NBA Power Rankings V3: Brooklyn Moves Into Second

So if you were one of those people who thought the Nets were sacrificing too much when they acquired James Harden, and that the lack of depth and potential defensive issues would hurt Brooklyn, how are you feeling now?

I was one of those who didn’t love the idea of the Nets giving up so much to get the 2018 NBA MVP, but it’s worked out beautifully for Brooklyn—so far—since they’ve been playing like juggernauts the past two weeks and haven’t even had the services of Kevin Durant. The Nets are an elite team, a nightmare on offense and a capable defensive squad, and took a noticeable leap near the top of our latest rankings while the middle remains a jumbled mess and the Rockets are a disaster.

Quick note regarding these power rankings: If you’re unfamiliar with net rating, know that it’s a team’s average point differential, or more specifically the difference between a team’s offensive rating per 100 possessions compared to its defensive rating per 100 possessions. We’re featuring it because NBA champions almost always end up owning a top 5 net rating—team’s that barely score more points than they allow usually do not end up having deep playoff runs. So it’s kind of noteworthy/important.

We’ll be updating the rankings every other week, so there are no massive knee jerk reactions to a few bad games. Take a break from scouting NBA Top Shot for a minute to find out where we stand six days before Sunday’s All-Star showcase in Atlanta.

Minnesota remains a mess—just 1-9 over their last 10, currently on an eight-game losing streak. Arguably the league’s most dysfunctional franchise reached new heights when it bizarrely hired Chris Finch off the Raptors bench to be its new head coach last week.

Eleven. Straight. Losses. Get PJ Tucker to a contender STAT.

Just 1-6 over their last seven games, the Pistons appear destined to occupy the Eastern Conference basement all season long.

Beating up the Knicks and Warriors in back-to-back games might end up being the highlight of Orlando’s season. At least Magic fans get to see Nikola Vucevic, arguably the most underrated big man in the NBA, play in the All-Star Game.

Just when we were ready to bury the Cavaliers as the East’s worst team—a recent 10-game losing streak made them more than deserving—Cleveland ended last week winning three in a row, punctuated by an overtime victory over the Sixers in Philly. It was Cleveland’s first road win since a Jan. 7 victory in Memphis.

Nice two-game winning streak the Thunder put together last week, knocking off the Spurs and Hawks. Other than that, nothing much to see here.

Two weeks ago, the Kings were 12-14 when we published our previous set of power rankings. Sacramento has managed to win one game since. They should’ve beat the Hornets Sunday night at home, but were outscored 12-3 by Charlotte during the final minute. Maybe we should’ve dropped ‘em lower. A rare positive note: Buddy Hield became the fastest player in NBA history to hit 1,000 3-pointers. He did it in 350 games. It took Steph Curry 369 to own the previous record.

Big jump for the Wizards who got nice wins over the Lakers and Nuggets on their recent Western Conference road trip. It’s fun to watch Bradley Beal light up opposing teams. The problem is it rarely helps the Wizards win games.

New Orleans is a putrid 3-7 over its last 10, wasting away incredible performances from Zion Williamson who averaged 31.8 PPG during that stretch. It’s awesome how Williamson has taken his game to a new level in Year 2—sure, he could be a better rebounder (7.1 RPG). On the other hand, it’s been disappointing watching the Pelicans drop too many close games to good teams (7-8 in clutch games). We’ll chalk it up to growing pains.

This was supposed to be a playoff contender? Just 3-7 over their last 10 games, Atlanta can’t stop sputtering—and probably won’t. Have you seen their second half schedule? That eight-game Western Conference road trip starting March 20 in Los Angeles features six games against teams that would qualify for the playoffs right now. That should finish off the Hawks.

Chicago is 7-4 over its last 11 and finds itself in the 8th in the East. Not bad for a Bulls squad few thought was capable of playing like a playoff team. The Bulls actually coughed up a fourth quarter lead against Phoenix last week. Beat the red-hot Suns and we may have moved Chicago up a few more slots.

The Hornets are really banged up right now, which ain’t ideal considering they’re in the middle of a six-game road trip out West. But that was a helluva win in Sacramento coming from down eight in the final minute to eek out a win.

After losing to the Suns and Mavericks, then splitting a pair with the Clippers before smoking the Rockets Sunday by 49 points, the Grizzlies are treading water. Currently 10th in the West, the Grizzlies are happy to have the services of Justise Winslow again after he went for 20 against Houston in just his fourth game back from a year-plus absence.

Indianapolis hit a rough patch. Four losses in over its last five with a couple of postponements in Texas following that horrible winter storm. The Pacers are just 3-7 over their last 10 and have fallen precipitously in the standings (currently 9th in the East).

The Raptors are playing much better compared to a few weeks ago. But can they keep up the improved play? We ask that question because the Raptors, sitting at .500 and 4th in the East, are currently dealing with a bunch of COVID-related absences and will play 36 games over 67 days when the second half of the season starts. But the biggest question is whether the Raptors trade Kyle Lowry before the deadline.

