RK LAST WK
1 (3) SPURS 40-14
Two weeks ago, Chicago's head coach Tom Thibodeau was the leading candidate to win the NBA's Coach of the Year, but that was before San Antonio's current 11-game winning steak. Tim Duncan has lead the way on the court with averages of 16.5ppg, 11rpg 1.63rpg during the streak, while coach Popovich has lead his team from the bench. Popovich will win the Coach of the Year Award if the season ended today.
2 (2) BULLS 42-14
Maybe it was rust, or even nerves, but with the Bulls leading by 3 points, Derrick Rose went to the line and missed two free throws against the Knicks in New York. Melo then hit an incredible 3-pointer to send the game to overtime, a game that the Bulls eventually lost. The good news is, Rose was back in the lineup after missing the Bulls previous 12 games. The bad news is it'll take the Bulls a few games to get back to their dominant play.
3 (1) THUNDER 41-15
Kevin Durant was leading the MVP race entering last week, but after a 3-game losing skid, may have dropped in second position behind Lebron, especially because one of those losses came against the Heat in Miami. The bigger issue is the Spurs now have a better record than the Thunder and if those two teams were matched up in the playoffs, the Spurs would be my favorite to win the series, especially if they have the home-court advantage.
4 (4) HEAT 40-15
Well, there's nothing new to report except for the same old story. When Wade doesn't play, Lebron plays like the MVP, but when Wade does play, Lebron takes a back seat and is usually far less aggressive on offense. The Heat have a 10-1 record with Wade out of the lineup this season.
5 (6) CLIPPERS 34-22
The Clippers had been struggling to find an identity since losing Chauncey for the season and definitely needed someone to step up in his absence and they finally might have found that in Randy Foye. Over the Clippers last 10 games, Foye averaged 15.6ppg and led the Clippers to an 8-2 record.
6 (10) HAWKS 34-23
The Hawks are sporting a 3-game winning streak and winners of 4 of their last 5 game. The man of the hour has been Josh Smith. The guy has been playing extremely well as of late. Over the last 10 games, Smith averaged 23.9ppg, 9.5rpg on .481 percent shooting from the field to lead his team to a 7-3 record.
7 (7) CELTICS 32-24
The Celtics are becoming dangerous by the minute! All you have to do is refer back to two recent games and you'll get a pretty good idea on how well the Celtics have been playing recently. A 91-72 blowout win over Miami and a 1-point heart breaking loss to the red-hot Spurs, is a good indication that the Celtics are back and ready to contend for an NBA Championship.
8 (12) GRIZZLIES 32-23
The Grizzlies 97-82 win over the Heat in Miami, was not really indicative of the game, because it felt like they were leading by over 25 for most of that game. Zack Randolph is only averaging 10ppg over the Grizzlies last 10 games, but that was in only 26 minutes per game. The Grizzlies are 7-3 over that stretch and are currently sporting a 2-game winning streak.
9 (8) PACERS 34-22
The Pacers are 7-3 over their last 10 games, which included two very impressive wins over the Heat and the Thunder more recently. Over the last 10 games Danny Granger has led the way and his team in scoring with 21.9ppg and has the Pacers in third place in the Eastern Conference.
10 (5) LAKERS 35-22
It wouldn't be Hollywood if there wasn't drama in L.A. The media went crazy because Mike Brown benched Andrew Bynum for taken an ill-advised 3-pointer, so what was the meaning of that? Absolute nothing! Bynum redeemed himself by scoring a season-high 36-points in the team's very next game to lead the Lakers to a 113-108 win over the Clippers. The bigger issue out of L.A. is Kobe's health. He missed the Lakers last game against the Suns due to a sore shin and is listed day-to-day.
11 (16) ROCKETS
The move by Kevin McHale to put veteran center Marcus Camby into the starting lineup is definitely paying off. The Rockets have moved up to the sixth seed in the Western Conference by winning 3 straight and 7 of their last 10 game.
12 (11) MAGIC 33-23
Stan Van Gundy was on record stating that Dwight Howard asked the Orlando Magic management to fire him, and that was followed by an awkward embraced by Howard during the media session. To be honest I didn't know what to make of it! Obviously Howard's hug, or shoulder embrace didn't change Van Gundy's statement. This entire situation could have been avoided if Howard had forced a trade to New Jersey, but the again, word is coming out of Orlando that Howard would have been traded to the Lakers and maybe he didn't want to end up in L.A. Who knows, who cares? Bottom line this entire situation is a complete mess!
13 (9) MAVERICKS 31-26
The Mavericks look like they are content with one championship, because I really don't see this team even making a serious defense of their title, let alone repeating as NBA champions. Mark Cuban rolled the dice in hopes of signing Dwight Howard and Deron Williams, when they become free agents this summer, but it looks like he might miss out on both players and then what?
14 (17) SUNS 29-27
The Suns are only a game behind the Nuggets for the eighth and final playoffs spot and are now in a 3-team race with the Nuggets and Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. I keep counting this team out, but Nash - the former 2-time league MVP - is making me more of a believer every day.
15 (14) KNICKS 29-27
Carmelo Anthony has led the Knicks to a 5-2 record since the team lost Jeremy Lin and Amare Stoudemire to injuries. Anthony concluded his week with a monster 43-point performance over the Bulls for a win in a game that included two clutch 3-pointers. One that sent the game to overtime and the other, a go-ahead basket that led to a 1-point win. In Lin and Amare's absence, Carmelo has averaged a beastly 29.9ppg over the Knicks last 7-games.
