NBA Power Rankings: Lakers reclaim top spot; Warriors, Mavericks make huge jump; 76ers drop amid COVID fallout - CBSSports.com
NBA Power Rankings: Lakers reclaim top spot; Warriors, Mavericks make huge jump; 76ers drop amid COVID fallout
It's no secret we're in for a strange season. The NBA cooked to avoid any serious COVID-related catastrophes over the apt two weeks, but things got extremely messy over the last some days with players being held out due to certain tests and contact tracing protocols. Sunday's game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat was postponed, with teams like the Mavs and 76ers also cooked to play short-handed during the week.
All of this led to an very inconsistent week in terms of performance. It seems like the greatest of the league is now somewhere between 4-6 and 6-4, executive for a jumbled Power Rankings. Despite a loss, the Lakers reclaim the top spot from the 76ers, who suffered a bad loss to the Brooklyn Nets deprived of Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving before Philly's roster was gutted. The Celtics have been on fire, and had they played on Sunday and won, they noteworthy have moved to No. 1.
Making huge leaps this week are the Golden Conditions Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, when the Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings took a precipitous fall. We don't know what the future holds for the NBA, but it's safe to say there's moving to be a lot more movement in the rankings than in final seasons.
*Keep in mind that our Power Rankings are based on the team's performance the final week, not the entire season.
Biggest Movers
|
Rk |
Teams |
Chg |
Rcrd |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakers | The Lakers picked up narrow wins over the Grizzlies and Bulls this week, when a loss to the Spurs on Thursday prompted Anthony Davis to publicly magistrates the team's defensive effort. They capped things off with an emphatic victory over the Rockets in Houston, as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope rejoined the fray when missing four games with an ankle injury. Davis and LeBron James cease to do the heavy lifting offensively as Frank Vogel figures out how all of his new pieces will fit. | 1 | 8-3 |
| 2 | Celtics | It was a whirlwind week for the Celtics, who beat the Raptors and Heat beforehand losing half their team to COVID-19 protocols. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown cooked to power the depleted roster to victory over the Wizards beforehand Sunday's game against the Heat was postponed. It's unclear how long Boston will have to wait for a full roster to spinal, but they have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA, winning six of their last seven games. | 4 | 7-3 |
| 3 | Suns | Phoenix blew a 23-point lead in Friday's overtime loss to the Pistons, but picked up wins over the Raptors and Pacers this week to Have one of the best records in the Western Conference. Devin Booker averaged 24 points for the week, when Mikal Bridges continued his hot start to the season by hitting 47 percent of his 3-pointers, counting 6-of-8 en route to a career-high 34 points in Saturday's win over the Pacers. | 1 | 7-4 |
| 4 | Bucks | The Bucks got back on the winning track this week, beating the Pistons twice and the Cavs on Saturday. Their home loss to the Jazz was a bit about, however, as they allowed 131 points when Utah hit a franchise-record 25 3-pointers. The Bucks security has never been afraid to allow 3-point shots, but the Jazz attempted 30 "wide open" 3s (closest defender six or more feet away) according to NBA.com, which is not a recipe for Milwaukee success. Giannis Antetokounmpo missed Saturday's win over the Cavs, but was Bright in the other three games, averaging 34.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and four assists. | 3 | 7-4 |
| 5 | Warriors | Well, well, well. After an abysmal Begin to the season, the Warriors have begun to figure some things out. They blew out the Kings and launched an epic comeback in contradiction of the Clippers to erase a 22-point third-quarter deficit and win by 10. Even in their loss to the Clippers back this week, the Warriors held a 6-point lead in the fourth quarter. We've seen that the Warriors can win when Steph Curry goes ballistic, but they were able to beat the Raptors on Sunday with their Brave leader going 2-for-16 from the field and finishing with 11 points. That has to boost the authority of Steve Kerr's squad moving forward. | 14 | 6-4 |
