Power Rankings: Celtics slipping, Jazz surging
Week: Team:
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the No. 1 team in ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings for the sixth successive week. But you knew that was coming.
The surprise in this week's rankings has been supplied by teams such as Utah (No. 5), Toronto (No. 7), Charlotte (No. 9) and Chicago (No. 13), all of which have risen to season-high positions.
Although the Cavs continue to be chased by the usual suspects, there is considerable upheaval outside of the top six, thanks partly to established powers such as Boston (down to No. 10) and San Antonio (dropping from No. 9 to No. 14 after losing Tony Parker to a bad-looking ankle injury) tumbling to unexpected depths.
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Tune in Tuesdays to "NBA Fastbreak" on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings.
| 2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 14 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |  | -- Last Week: 1 | With so much momentum and such a helpful schedule -- Cleveland has just 14 road games left -- methinks we can safely say Mo Williams got hurt at the right time. Only Denver matched the Cavs' 12-3 record in January. | |
| 2 |  | -- Last Week: 2 | Kobe shot 41.3 percent from the floor in January with that mangled index finger, but I'm guessing we remember his final shot Jan. 31 in Boston if anything from the first month of the new decade sticks in the memory. | |
| 3 |  | -- Last Week: 3 | Q: Who has the league's best record against teams at .500 or better? A: Denver at 21-8. Easier one: Who should fill CP3's All-Star spot? Answer: Denver is 6-3 when Melo is out, which only strengthens Chauncey's case. | |
| 4 |  | 1 Last Week: 5 | Boston's failing health and Orlando's spell over Atlanta suggest that the Magic will reach the All-Star break as the closest thing to a co-favorite in the East with Cleveland. Even with fresh injuries for Jameer and Pietrus. | |
| 5 |  | 3 Last Week: 8 | So many good things cooking. With the game in his home state of Texas, D-Will is finally an All-Star. Utah just posted the NBA's fourth-best January record at 10-4. And it all seemed to start when Sundiata Gaines showed up. | |
| 6 |  | 2 Last Week: 4 | What tells you more? The Hawks' three wins in January over the Celtics that clinched a 4-0 season sweep? Or the follow-up loss in Orlando that dropped Atlanta to 0-3 against the Magic ... by a combined 67 points? | |
| 7 |  | 5 Last Week: 12 | For a group frequently tagged as soft, this is momentous: Toronto just became the first team since November 2002 to trail by at least 10 points in four straight games and win all four. Foes: Knicks, Heat, Lakers and Bucks. | |
| 8 |  | 1 Last Week: 7 | The Mavs know what's wrong. They're just not sure how to fix it, because they've been talking about the same problems -- insufficient focus at home and a slip from the top five to 11th in defensive efficiency -- for weeks. | |
| 9 | Charlotte 24-22 | 4 Last Week: 13 | I repeat: G-Wallace is an undeniable All-Star, but why is nobody is talking about S-Jax? Jack's partnership with Wallace just sparked the Bobs to 12 wins in January alone. Previous team record for one month? Nine. | |
| 10 |  | 4 Last Week: 6 | The schedule, with consecutive games against the Magic, Hawks and Lakers, wasn't exactly soft. But alarm bells are going to ring loudly when the Celts, no matter what injury alibis they have, go 6-11 after a 23-5 start. | |
| 11 |  | 1 Last Week: 10 | Not that we'd ever suggest Andre Miller's 52-point eruption Saturday night in Dallas -- with B-Roy sidelined -- was unexpected ... but you do know Dre scored a whopping two points the previous night in Houston. Right? | |
| 12 |  | 1 Last Week: 11 | Conversation that I never expected to have in January of the 2009-10 season: Prominent NBA player stops me in my tracks Saturday night to ask if I can believe that the Griz just lost at home to the CP3-less Hornets. | |
| 13 |  | 5 Last Week: 18 | The Bulls have taken loads of flak for their Circus Road Trip ineptitude since MJ retired, but they just got some historic revenge by becoming the first team ever to win five straight roadies against teams with winning records. | |
