giannis is really really really good).
Here’s the final power rankings of the season before the playoffs start. Matchups are Bucks-Pistons, Raptors-Magic, 76ers-Nets and Pacers-Celtics in the East and Warriors-Clippers, Nuggets-Spurs, Blazers-Thunder and Rockets-Jazz in the West. Playoffs start Saturday.
Power Rankings
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Golden State Warriors
- Toronto Raptors
- Houston Rockets
- Utah Jazz
- Denver Nuggets
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Boston Celtics
- Los Angeles Clippers
- San Antonio Spurs
- Indiana Pacers
- Brooklyn Nets
- Orlando Magic
- Detroit Pistons
- Charlotte Hornets
- Miami Heat
- Sacramento Kings
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Los Angeles Lakers
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Atlanta Hawks
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Dallas Mavericks
- Washington Wizards
- Chicago Bulls
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Phoenix Suns
- New York Knicks