Power Rankings: Heat start second half at No. 1
Week: Team:
The two teams tied for the league's top record return to work this week as the top two teams in ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings.
Crunch-time mishaps in the All-Star Game for both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade (don't forget D-Wade had one, too, with that late pass he fumbled out of bounds) can't dislodge the Miami Heat from the No. 1 spot they've occupied for five successive weeks.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, meanwhile, have rolled up 12 straight home wins that, combined with San Antonio's decision to essentially forfeit last Tuesday's visit to Portland, nudged the Thunder ahead of the Spurs into the No. 2 spot.
The New York Knicks' stay in the top 10 was short-lived thanks to losses last week to New Jersey and Miami, but that opened up an opportunity for the Houston Rockets to sneak into the No. 10 slot ... despite the Rockets' curious inability to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves.
All-Star Weekend, as always, pushed the Power Rankings to Tuesday this week, but you can check back every Monday for the rest of the regular season for the latest fresh and nonautomated pulse-take of the league's 30 teams, which is compiled with Ricky Rubio-esque dishing from ESPN Stats & Information and the Elias Sports Bureau. Click here to rank the teams yourself, or click here to comment on these rankings.
Also, check out John Hollinger's daily power rankings.
| 2011-12 Power Rankings: Week 9 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |  | -- Last Week: 1 | Who else could occupy this spot? The Heat completed their February schedule with a mark of 11-2 ...with 10 of those wins coming by at least 10 points. No other team in history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, has managed to post 10 such wins in a month containing as few as 13 games. | |
| 2 |  | 1 Last Week: 3 | Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that Durant rumbled for 36 points on the All-Star stage after the MVP-elect averaged 35.8 ppg in the last four games before the break. Yet even with KD rollin' and a share of the league's best record, OKC seems to generate even more when-it-matters skepticism than LeBron. | |
| 3 |  | 1 Last Week: 2 | Maybe if Pop knew going in that no team in history has ever gone unbeaten on a trip of seven games or longer, he'd have played his whole team in Portland instead of resting Timmy and Tony. (Just kidding.) Anyone remember that the Spurs were 3-8 on the road before their 8-1 Rodeo Road Trip? (Didn't think so.) | |
| 4 |  | 1 Last Week: 5 | The Bulls haven't started this well since a 31-4 launch in '96-97 led to a tidy 69-13 mark, but concern persists about D-Rose's back, Rip's limited impact as the Bulls' marquee offensive addition and three games with Miami before we even get to the playoffs: March 14 (home), April 12 (home) and April 19 (road). | |
| 5 |  | 1 Last Week: 4 | Latest example that this is a new day in Clipperland? There was Blake Griffin on TNT, taking questions before the first All-Star Game in history with two Clippers in the starting lineup when you throw in CP3, talking about his team's playoff outlook with half of the regular season to go. And pulling it off easily. | |
| 6 |  | 2 Last Week: 8 | Don't know if the Lakers can swing a difference-making deal without surrendering Pau. Not sure whether to put more stock in the Lakers' 6-12 road record or their 2-0 mark against the team that swept them in the playoffs. The only certainty for now: You don't want to miss Kobe's reunion Sunday with D-Wade in L.A. | |
| 7 |  | 1 Last Week: 6 | Leave it to the tireless @mavstats on Twitter to do the math and figure out that the daunting stretch coming out of the All-Star break for the creaky ol' champs, featuring nine games in 12 days, is something only four other teams will endure in this lockout-shortened season: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte and Chicago. | |
| 8 |  | 1 Last Week: 9 | The Magic outright shocked the world by not falling to pieces after that January wobble when they sandwiched two crushing losses to Boston around a no-show in New Orleans. Deciding not to trade Dwight now and praying he can be persuaded to re-sign in July, believe it or not, would actually be less of a surprise. | |
| 9 |  | 5 Last Week: 14 | Thanks to all the uncertainty surrounding Orlando's future, Al Horford's potentially season-ending torn labrum in Atlanta, New York's slow start and Boston's losing fight with Father Time, No. 3 in the East is more up-for-grabs than anyone anticipated. Think I still like Indy best to snag it even after that recent 1-5 nosedive. | |
| 10 |  | 3 Last Week: 13 | Six games over .500 after a 3-7 start? And a solid 14 wins at home to start the second half? That's just one W shy of the league-leading total of 15 wins at home shared by Miami and Oklahoma City ... so just imagine where Kevin McHale's Rockets would be if they could ever beat Kevin McHale's last team. | |
| 11 |  | -- Last Week: 11 | The Wolves reside close enough to the conference equator to ask themselves the question West residents hovering in the .500 range have been asking themselves for years: Why can't we transfer to the East? A better question: Will the Wolves actually make a deal to upgrade at the 2 and/or 3 to finish .500 (or better)? | |
| 12 |  | -- Last Week: 12 | As a longtime Z-Bo fan, I'm admittedly biased. But I tend to believe that the crafty lefty's return will give the Griz more of a boost than any of the trade-deadline deals we're about to see. Can't think of many teams out West that'll relish seeing Memphis in the playoffs if Z-Bo is anywhere near fully healed. | |
| 13 |  | 6 Last Week: 7 | Did any team out there need an All-Star break more than banged-up Philly? After becoming just the second Sixers team in a span of 27 seasons to reach the 20-win mark in 30 or fewer games, the Sixers limped into All-Star Weekend with five straight L's and a worrisome run of 17 games without scoring 100 points. | |