| 14 |  | 5 Last Week: 9 | The Rodeo Road Trip can't turn the Spurs around like it usually does if the Tony Parker ankle injury that sucked so much joy out of those much-needed wins over Atlanta and Memphis forces him to miss most of the trip. | |
| 15 |  | -- Last Week: 15 | Even after pulling out big wins in close games against two quality Western Conference rivals -- Dallas and Houston -- Phoenix is probably right where it should be with this small, thin roster. Scuffling for a playoff spot. | |
| 16 |  | 2 Last Week: 14 | January was only Durant's best month as a pro. He averaged 32.1 points for the month and signed off with his fourth 40-point game of the season, placing him fourth in the league behind Kobe (7), Melo (5) and LeBron (5). | |
| 17 | New Orleans 26-21 | -- Last Week: 17 | The Hornets had won 11 straight overtime games at home, dating all the way to March 2005 when they were playing in OKC, before Friday's disastrous OT loss to Chicago, during which they lost the streak and CP3. | |
| 18 |  | 1 Last Week: 19 | More evidence that relying so much on scrappiness is gradually taking its toll: Houston is 1-4 on this six-game homestand to fall to 14-9 at the Toyota Center. Last season? The Rockets lost eight home games total. | |
| 19 |  | 3 Last Week: 16 | The good news: Miami still hasn't spent a single day this season below .500. The bad news: There are suddenly eight teams with winning records in everyone's favorite punching-bag conference. And the D-Wades are No. 8. | |
| 20 |  | 2 Last Week: 22 | A 3-10 record in games decided by three points or less is tough to take in any circumstance ... but it really leaves the East's No. 9 team with a sense of regret now that Toronto, Charlotte and Chicago have all gotten so hot. | |
| 21 |  | 1 Last Week: 20 | The Clips have two stops left on an eight-game road trip and are 1-5 on the junket after losses at (gulp) New Jersey and Minnesota. So you tell me: Are we down to 11 teams playing for eight playoff berths in the West? | |
| 22 |  | 1 Last Week: 21 | When he has every right to be distracted by the tragic events back home, Dalembert continues to be shopped and keeps trying his hardest to make himself tradeable. That's 11 double-digit rebound games in a row. | |
| 23 |  | -- Last Week: 23 | Maybe the coaches who snubbed David Lee knew what was coming. Losing both ends of a back-to-back in Washington and Sota since the ASG snub makes it way harder to claim that Lee's Knicks are in the East playoff mix. | |
| 24 |  | 4 Last Week: 28 | Arenas' sentencing isn't until March 26, but rest assured we'll be talking about these guys plenty through Feb. 18. Caron, Jamison, Haywood ... they're all prime names in circulation with the trade deadline looming. | |
| 25 |  | 1 Last Week: 24 | Elias Sports Bureau to the comment rescue when Indy is playing its kids, shopping its vets and leaving us numb: Granger was held below double figures twice in January after going 56-for-56 in the 2009 calendar year. | |
| 26 |  | 1 Last Week: 27 | The way things have unraveled -- 3-16 since a 13-14 start -- it looks like it'll be a l-o-n-g string for the Kings to play out after the highlight of the season: Tyreke and our man Casspi teaming up in Dallas for the Rookie Game. | |
| 27 |  | 1 Last Week: 26 | Even when there's some upbeat news, there's a caveat: Steph Curry looks like he's making a surge into the ROY race ... but that's bound to get folks whispering anew about the Dubs moving Monta for Curry's benefit. | |
| 28 |  | 3 Last Week: 25 | It's likely time to stop asking whether these Pistons can still sneak into the playoffs for a ninth straight season. After closing a six-game homestand with five straight losses, they're bound for the John Wall Sweepstakes. | |
| 29 |  | -- Last Week: 29 | The Wolves don't play again until Friday, which either rubs out their first bit of momentum for ages or gives them almost a week to savor just their second win streak of the season. (We agree: It's probably the latter.) | |
| 30 | New Jersey 4-42 | -- Last Week: 30 | The post-victory celebration after win No. 4 didn't last long. Home losses to the Wiz and Sixers by a combined six points, in what looks like the Nets' most favorable stretch of schedule remaining, will have that effect. | |
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