http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings...n/2011/week/16
2010-11 Power Rankings: Week 16
RK (LW) TEAM REC COMMENT
1 (1) Spurs 45-9 The Spurs ain't messin' around, even with that big lead over the rest of the West. How do we know? Pop responded to that one wack night in Philly with the first change to the starting lineup he's made all season.
2 (2) Mavericks 38-16 Barea is en fuego, Peja broke out in Houston, Beaubois will make his long-awaited comeback this week ... and Caron keeps insisting that he's coming back for the playoffs. Maybe the Mavs really don't need a trade.
3 (6) Lakers 38-17 No one ever says much about the galvanizing effect of the Lakers' annual Grammys Trip, but this one had a real Rodeo Road Trip feel until L.A. followed up its Boston breakthrough by breathing life into Orlando's season.
4 (3) Celtics 39-14 Boston has been alone atop the East for a whopping 83 days this season -- compared to Miami's three -- but the Celts' overall deteriorating health (with Pierce hobbling now) makes it impossible for them to celebrate.
5 (4) Heat 39-15 Losing in Boston, with so many circumstances seemingly in their favor, dropped the Heat to 1-6 against the Celts, Bulls, Mavs and Lakers. Worse yet: Cleveland has more W's against the Celts than Miami this season.
6 (5) Bulls 36-16 Who in the East can be higher on the MVP ballot than D-Rose heading into the All-Star break? And, yes, I'd have posed the same question even before Rose's big games back-to-back on the road against D-Will and CP3.
7 (9) Magic 35-21 The most desperate Florida team on Sunday's TV docket? Had to be Orlando thanks to those eight straight L's to teams with winning records. The most impressive Florida team on the dial? Orlando by a mile after beating L.A.
8 (7) Thunder 34-19 Ringing up 30 isn't as easy as we make it sound for Durant. He leads the league in 30-point games with 22 and he'd certainly get there more often if it were easy because the Thunder are a robust 18-4 when he cracks 30.
9 (10) Grizzlies 30-26 Is it possible that O.J. Mayo's 10-game suspension actually stabilized these guys? Hard to argue when the Grizz are 7-2 without Mayo, 14-5 when Sam Young is in the starting lineup and looking like real playoff material.
10 (8) Hornets 33-23 A 2-7 skid without the ailing Okafor to anchor the D, even after a 10-game winning streak, comes as zero surprise. Beating Dwight Howard's Magic without Okafor, in Orlando, for the second win in that span? Legit shocker.
11 (14) Trail Blazers 30-24 Maybe it'd be wiser for B-Roy to wait until after the All-Star break to launch his comeback. LaMarcus Aldridge just topped 35 points for the third straight game; Drexler is the only other Blazer who knows that feeling. Ever.
12 (17) 76ers 26-28 Now we know who the Spurs fear most in the NBA Finals after the surging Sixers held them to 71 points Friday night. You have to go back five seasons, all the way to 2006-07, for San Antonio's last victory in Philly.
13 (12) Nuggets 31-24 The Nuggets really are this season's drama kings. Only they've won two games on buzzer-beaters after Afflalo followed up Melo's dagger against Chicago with a dagger J of his own to halt the Mavs' 10-game win streak.
14 (13) Suns 26-26 This wasn't a mere bad L at home. Sunday night saw the Suns lose to the Cousins-less Kings only after nudging past .500 for the first time since Dec. 7 (11-10) and having held three consecutive foes under 100 points.
15 (11) Hawks 33-20 Do the Hawks even want home-court advantage in their seemingly unavoidable first-round reunion with Orlando? Valid question after Atlanta couldn't hold a 22-point lead at Philips Arena against the up-and-down Bobs.
16 (21) Pacers 24-28 So what if they've beaten only one team with a winning record (Portland) in this 7-1 start to the Frank Vogel era? In the season's first 44 games under O'Brien, Indy never managed to win three games in a row even once.
17 (19) Warriors 24-29 Good luck convincing OKC that the Dubs' Ellis-and-Curry backcourt is too small to survive. The defensively challenged duo combined for 56 points and 20 assists against just four TOs in Sunday's win over the Thunder.
18 (18) Rockets 25-30 Walking off the floor with time still left on the clock is about as far away from MIP standards as Aaron Brooks could have strayed, but the Rockets insist they won't surrender Brooks in a trade unless it's part of a megadeal.
19 (16) Knicks 27-26 It's one thing to be distracted by trade speculation. It's quite another to publicly complain about it as much as the Knicks have. Equally disturbing: New York is a mere 14-25 when you throw out that magical 13-1 stretch.
20 (15) Jazz 31-24 It's not going to scare off suitors but it probably is a line worth filing away (as if D-Will, post-Sloan, wasn't already under the microscope): "I don't like being in the spotlight. It puts a lot of tension on me and I don't like it."
