The "Ayes" Have It: Week 12 Of The NBA Power Rankings

It’s that time of the week again: time for NBA power rankings. Because of some blatant tanking for what should be called the “2012 Kentucky Wildcat Draft,” I’m just doing away with the bottom 5 for the last 2 weeks of the regular season. Yes, I’m looking at you New Jersey, Cleveland, Portland, Golden State, and Sacramento. I’m not sure you can call what’s going on in Charlotte “tanking” really…the Bobcats might just be this plain bad. And poor Minnesota…once in the thick of the playoff hunt, the Wolves have had a confluence of injuries and other oddities that have contributed to their 11 game losing streak. Although they have the 2nd and 3rd worst records in the league respectively, we might actually have to give some props to the Hornets and Wizards. New Orleans has won 6 of their last 9, and Washington has won 4 of 6. Luckily for them, they are both bad enough that they can afford not to tank and still be smack-dab in the middle of the Anthony Davis/Michael Kidd-Gilchrist sweepstakes. As a matter of fact, this whole tank-a-palooza puts a whole damper on the “rising” and “falling” sub-lists too…let’s table those until next year as well. Let’s move this thing along…to the rankings!

Could this Big 3 make 1 more deep postseason push?

1. San Antonio Spurs (PR=5, 45-16)…In the words of Vince Lombardi, “What the hell is going on out there?!?” The Spurs were 5th last week, and I’ve never had them higher than 3rd, but how can you not reward them for a 5-0 week? That’s 5 wins in 7 days for a team where the 3 main guys have a lot of miles on them. The Spurs’ little secret this year that is just starting to get some mention though: the guys surrounding Duncan, Manu, and TP all have young legs, and these Spurs more closely resemble the old “8 seconds or less” Suns than the plodding teams Coach Popovich has had in recent seasons. I still think they can potentially be beat in a series by any of these teams from the West: OKC, the Lakers, Memphis, and Dallas. However, it’s tough to argue with their system, experience, and the West’s best record overall.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder (PR=1, 45-17)…I can’t think of a time all year where the Thunder haven’t had the West’s best mark, and OKC went a respectable 4-2 over the past 2 weeks, yet here we are. I still think the Thunder have, from top to bottom, the best roster in the league. I still think they have the best offensive player in the world. I think they have the best home crowd in the NBA, and I think it would be their natural progression to make it the Finals this year. And yet there’s something about them that still gives me pause. Is it their youth? Or that they are a very perimeter-oriented team? Mostly I think it’s just the fact that their conference just seems completely wide open this year, but to me they’re still the best bet to come out of the West.

3. Chicago Bulls (PR=2, 47-15)…How big does that win last week in Chicago over the Heat seem now? The Bulls only suffered 1 loss this week (at home to the Wizards of all teams), but if the Heat beat the Bulls tonight in Miami that will shrink Chicago’s 1st place lead to 1.5 games. While it looks unlikely that Derrick Rose will play, the Bulls have proven that they can beat the Heat twice before basically without him, but those games were in Chicago. The Heat are much better at home, and this is a game they will definitely be motivated for: the last 2 losses to the Bulls have to be on Miami’s mind, and they desperately want to avoid Carmelo and the Knicks in Round 1 if at all possible. Meanwhile, the Bulls next 2 games will be against tough teams (Dallas and Indy) who will be fighting for playoff position, while Miami’s remaining schedule (outside of Boston, who could conceivably sit their entire roster out in that game anyway) seems a little easier. Just saying…

4. Miami Heat (PR=3, 44-17)…Basically everything I just said for the Bulls but in reverse. The Heat appear to still think they have a shot at that number 1 seed in the East, but if they drop another game to the Bulls tonight, that thought is toast.. Meanwhile, LeBron continues to look much more like the best player on the planet when Wade is out of the lineup than when he is in it. No one is suggesting that Miami is better without Wade, and most of those games have been against less than amazing teams, but it’s interesting none of the less.

5. Boston Celtics (PR=6, 37-26)…Like the Spurs, the C’s also played 5 games in the last 7 days, but they only went 3-2 in that span. If I were to guess, I would say Boston pretty much puts the rest of the regular season on cruise control though. They can’t really get a better seed than where they are positioned now. They could drop in theory I guess, although I am hardpressed to believe Orlando or Atlanta is going to step up and pass Boston in the standings. They have shown they can beat the best teams, and in this crapshoot of a season I don’t think anyone wants to see them in a series. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rondo, KG, Pierce, and Allen sit out a bunch of games over the course of the next week.

6. LA Lakers (PR=4, 40-23)…The Lakers have been able to maintain their playoff position with Kobe resting a banged-up shin with a steady dose of Andrew Bynum doing what he’s supposed to be doing, which coincidentally doesn’t include spotting up for 3’s. It will be interesting to see when Kobe comes back whether he relies on his bigs a little more, or he just…well, you know. Kobe or no Kobe, the Spurs kind of showed the formula for beating the Lakers a few nights ago: push the ball up.

7. LA Clippers (PR=Not Ranked, 39-23)…Am I crazy for thinking the Clips look very dangerous right now? They’ve won 5 in a row, and are only a half game behind the Lakers for the Pacific Division lead. They are deeply flawed, and yet they have 1 of the 5 or 10 best players in the league (Chris Paul). There’s no reason to think that Mo Williams and Nick Young will continue to shoot as well as they have, but if they do, their simple pick and roll (and everyone else spot up) offense is pretty tough to handle. They also seem to play the best teams very well. I’m not sure how far they can really go, but I’m definitely intrigued.

8. Memphis Grizzlies (PR=Not Ranked, 37-25)…I have the Grizzlies 8th out of the 8 teams I’m going to list here, but make no mistake about it: none of the top 7 want to see Memphis in a series. Their “grindhouse” style of play means no fun for anyone on the other team. Just ask the Spurs team that was upset by the Griz last year. Because of that and the fact that Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay are both actually playing, don’t be surprised to hear the Grizzlies mentioned a lot next week as a trendy darkhorse playoff pick.

Trick or treat, motherf*****.