Power Rankings: There's a new No. 1 in town
Updated: November 14, 2005, 12:50 PM ET
Week: Team:
It hasn't taken the Detroit Pistons long to take to the offensive freedom they're getting from new coach Flip Saunders.
 | |
Which helps explain why it didn't take long for the first change at the top of Marc Stein's NBA Power Rankings.
A clinical week from the Pistons, combined with San Antonio's second straight Saturday setback on the road, propelled Detroit into the top spot.
Washington, meanwhile, climbed from No. 8 to No. 3 after following up a loss to the surprising Los Angeles Clippers (now up to No. 7) by shredding Seattle by 41 points and then inflicting loss No. 2 on the Spurs.
Read on to see how your team ranks and click here to send Stein some feedback.
| 2005-06 Power Rankings: Week 2 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |  | 1 Last Week: 2 | Talk about perfect starts. For fuel, undefeated Pistons have also convinced themselves that they're still getting no respect from the outside world when, in truth, everyone around the league is raving about them. | |
| 2 |  | 1 Last Week: 1 | The injuries and two heavy road defeats on consecutive Saturdays are indeed worrying, but here's the pick-me-up: Duncan is shooting 84.2 percent at the line. | |
| 3 |  | 5 Last Week: 8 | Arenas can be rather amazing, but you already knew that. Maybe the best part about Washington's start is its league-leading opponent FG defense: 39.1 percent. | |
| 4 |  | 1 Last Week: 5 | Not trying to put a damper on the heady start, but now we'll really assess Bucks' progress with four games out West ... and only seven road wins last season. | |
| 5 |  | 2 Last Week: 3 | Maybe my expectations are too high, especially this early, but I reckon Pacers should be 6-0. Doubt they'd disagree with me, either, given the manner of their two defeats. | |
| 6 |  | 2 Last Week: 4 | Having played just once at home, and having apparently survived a Dirk back scare without too much panic, Mavs are quietly pleased with where they are so far. | |
| 7 |  | 4 Last Week: 11 | How many guesses would you need to identify the only team in the league to beat Wiz? A few, I'm guessing, before you went with those still-hot Clips. | |
| 8 |  | 2 Last Week: 6 | Amare-less Suns needed a pick-me-up after three late collapses at home, and here it is: Diaw and Barbosa are contributing faster than anyone envisioned, which certainly can't hurt the long-term outlook. | |
| 9 |  | -- Last Week: 9 | Even 'Toine and J-Will should be able to agree that now is the time to rack up some wins without Shaq. Miami's eight opponents for the rest of the month include Hornets, Raps, Blazers, Magic, Knicks and Hawks. | |
| 10 |  | 9 Last Week: 19 | Good response to a poor start. A 4-0 week, even against so-so comp, put Cavs in Team O' The Week running and merits a return to the top 10. | |
| 11 |  | 6 Last Week: 17 | In their locker room after Saturday's loss in Phoenix, you'd have thought Warriors had just fallen to 1-6. But maybe that's a good sign that they're this focused already. | |
| 12 |  | -- Last Week: 12 | Turns out Grizz fans apparently like Pau's beard. They also seem to like Pau's aggression so far, apart from a muted showing in Boston in a frustrating one-point L. | |
| 13 |  | 11 Last Week: 24 | Nowitzki's injury departure Wednesday was good fortune, but credit Sixers for building on that break with a couple of quality follow-up triumphs over Lakers and Clips. | |
| 14 |  | -- Last Week: 14 | Camby is playing better-than-ever ball. Of course, if Nuggets don't have Nene or K-Mart, Camby might have to go for 18, 22 and seven every night. | |
| 15 |  | 8 Last Week: 23 | Bulls haven't won more than four games in November since MJ's last season (1997-98). It looks like this November might be different, even as the annual early-season arrival of the circus sends Chicago on the road for six. | |
| 16 |  | 3 Last Week: 13 | AK-47's ankle injury doesn't appear to be serious. Yet it's serious enough to remind you what happened to Utah when he got hurt early last season. | |
| 17 | New Jersey 3-4 | 10 Last Week: 7 | Houston can probably justify a sub-.500 record, having lost T-Mac briefly. Nets have a bit more explaining to do, tough sked or not. | |
| 18 |  | 7 Last Week: 25 | So they can't beat Duncan's Spurs. So what? Celts can live with a 16th loss in a row to S.A. when it's sandwiched between wins over Memphis and Houston. | |
| 19 |  | 9 Last Week: 10 | The big Hollywood showdown this week? No, not Phil vs. Larry on Wednesday. Try Lakers vs. Clips on Friday. | |
| 20 |  | -- Last Week: 20 | Wolves don't play a road game for another 10 days. Which is probably welcome news after two OT road defeats and a failure to win at depleted Denver. | |
| 21 |  | 7 Last Week: 28 | The consolation for the league's lowest-scoring team? Magic, at 84.3 ppg, are staying in games with a much-improved defense (89.3 ppg allowed, down from 101.8). | |
| 22 |  | 7 Last Week: 15 | JVG was lamenting his team's lack of speed before they went out and lost to Boston by 20. Don't know how fast Spree is at 35, but it's probably worth checking out. | |
| 23 | NO/Oklahoma City
2-3 | 2 Last Week: 21 | With Hornets coming off a season that began at 2-29, you can understand why they were so proud to be 1-0 and then 2-1. And why 2-3 is passable, too. | |
| 24 |  | 2 Last Week: 26 | If you wish to claim that you expected Nate's new team to start faster than his old team, go ahead. But we don't believe you. | |
| 25 |  | 9 Last Week: 16 | I'm starting to question my pre-season wisdom of giving a nod to history and consistency to rank Kings at No. 11. Losing to NY how they did has to test the faith. | |
| 26 | Seattle 2-4 | 8 Last Week: 18 | If they can recover to contend after this avalanche -- three consecutive losses by a combined 93 points -- it would be an even more dramatic rise to prominence than last season's. Trouble is, harmony seems a long way off here. | |
| 27 |  | -- Last Week: 27 | The last 0-5 start Larry endured before this one wound up 43-39 (Philly in 2001-02). Even after the Sacto breakthrough, 43 wins still seems rather optimistic. | |
| 28 | Charlotte 2-5 | 6 Last Week: 22 | More disappointing than the losing streak is Wallace's run of injuries. Swingman's surprising start has been interrupted by a concussion and now a wrist ailment. | |
| 29 |  | -- Last Week: 29 | Can't see Spree really wanting to play here even if there are no other offers. Not with so many small forwards in Atlanta and not a lot of short-term hope. | |
| 30 |  | -- Last Week: 30 | One hurting Raps fan wrote in to suggest that he'd take a point for Sunday's Seattle loss like Leafs get for OT defeats. You can understand the cynicism/desperation, given that five of Toronto's first six games were at home. | |
| ||||
ESPN Conversations
comments