21 (24) Bobcats 23-31 A glimpse of Michael Jordan on the practice floor? Stephen Jackson with a buzzer-beater that gets all of us reciting his signature "I make love to pressure" line? Has there ever been a sexier week in Bobcats history?
22 (23) Pistons 20-35 Closer to a sale of the Pistons than we've been all season? Sure seems like it. Closer to a resolution on Rip Hamilton's future after he was freed from exile to play in exactly one game? Your guess is as good as ours.
23 (22) Bucks 20-33 The committee (of one) will be forced to concede at some point that the surge we've been promising from the banged-up Bucks ain't gonna happen. In the East, though, it's still too soon to make that concession.
24 (20) Clippers 20-34 Haven't heard exactly why the Clips' Grammys Road Trip is 11 games and the Lakers' Grammys Trip is seven ... but sympathy fades quickly after back-to-back losses in Cleveland and Toronto. Even with Gordon still out.
25 (28) Timberwolves 13-41 No time to savor those road wins in Houston and New Orleans. Not for Kevin Love. Not with LaMarcus Aldridge in Sota on Monday night, averaging 29.8 ppg and 8.4 rpg since Love was named as Yao's injury fill-in.
26 (25) Kings 13-38 Question: Why do the Kings put up with their marquee rookie's perpetual volatility? Answer: Cousins averaged 17 points and 8 boards in January and is averaging 17 and 11 in February against very strong opposition.
27 (29) Wizards 15-38 Don't want to spoil a momentous weekend for the Wiz, but their 0-25 start on the road will be remembered here as the more indefensible run of futility compared to Cleveland's, because of the two teams' rosters.
28 (26) Nets 17-38 Saturday night marked the first time in NBA history that road teams went 8-for-8 in a single day. Yet I assure you no home team was more bummed than the Nets, who couldn't take down the Amare-less Knicks.
29 (27) Raptors 15-40 It's been a lean 2011 to say the least for our friends north of the border. The Raps have a mere four wins in 23 tries in 2011 ... and those four victims (Cavs, Kings, Wolves and Clips) have a composite record of 55-159.
30 (30) Cavaliers 9-46 Now that The Streak is over, we go directly to Ohioans for a ruling: Do you put 26 straight L's with an injury-shredded, post-LeBron roster down there in the two-word pantheon with The Drive, The Fumble and The Betrayal?
2010-11 Power Rankings: Week 16
RK (LW) TEAM REC COMMENT
1 (1) Spurs 45-9 The Spurs ain't messin' around, even with that big lead over the rest of the West. How do we know? Pop responded to that one wack night in Philly with the first change to the starting lineup he's made all season.
2 (2) Mavericks 38-16 Barea is en fuego, Peja broke out in Houston, Beaubois will make his long-awaited comeback this week ... and Caron keeps insisting that he's coming back for the playoffs. Maybe the Mavs really don't need a trade.
3 (6) Lakers 38-17 No one ever says much about the galvanizing effect of the Lakers' annual Grammys Trip, but this one had a real Rodeo Road Trip feel until L.A. followed up its Boston breakthrough by breathing life into Orlando's season.
4 (3) Celtics 39-14 Boston has been alone atop the East for a whopping 83 days this season -- compared to Miami's three -- but the Celts' overall deteriorating health (with Pierce hobbling now) makes it impossible for them to celebrate.
5 (4) Heat 39-15 Losing in Boston, with so many circumstances seemingly in their favor, dropped the Heat to 1-6 against the Celts, Bulls, Mavs and Lakers. Worse yet: Cleveland has more W's against the Celts than Miami this season.
6 (5) Bulls 36-16 Who in the East can be higher on the MVP ballot than D-Rose heading into the All-Star break? And, yes, I'd have posed the same question even before Rose's big games back-to-back on the road against D-Will and CP3.
7 (9) Magic 35-21 The most desperate Florida team on Sunday's TV docket? Had to be Orlando thanks to those eight straight L's to teams with winning records. The most impressive Florida team on the dial? Orlando by a mile after beating L.A.
8 (7) Thunder 34-19 Ringing up 30 isn't as easy as we make it sound for Durant. He leads the league in 30-point games with 22 and he'd certainly get there more often if it were easy because the Thunder are a robust 18-4 when he cracks 30.
9 (10) Grizzlies 30-26 Is it possible that O.J. Mayo's 10-game suspension actually stabilized these guys? Hard to argue when the Grizz are 7-2 without Mayo, 14-5 when Sam Young is in the starting lineup and looking like real playoff material.
10 (8) Hornets 33-23 A 2-7 skid without the ailing Okafor to anchor the D, even after a 10-game winning streak, comes as zero surprise. Beating Dwight Howard's Magic without Okafor, in Orlando, for the second win in that span? Legit shocker.
