Franchise Start For Toronto Has Them Leading The Pack
The NBA regular-season is almost in the great white month of December already, how about that?
All I’ve been asked about lately is why I haven’t done NBA Power Rankings, a good question to ask to be honest as we’re in Week 7 of the 2018-19 season.
My response? It’s fun to look at other writers who do and who have, but for me personally it doesn’t feel needed to have a power ranking system with teams less than 15 games into the season.
We’re starting to see teams separate themselves from the pack (kind of), and not every team is clustered together with the same record, making it tough to distinguish who from who.
To this point, it’s been an interesting season to say the least, one in-which most preseason favorites are looking unsettled and still figuring things out. Two teams that were in the conference finals last season, the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets, are both sitting at .500 post-Thanksgiving.
There’s plenty of time for those teams, as well as a number of slumbering clubs to figure it out as the NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint.
Here are my NBA Power Rankings for the Week of 11/19 – 11/25.
1. Toronto Raptors (17-4)
After a scare in Orlando, the Toronto Raptors won their next three games by an average of 14.7 points to finish the week 4-0.
2. Milwaukee Bucks (14-5)
The Bucks are off to a strong start, but their puzzling loss at home to the Phoenix Suns last week prove there’s plenty of work to be done.
3. Golden State Warriors (14-7)
Golden State is 4-5 without Stephen Curry in the lineup, but Kevin Durant carried the team on his back in their past two victories, averaging 38 points in those wins.
4. Oklahoma City Thunder (12-7)
The Oklahoma City Thunder saw a seven-game home winning streak end on Friday night at the hands of the Nuggets, and Russell Westbrook’s 1-for-12 game from beyond the arc was a big reason why. He’s shooting a putrid 17 percent from deep to begin the season.
5. Philadelphia 76ers (14-8)
Philadelphia has some explaining to do for a 121-112 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on their home court last Friday, but Jimmy Butler helped ease the pain of that loss with his dagger 3-pointer on Sunday at the Barclays, his second game winner since joining the 76ers.
6. Los Angeles Clippers (13-6)
The only people more shocked by the Los Angeles Clippers start almost a quarter into the 2018-19 season is Las Vegas. Clips have done it by taking care of business at home, where they’ve won eight straight games.
7. Memphis Grizzlies (12-7)
The Memphis Grizzlies are off to the kind of start we’ve been accustomed to, and the leading cause of that is their defense, which is allowing a league-low 100.9 PPG.
8. Denver Nuggets (13-7)
After dropping six out of their past seven games, the Nuggets responded by winning their next three games, including two on the road over previous Western Conference playoff teams from a season ago.
9. Boston Celtics (10-10)
Brad Stevens may have said it best when he said there’s a myriad of issues permeating for the Boston Celtics. One of them? They’re one of the worst offenses in the NBA. Boston is third worst in the NBA in field goal percentage at 43.7 percent.
10. Los Angeles Lakers (11-8)
The Lakers are grinding out wins, but they couldn’t grind out a in their final game of the week on Sunday in a 108-104 loss to the Orlando Magic. It’s the second time Los Angeles has loss to Orlando in nine days.
11. Portland Trail Blazers (12-8)
The Portland Trail Blazers have lost three straight games, two of those losses came by 28 and 43 points last week. Ouch.
12. Houston Rockets (9-9)
The Houston Rockets appeared to have turned the corner on their sour start to the season with five consecutive wins, but we’re now questioning once again what this team is after an overtime loss in Detroit and a embarrassing loss the following night in Cleveland.
13. Indiana Pacers (11-8)
The Indiana Pacers are very much functioning like the team we saw a season ago. They are 6-7 in games where their opponents score 100+ points.When they don’t? Indiana’s 5-1 in games where they hold opponents under 100 points.
14. Orlando Magic (10-10)
The Orlando Magic were looking for Aaron Gordon to ascend this season into a possible All-Star, but if there’s an All-Star on this team, it’s Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic is averaging 20.4 PPG, 11.3 RPG and 3.6 APG to begin the season.
15. Detroit Pistons (10-7)
A 3-1 week has Dwane Casey’s Detroit Pistons feeling good about themselves. They’ll continue a six-game homestand against the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warriors this week.
16. New Orleans Pelicans (10-10)
The New Orleans Pelicans road woes to begin the season come as a surprise. They are 2-9 on the road a season after finishing seven games above .500 away from the Smoothie King Center.
17. Sacramento Kings (10-10)
Sacramento had a .500 week against teams that made the postseason last season in the Western Conference, nearly escaping Golden State with a win. Not bad for one of the NBA’s youngest teams.
18. San Antonio Spurs (9-10)
The San Antonio Spurs aren’t winning on the road, putting up a 3-7 mark away from home to begin the season.
19. Dallas Mavericks (9-9)
If Dallas ever finds a way to win on the road, we can start talking Western Conference playoff contender as soon as this season. While 8-2 at home, they’re 1-7 on the road.
20. Charlotte Hornets (9-10)
The Charlotte Hornets 2-2 last week, with Kemba Walker scoring 43 points to sink the Boston Celtics in a 117-112 game. Hard to look past their latest defeat, however, which was a 124-123 loss on the road to the lowly Atlanta Hawks.
21. Utah Jazz (9-11)
The Jazz mirror last season’s team and how they started. Utah is in desperate need of a second consistent scorer, and right now they just don’t have that after it appeared over the first few games of the season that Rudy Gobert was ready for a much more heightened role in Utah’s offense.
22. Minnesota Timberwolves (9-11)
After a slow start to the season, Karl-Anthony Towns has picked things up for Minnesota. He had 35 points, 22 rebounds and six assists in Minnesota’s victory over Chicago on Saturday.
23. Brooklyn Nets (8-13)
The Brooklyn Nets are just 2-5 since losing Caris LeVert to a foot injury two weeks ago. A problem for the team has been their defense, which has suffered in his absence.
24. Miami Heat (7-12)
Dwyane Wade gave fans at Scotiabank Arena quite a show on Sunday night when he dropped 35 points off the bench vs the Toronto Raptors. In a season that has gotten off to a tough start, it’s a treat for Heat fans to watch Wade show his vintage self.
25. New York Knicks (7-14)
New York went 3-1 last week, winning three consecutive games for the first time since last December. If they win their next game, it’ll be their first four-game winning streak since last December as well.
26. Washington Wizards (7-12)
The Washington Wizards can’t buy a basket from deep and they may be even worse at defending the long ball, allowing teams to shoot 48.3 percent from beyond the arc.
27. Phoenix Suns (4-16)
The Phoenix Suns called on the ageless Jamal Crawford to help lead them to their first road win of the season last week, and he delivered. The Suns are 1-9 on the road this season.
28. Chicago Bulls (5-15)
The Chicago Bulls are getting scoring from Zach LaVine, but he’s been a defensive liability for the team. It makes you wonder if that was always the reason they weren’t as urgent to sign him to a contract this past offseason.
29. Cleveland Cavaliers (4-14)
The Cavaliers have been the NBA’s worst team for much of the season, but it’s hard to consider them the worst after two straight wins over the Philadelphia 76ers and Houston Rockets.
30. Atlanta Hawks (4-16)
The Atlanta Hawks are allowing an NBA-worst 118.6 PPG. It’s been a key reason for Atlanta’s 4-16 start.
What are your thoughts on this week’s NBA Power Rankings? Leave your comments below!
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