| 14 |  | 1 Last Week: 15 | The interruption of All-Star Weekend and the gutsy return of Joel Przybilla to the city that swallows centers whole have managed to shift the focus from Portland's struggles in close games (2-10 in games decided by five points or fewer) and the recent demotions of Ray Felton and Wes Matthews. But for how long? | |
| 15 |  | 5 Last Week: 10 | Jeremy Lin, as predicted, couldn't divert any All-Star spotlight from Dwight. But the fairy-tale ride Lin has taken the formerly 8-15 Knicks on sure made the Magic's February more tolerable. Let's just hope Lin isn't as weary as he looked over the weekend. You don't have to be a Knicks fan to want to see this saga continue. | |
| 16 |  | -- Last Week: 16 | The Hawks have five straight wins over Orlando. And four double-doubles from a seething Josh Smith in his past five games after he was snubbed not only by East coaches but also by David Stern when the injured Joe Johnson had to be replaced in the All-Star Game. And that's pretty much where the good news stops. | |
| 17 |  | -- Last Week: 17 | Something tells me that the Nuggets believe they (and not Philly) needed the All-Star break more than anyone else. Denver remains one of just three teams averaging better than 100 points nightly ... but that's pretty much the only thing that's carried over from a 14-5 start torpedoed by injuries and up-and-down focus. | |
| 18 |  | -- Last Week: 18 | These next two-plus weeks will be longer in Boston than anywhere outside of Orlando or Lakerland. Because Pierce, Ray, KG and Rondo all have to know that GM Danny Ainge is looking hard to shake things up before the deadline, even after Doc Rivers opined last week: "Why shake [things] up if guys are injured?" | |
| 19 |  | 3 Last Week: 22 | Monta Ellis has boasted the highest scoring average among players snubbed for the All-Star Game for three seasons running, which is believed to be the first time that's happened. The Warriors, though, have bigger issues to focus on, starting with their ongoing pursuit of a big man so they can stop playing 4-on-5. | |
| 20 |  | 1 Last Week: 19 | You inevitably wonder now, as playoff fantasies give way to the reality that Utah's home-heavy early schedule raised expectations to unrealistic levels, whether the Jazz will be able to find a trade taker for Devin Harris or maybe even try to move Al Jefferson before the deadline to open up more PT for Favors and Kanter. | |
| 21 |  | 2 Last Week: 23 | When we weren't buzzing about Omri Casspi's new Sprite commercial -- as it's known in Cleveland and at Stein Line HQ -- this was one of the questions of the weekend occupying the committee's brain: Can you name three players who got more out of Orlando than Rising Stars MVP Kyrie Irving? Us, neither. | |
| 22 |  | -- Last Week: 22 | It doesn't matter how many times Steve Nash and Suns officials make their well-worn proclamations about how neither side wants to be the one that initiates a breakup. Now that All-Star Weekend is over, until the trade deadline passes, Nash's future will naturally dominate discussion even more than it usually does. | |
| 23 |  | 3 Last Week: 20 | You'd have expected the Pistons to win at least one of their final two games before the break -- visits to Cleveland and Toronto -- after they'd just reeled off seven wins in nine games. Not going to slam 'em too hard, though, because I frankly never thought they'd win seven of nine at any point after the 4-20 start. | |
| 24 | New Orleans 8-25 | -- Last Week: 24 | Dare we say we see a little hope? The Hornets are on the short list of teams to topple the Knicks when Jeremy Lin is in the starting lineup (along with Miami and New Jersey) and, of far greater consequence, will soon shed "league-owned" from its name as long as the sale to Mike Dunleavy's group stays on track. | |
| 25 | New Jersey 10-25 | -- Last Week: 25 | Before you even ask: The Nets are not going to trade D-Will unless they know they have zero shot at Dwight. The odds of them knowing Dwight is 100 percent out of reach before the March 15 trade buzzer are super long. Add it up and you can pretty much ditch the idea of D-Will being made available in the next 16 days. | |
| 26 |  | 1 Last Week: 27 | Doesn't matter if second-rounder Isaiah Thomas' recent PG success is a mirage. Doesn't matter if Cousins backslides after getting to the break with the NBA's third-highest total of 15-and-15 games. (Boogie's eight trail only Dwight's 18 and Love's 14.) The Kings are staying in Sac-Town. So the season is a roaring success. | |
| 27 |  | 1 Last Week: 26 | Scott Skiles' teams will always play hard, even when they're unhappy, but it's hard to see this one finding a way to climb back up into playoff contention without Bogut on the floor to anchor the defense ... and with B-Jennings' play reverting to uneven ... and with the ongoing distraction of Stephen Jackson's dismay. | |
| 28 |  | 1 Last Week: 29 | It's an open secret that the Raps crave another high draft pick to plug into the mix along with 2011 lottery selection Jonas Valanciunas ... something Raps fans seem to accept. But it'd sure be nice to see more of Bargnani in the second half to see whether he can sustain the progress shown in the 13 games he's been healthy. | |
| 29 |  | 1 Last Week: 28 | For a few days in Orlando, John Wall was just like Steve Nash. We saw a lot of him during an All-Star Weekend that served as Wall's escape from a season that, despite his recent uptick, must be even more draining than Nash's. But now what? The Wiz had begun to revert to their undisciplined worst before the break. | |
| 30 | Charlotte 4-28 | -- Last Week: 30 | The good news: Even with just three 100-point outings this season, Charlotte has hit triple digits only twice fewer than both the Lakers and the Celtics. The brutal reality: It's a serious stretch to call that good news ... and Charlotte's average point margin (minus-14.3 ppg) is on course to be the league's second-worst since 1970-71. | |
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