11 (14) Trail Blazers 30-24 Maybe it'd be wiser for B-Roy to wait until after the All-Star break to launch his comeback. LaMarcus Aldridge just topped 35 points for the third straight game; Drexler is the only other Blazer who knows that feeling. Ever.
12 (17) 76ers 26-28 Now we know who the Spurs fear most in the NBA Finals after the surging Sixers held them to 71 points Friday night. You have to go back five seasons, all the way to 2006-07, for San Antonio's last victory in Philly.
13 (12) Nuggets 31-24 The Nuggets really are this season's drama kings. Only they've won two games on buzzer-beaters after Afflalo followed up Melo's dagger against Chicago with a dagger J of his own to halt the Mavs' 10-game win streak.
14 (13) Suns 26-26 This wasn't a mere bad L at home. Sunday night saw the Suns lose to the Cousins-less Kings only after nudging past .500 for the first time since Dec. 7 (11-10) and having held three consecutive foes under 100 points.
15 (11) Hawks 33-20 Do the Hawks even want home-court advantage in their seemingly unavoidable first-round reunion with Orlando? Valid question after Atlanta couldn't hold a 22-point lead at Philips Arena against the up-and-down Bobs.
16 (21) Pacers 24-28 So what if they've beaten only one team with a winning record (Portland) in this 7-1 start to the Frank Vogel era? In the season's first 44 games under O'Brien, Indy never managed to win three games in a row even once.
17 (19) Warriors 24-29 Good luck convincing OKC that the Dubs' Ellis-and-Curry backcourt is too small to survive. The defensively challenged duo combined for 56 points and 20 assists against just four TOs in Sunday's win over the Thunder.
18 (18) Rockets 25-30 Walking off the floor with time still left on the clock is about as far away from MIP standards as Aaron Brooks could have strayed, but the Rockets insist they won't surrender Brooks in a trade unless it's part of a megadeal.
19 (16) Knicks 27-26 It's one thing to be distracted by trade speculation. It's quite another to publicly complain about it as much as the Knicks have. Equally disturbing: New York is a mere 14-25 when you throw out that magical 13-1 stretch.
20 (15) Jazz 31-24 It's not going to scare off suitors but it probably is a line worth filing away (as if D-Will, post-Sloan, wasn't already under the microscope): "I don't like being in the spotlight. It puts a lot of tension on me and I don't like it."
21 (24) Bobcats 23-31 A glimpse of Michael Jordan on the practice floor? Stephen Jackson with a buzzer-beater that gets all of us reciting his signature "I make love to pressure" line? Has there ever been a sexier week in Bobcats history?
22 (23) Pistons 20-35 Closer to a sale of the Pistons than we've been all season? Sure seems like it. Closer to a resolution on Rip Hamilton's future after he was freed from exile to play in exactly one game? Your guess is as good as ours.
23 (22) Bucks 20-33 The committee (of one) will be forced to concede at some point that the surge we've been promising from the banged-up Bucks ain't gonna happen. In the East, though, it's still too soon to make that concession.
24 (20) Clippers 20-34 Haven't heard exactly why the Clips' Grammys Road Trip is 11 games and the Lakers' Grammys Trip is seven ... but sympathy fades quickly after back-to-back losses in Cleveland and Toronto. Even with Gordon still out.
25 (28) Timberwolves 13-41 No time to savor those road wins in Houston and New Orleans. Not for Kevin Love. Not with LaMarcus Aldridge in Sota on Monday night, averaging 29.8 ppg and 8.4 rpg since Love was named as Yao's injury fill-in.
26 (25) Kings 13-38 Question: Why do the Kings put up with their marquee rookie's perpetual volatility? Answer: Cousins averaged 17 points and 8 boards in January and is averaging 17 and 11 in February against very strong opposition.
27 (29) Wizards 15-38 Don't want to spoil a momentous weekend for the Wiz, but their 0-25 start on the road will be remembered here as the more indefensible run of futility compared to Cleveland's, because of the two teams' rosters.
28 (26) Nets 17-38 Saturday night marked the first time in NBA history that road teams went 8-for-8 in a single day. Yet I assure you no home team was more bummed than the Nets, who couldn't take down the Amare-less Knicks.
29 (27) Raptors 15-40 It's been a lean 2011 to say the least for our friends north of the border. The Raps have a mere four wins in 23 tries in 2011 ... and those four victims (Cavs, Kings, Wolves and Clips) have a composite record of 55-159.
30 (30) Cavaliers 9-46 Now that The Streak is over, we go directly to Ohioans for a ruling: Do you put 26 straight L's with an injury-shredded, post-LeBron roster down there in the two-word pantheon with The Drive, The Fumble and The Betrayal?
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