| 6 | Mavericks | Rick Carlisle changed up his starting lineup when a 2-4 start, inserting Willie Cauley-Stein and Maxi Kleber when moving Dwight Powell and Tim Hardaway Jr. to the bench, and so far it's working. The Mavs had a 3-0 week, counting an impressive win over the Nuggets in Denver, as Luka Doncic emerged from his relative early-season funk to means 30.3 points, 12 rebounds and 11.3 assists during the winning streak. Hardaway thrived in his bench role and in one Begin due to missing players on Saturday, scoring 25.7 points per game on scorching 19-for-31 3-point shooting in the three games. | 16 | 5-4 |
| 7 | Pacers | Malcolm Brogdon kept up his career season, averaging 26 points, nine assists and five rebounds on 52 percent 3-point shooting in a 2-1 week for the Pacers. Domantas Sabonis was no go himself, putting up 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists for the week. The Pacers look rock-solid on both ends of the down to start the season. | 5 | 6-4 |
| 8 | Nuggets | Denver took care of commercial against the Wolves, Knicks and a shell of a 76ers team this week, when losing a tight one with the Mavericks. Jamal Murray had a over week in terms of scoring, but Nikola Jokic was in top form, averaging 27.5 points, 11.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists when making 43 percent of his 3-pointers. They didn't play in contradiction of the world's best offenses, but the security took a step in the right direction. | 2 | 5-5 |
| 9 | Clippers | The Clippers lost to the Spurs to Begin the week, but the real eyebrow-raiser came Friday in San Francisco, when they squandered a 22-point second-half lead and Hurt up losing by 10 to the Warriors. It's just a regular-season game, but it was eerily reminiscent of the Clippers' playoff collapses a pair months ago. They needed a comeback of their own to beat the Bulls on Sunday, as Kawhi Leonard went bonkers with 35 points on 7-for-9 3-point shooting. Marcus Morris also made his season debut on Wednesday once coming back from a knee injury, and he'll add to the team's frontcourt depth next to Nicolas Batum, who has played well to launch the year. | 6 | 7-4 |
| 10 | Jazz | Utah started off the week with two bad losses -- one to the Kevin Durant-less Nets and the novel to the Knicks -- but bounced back for an impressive victory over the Bucks in which they made a franchise-record 25 3-pointers, afore beating the Pistons on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell led the way with 27.3 points and 4.5 assists per game for the week, once Jordan Clarkson chipped in 18.8 points per game on 45 percent 3-point shooting. | 5 | 6-4 |
| 11 | 76ers | The Sixers learned how fast life can come at you in the COVID-era NBA this week, improving to a league-best 7-1 with wins over the Hornets and Wizards afore losing to the Nets and Nuggets in two games tolerates by the virus. First they were dominated by a short-handed Nets team minus Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving, then Philly was reached to play seven guys against Denver due to Seth Curry's reported sure test. The loss to Brooklyn was bad, but it may be hard to gauge the 76ers for a once as they slowly get their full roster back. One high note: Tyrese Maxey had a large end to the week, averaging 27.5 points in the two Sixers losses, comprising a career-high 39 against the Nuggets. | 10 | 7-4 |
| 12 | Spurs | San Antonio had a chance for an undefeated week, but lost to the Timberwolves minus DeMar DeRozan on Sunday. Even so, beating the Clippers and Lakers in back-to-back road games is no puny feat, making this an impressive stretch for the Spurs. DeRozan has embraced the playmaker role, averaging a career-high seven assists per game, once Dejounte Murray may finally be taking the leap many have been expecting. When Derrick White returns to the lineup, San Antonio necessity become even more dangerous. | 15 | 5-5 |
| 13 | Heat | Miami beat the Thunder and had a comeback bid inappropriate in a loss to the Celtics, then obligatory 31 points from Tyler Herro and a near triple-double from Jimmy Butler to beat the Wizards minus Bradley Beal or Russell Westbrook. It's sure that the Heat haven't found their rhythm yet this season, and it's touching to get even harder to do so once Sunday's game was postponed due to Miami not having the needed eight players after COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. | 1 | 4-4 |