Winners of seven of their last nine games, the Knicks are above .500 in March for the first time in basically forever. Plus they have an All-Star in Julius Randle and own a better record than the Heat, Celtics, Raptors, and Pacers. Predictably, New Yorkers are hyped.

Great win against Brooklyn Saturday that ended the Nets’ eight-game winning streak. James Harden gave Luka Doncic some serious praise after the game and it’s deserved. Doncic is finally playing like an MVP candidate and finds himself in top 10 in the NBA in PPG, APG, PER, BPM, and VORP.

Boston hasn’t exactly been clutch this season—just 9-13 in those situations—and the struggles continued for the Celtics the past two weeks, posting a 4-6 record and sliding further down in the East standings. But they secured a tough win against the Wizards Sunday, now own a two-game winning streak, and have two All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. We’ll continue to show them respect because the coach and the roster are much better than their record.

Six-straight wins for Miami has it sporting a .500 record for the first time this season. The Heat hasn’t ripped of that many wins in a row since a seven-game winning streak during the 2017-18 regular-season. Bam Adebayo has been a monster, recording a double-double over his last six games.

The Spurs are sitting comfortably in 5th place in the West right now. You could basically jumble the order of the next four teams in the rankings and it wouldn’t really matter since they’re all so close in the standings and full of flaws that leave them a level or two below the conference’s elite teams. As for San Antonio, they’ve been hit really hard by the league’s safety protocols—Rudy Gay, Keldon Johnson, Derrick White, Devin Vassell, and Quinndary Weatherspoon missed a sixth-straight game Saturday, a win over the Pelicans. Condolences to DeMar DeRozan on the loss of his father in February. DeRozan returned to the court against New Orleans after missing some time and played superbly (32 points, 11 assists, 1 turnover in 38 minutes).

Draymond Green has more technical fouls this (8) than the Wolves have wins (7). The Lakers smacked around the Warriors in Staples Center Sunday to end Golden State’s first three-game winning streak of the season. The Warriors aren’t serious contenders in the West, but they look like a playoff team as long as Green, who hurt his ankle against the Lakers, continues to ball.

The end of that Wizards game just about sums up the frustrating season the Nuggets have had so far. They should be better than their mediocre record, currently good enough for 7th in the West. But they just can’t string together enough wins to make you think they’ve turned some kind of corner. Nor can they avoid losing to teams they should pummel like Washington (twice in six games).

Four straight losses (Wizards, Suns, Nuggets, and Lakers) would normally mean dropping a team out of the top 10, but I still think the Blazers have a better squad than the Spurs, Nuggets, and Warriors. And for the one millionth time, let us remind everyone that they’re doing this without CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. The Blazers will be a pest in the Western Conference playoffs.

Just because it sports the top record in the East doesn’t mean Philly is the best team in the conference. Just 5-5 over their last 10—they can thank a tough Western Conference road swing for that—the Sixers just don’t scare you the way Brooklyn does for a whole lotta obvious reasons. While we can debate if the Sixers are truly an elite team, there’s no debating what level Joel Embiid’s been playing at this season:

Milwaukee had its best win of the season Sunday taking care of the Clippers thanks to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s play down the stretch—36, 14, and 5 with 4 blocks, the fourth straight game he’s scored 35 points or more. If you haven’t been paying attention, the back-to-back MVP has been playing up to his lofty standards over recent weeks as the Bucks have followed a five-game losing streak with a five-game winning streak.

LA’s been alternating wins and losses for the past seven games. Despite that we haven’t seen any signs to make us think the Clippers shouldn’t continue to be considered among the elite. They’re tops in 3-point shooting (42.0 percent), second in true shooting percentage (60.6 percent), and third in offensive rating (117.1 per 100 possessions).

The Suns have the best record in the NBA since the end of the January—a scintillating 14-3—while sporting league’s second-best net rating over its last 15 games (9.8 compared to the Jazz’s 11.2). And for first time in 11 seasons, Phoenix has two All-Stars in Devin Booker and Chris Paul. Life is good in the Valley of the Sun.

Yeah, the defending champs suffered a four-game losing streak, but we can’t react too crazily since Los Angeles was without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder for those games that included heavyweight matchups with the Nets, Jazz, and Heat. LeBron and co. just beat Portland and blew out Golden State Sunday to close out the week. They’re fine.

We could make a case for the Nets being the NBA’s best team as they were ripping off eight-straight wins, seven of which came without Kevin Durant who will be sidelined until after the All-Star break. Chris Webber told us on The Complex Sports Podcast last week that the Nets are the league’s top team. But Saturday’s loss to the Mavericks—no Kyrie Irving in the lineup—secured it for you know who. Unlike the Celtics, the Nets are coming up big when the games are close. Brooklyn has played the second-most clutch games (19) in the league and has the most clutch wins (12).

Owner of the best record, home record (15-2), away record (12-5, same as the Clippers), and with victories in eight of their last 10 games how can the Jazz not retain our top spot? Utah has lost consecutive games once this season and is an impressive 5-1 on the second night of a back-to-back. Great (regular-season) teams are resilient and never string losses together. Utah hits the road for four of its next five, including a showdown Wednesday with the Sixers in Philadelphia.