16 (19) BUCKS 28-28
The Bucks have been surging during the Sixers recent slump and are only one game behind the Sixers for the eighth and final playoff spot. During the Bucks current 4-game winning streak, Monte Ellis is finally beginning to show his worth. Ellis is averaging 22.25ppg during the Bucks current streak.
17 (13) NUGGETS 30-26
Arron Affalo has dominated over the Nuggets last 5 games by averaging 20.4ppg on .514 shooting from the field and .458 from 3s to lead the Nuggets to a 3-2 record. The Nuggets are barely holding on to the eighth seed in the Western Conference, but they might just make the playoffs if Affalo continues to play this well.
18 (18) JAZZ 29-28
The Jazz are only 1.5 games behind the Nuggets for the final spot, so it's still really early to count them out, but I'm going to stick to my early season prediction that they are going to miss the playoffs.
19 (15) SIXERS 29-27
After a brilliant start, the Sixers are falling faster than the stock market during the Great Depression. They are currently only a game ahead of the surging Bucks and are in danger of missing the playoffs, which would be a travesty, especially after starting the season with a 16-6 record. Since then, the Sixers have only won only 13 of their last 34 games, ouch!
20 (20) TRAIL BLAZERS 27-30
The Blazers are 3.5 games out of the playoffs and with 9 games left and momentum, this team has less than a 20 percent chance of making the playoffs. The only reason I give them 20 percent is I believe they could make the playoffs if they won their last 9 games, which I highly doubt.
21 (21) TIMBERWOLVES 25-32
Until 10 games ago, the Timberwolves had a slight chance of making the playoffs. Unfortunately the schedule and simply plain exhaustion finally caught up with this team. After starting with a 23-24 record, the Wolves have since lost 8 of their last 10 games and are currently losers of their last five games. Even if thy win their last 9, the Wolves have less than a 5 percent chance of making the playoffs this season.
22 (22) NETS 21-37
The Nets Gerald Green has found a home and before anyone start feeling sorry for the Nets because they missed out on Howard, I think they should hold off for the summer. This team has everything going for them. The move to Brooklyn New York. Several nice draft picks, a few good young players and cap room with a multi-billionaire owner willing to spend, has the Nets future looking very bright. I really don't see Deron Williams passing all of that up to team up with Nowitzki- the Mavericks aging star - when he could be the star in New York City in the NBA's newest arena.
23 (24) WARRIORS 22-33
The Golden State Warriors have had a very disappointing season to say the least and hanging on to Steph Curry and his bump ankle, rather than trading him for CP3 when they had the chance, basically came back to haunt them. I believe the Warriors give up on making the playoffs when they traded Monte Ellis. The good news is Klay Thompson is developing into a shooting guard and when next season rolls around, the Warriors will be adding hopefully a healthy Steph Curry, Andrew Bogut and an high lottery draft pick.
24 (23) PISTONS 21-35
The Piston have the two hardest positions covered for the future and that would be the center and point guard positions. I expect the Pistons to build around center Greg Monroe and point guard Brandon Knight, and a few lottery picks this summer will only help speed up the rebuilding process for them next season.
25 (26) RAPTORS 20-37
After a nice 4-game stretch in which he averaged 22.8ppg, Bargnani did not play the second half of the Raptors game against Thunder due to tightness in his left calf. I expect Bargnani to miss some games, but it may work out to the Raptors advantage because the more losses they pile up, the higher their chances are of drafting the number overall 1 pick in the draft this summer.
BOTTOM FEEDERS
26 (25) KINGS 19-38
There's Dwight Howard and then there's DeMarcus Cousin, the enigmatic and often misunderstood second most talented big man in basketball. Sky is the limit for this guy. If he continues to improve and matures and if he seriously commits to playing defense, I believe he could be the best big man in the game even over Dwight Howard. I think his upside is really huge, but whether he has the mental strength to take his game to the next level remains to be seen
27 (28) HORNETS 15-41
I wonder what the NBA conspiracy theorist would say if the Hornets end up with the number 1 overall pick in next year's draft? Well, what most people need to realize is that the Hornets has the third best chance of drafting Anthony Davis - the clear cut one number pick - because they currently own the league's third worst record.
28 (27) CAVALIERS 18-36
Kyrie Irving is expected to miss 3 more games due to a shoulder injury, but I think the Cavaliers should consider shutting Irving down for the rest of the season, because it will only increase their chances of landing Anthony Davis. And because Irving already has the Rookie of the Year Award locked, so there is basically no real incentive to play him, at least I wouldn't.
29 (29) WIZARDS 12-44
John Wall probably can't wait for the season to be over. He's had a very disappointing sophomore season and his Wizards are only better than one team, the Bobcats. I think Wall should really rededicate himself this off-season and reach out to some veterans, because I still believe his upside is off the charts, but he does need some guidance.
30 (30) BOBCATS 7-47
The only think Michael Jordan is looking forward to at this point, would be an announcement that goes something like this: And the number one pick goes to, the Charlotte Bobcats. Every team could use Anthony Davis, but no team needs him as much as the Bobcats. To be honest I truly hope that the Bobcats get him, but if he ended up with the Cavaliers, watch out!
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