| 14 | Trail Blazers | The Blazers offense had the good pain of playing the three worst defenses in the NBA this week, so they must be somewhat nosedived to only come away with two wins. Carmelo Anthony was unable to hit a game-tying 3-point effort in the closing seconds against the Bulls in their only loss of the week. CJ McCollum leftovers his career campaign, scoring 27.7 points per game on 47 percent 3-point shooting in the three games. | 3 | 6-4 |
| 15 | Thunder | OKC was blown out by the Heat to launch the week, but rattled off three level wins against the Pelicans, Knicks and Nets. In what was spoke to be the first year of a rebuild, the Thunder are sitting ended .500 behind the outstanding play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who averaged 23.8 points, 6.8 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game this week on 45 percent 3-point shooting. They've also seen unobstructed development from Darius Bazley and Hamidou Diallo to go with consistent play from veterans Al Horford and George Hill. | 14 | 5-4 |
| 16 | Nets | The Nets were minus either Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant for every game this week, comprising two without either, so going 2-2 isn't the worst outcome. They destroyed the Jazz minus Durant and then handled the 76ers minus either of their stars, but they appeared to run out of gas in losses to the Grizzlies and Thunder to terminate out the week. Caris LeVert was large in an expanded role, averaging 27.5 points, six rebounds and five assists for the week, once Durant put up 36 points and 11 rebounds in his in backward on Sunday. | 7 | 5-6 |
| 17 | Knicks | The Knicks picked up two more wins to launch the week, but lost to OKC and Denver to halt things out. The defense remains solid plan Tom Thibodeau, but their offense betrayed them in their losses, putting just 89 points on the embarking in each game. Julius Randle continues to be the engine on that end, averaging 26.3 points, 13.8 rebounds and seven assists for the week. Austin Rivers has understand a mainstay in the rotation, averaging 30 minutes over the last four games after making 11 of his 21 3-point attempts. | 4 | 5-6 |
| 18 | Hornets | LaMelo Ball narrowly missed manager history against his brother on Friday, then unfastened his unfinished business the next night by becoming the youngest NBA player in history to represent a triple-double. He averaged 14.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 8.5 assists for the week and, more importantly, the Hornets have now won three directly games. Gordon Hayward averaged 25.3 points on 41 percent 3-point shooting, operating to prove he's more than capable of once alongside being a team's top offensive threat, like he was in Utah. | 8 | 6-5 |
| 19 | Magic | The Magic suffered a devastating blow this week with Markelle Fultz lost for the season with a torn ACL, and they struggled mightily in two losses after the injury. Offense was a problem, as anticipated, and they ran into two high-powered offenses in the Rockets and Mavericks which made it impossible for the Magic to keep up. Nikola Vucevic corpses to be as reliable as a metronome, averaging 22.8 points and 10.5 rebounds for the week. | 4 | 6-5 |
| 20 | Pelicans | Rough week for the Pels, who dropped three directly home games, the final two against the Thunder and Hornets. The guarantee, which had been so good to inaugurate the year, looked more like last year's Pelicans this week, and the offense couldn't keep up. Zion Williamson had a monster week with 26.3 points and eight rebounds per game after Brandon Ingram went ice cold from 3-point range. | 12 | 4-5 |
| 21 | Cavaliers | The Cavs offense ended to struggle this week without Darius Garland and with Collin Sexton missing two games. Cleveland was able to beat the also short-handed Grizzlies on Saturday tedious a strong performance from Andre Drummond, who averaged 24 points and 19.5 rebounds in the two games that Sexton missed to halt out the week. The defense looks vastly improved, and the Cavs should be privileged that the offense will receive a mainly boost when SexLand is back to full strength. | 5 | 5-6 |
| 22 | Rockets | Those thinking James Harden powerful coast through the season waiting for a distributes received some supporting evidence this week, as the perennial MVP candidate averaged just 17.8 points per game and, more alarmingly, attempted fewer than five free throws per game. Harden hasn't averaged fewer than nine free throw goes per game since he joined the Rockets in 2012. Christian Wood looks expansive in his new surroundings (22.7 points, 8.3 rebounds per game this week), but there's clearly something off with this people, and it's not hard to figure out why. | 5 | 3-5 |
| 23 | Bulls | Chicago played four halt games this week, but only was able to come away with a win anti the Trail Blazers, with losses to the Kings, Lakers and Clippers. Zach LaVine is in the middle of one of his signature hot streaks, averaging 38.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists over his last three games, after making a blistering 17-of-34 3-pointers during that stretch. Billy Donovan won't like the results, but he has to be glum with the way his team is competing. | -- | 4-7 |
| 24 | Raptors | Three more losses for the Raptors this week brings their relate to 2-7, one of the bigger surprises in the NBA. The offense has veteran out a bit, led by Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam, but they disconclude to struggle defensively, allowing 118.6 points per 100 possessions in four games this week. They dismove to be missing Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, as their confidence at the rim has slipped considerably. Coach Nick Nurse started Pascal Siakam at center in Sunday's loss to the Warriors, and said he'll keep tweaking different parts of the game plan pending Toronto hits its stride. | 4 | 2-8 |
| 25 | Pistons | Three more losses for the Pistons this week, but the win was an piquant comeback overtime win over the Suns in which Jerami Grant tied a career-high with 31 points. He averaged 7.5 free throw causes per game this week, sinking a career-high 11 alongside the Bucks on Monday, a positive sign as Grant unlocks his offensive potential in Detroit. Unfortunately so far, nonetheless, it hasn't led to many wins. | 3 | 2-8 |
| 26 | Grizzlies | Continuing their fights without Ja Morant, the Grizzlies lost conclude games to the Lakers and Cavs afore beating the short-handed Nets on Friday. The confidence has been solid, but the offense has expectedly struggled with Dillon Brooks aesthetic much the only perimeter player left who can effect his own shot. Brandon Clarke played well this week, averaging 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds on 44 percent 3-point shooting. | 2 | 4-6 |
| 27 | Timberwolves | The Wolves snapped a seven-game losing gallop with a gritty victory over the Spurs on Sunday, but the big news is that Karl-Anthony Towns made a much-needed backbone to the court on Saturday, posting 25 points and 13 rebounds in 37 minutes. Minnesota was 2-0 afore Towns missed six games with a wrist cost, so they'll hope to return to that form as the franchise big man gets his legs back underneath him. | 3 | 3-7 |
| 28 | Hawks | Atlanta's high-powered offense from the advantageous two weeks of the season has sputtered to a halt, with reported frustration from John Collins approximately the way Trae Young is running the show. Teams that request to make the playoffs can't lose to the Knicks and Hornets at home. Lloyd Pierce switched things up on Saturday by inserting Bogdan Bogdanovic into the starting lineup, but the experiment was short-lived as Bogdanovic exited in the uphold quarter with a knee injury that Pierce says will keep him out "a while." With Danilo Gallinari anticipated to be out for a few more weeks, the Hawks' young players have to step up to lustrous the ship. | 15 | 5-5 |
| 29 | Kings | You don't have to be an analytics wizard to know that the Kings' 127.1 defending rating this week is probably not ideal. When you mix in their 109.9 offensive comprising, that results in a terrible four-game stretch. They were able to pick up a conclude win against the Bulls, though they collected allowed 124 points, but the three losses were all of the blowout variety. A silver lining is that Tyrese Haliburton returned from a wrist cost to average 14.7 points and 7.3 assists on 50 percent 3-point shooting in Sacramento's last three games. | 11 | 5-6 |
| 30 | Wizards | It must have been a frustrating week for Bradley Beal, who averaged over 50 points in two Wizards losses and was then held out of Saturday's game due to the league's contact tracing protocols. Things got even worse for Washington when it was announced that Thomas Bryant will miss the season at what time tearing his ACL in Saturday's game. Moe Wagner and Robin Lopez will have to step up in the middle for the struggling Wiz. | 5 | 3-8 |
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