Note: I’m starting to base my rankings less on week-to-week performance and more simply on who I think are the best teams in the league. It’s nearly playoff time, so I’m going to start judging teams on their readiness for the tournament. While in the past my rankings have been pretty fluid, they’re going to become more static.
1. Los Angeles Lakers (47-20): You probably want me to downgrade them for losing to the Heat. Not gonna happen. Coming into that game LA had won eight straight; the Heat had lost 5 in a row. Miami was due for a win, the Lakers for a loss, and it was a great, competitive game. Also, Showtime sandwiched nice road wins over the Hawks and Mavericks around the defeat at Miami. The win over Dallas was huge as they chase the Mavs for the #2 seed out west. Andrew Bynum is averaging 13 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 blocks over his last five games. If he keeps that up in the playoffs, no team will take LA to more than six games. Laker fans everywhere buried their face when Kobe Bryant rolled his ankle against Dallas, but in typical fashion, he was back in the game in short order.
2. San Antonio Spurs (54-12): After that bad loss to the Lakers, the most consistent team in the league has won three straight. They haven’t beaten great teams, but it shows resolve to bounce back from a high profile loss. The Spurs get another chance to embarrass the Heat Monday night. It would be most impressive if they could beat Miami again, considering how motivated the Heat should be.
3. Chicago Bulls (47-18): The Bulls could be, and probably will be, a 60-win team this year. Finishing 13-4 is certainly doable for this crew. Michael Jordan must have been drunk, as he spoke at a recent Bulls game saying that Derrick Rose might lead Chicago to another six championships. Hey Michael, you still own the Bobcats. At any rate, the Bulls might have the best combination of star players, effort guys, and defense of any team in the league. They should be favored against the Heat if they matchup in the playoffs and are just a half game behind Boston for the #1 seed out east.
4. Boston Celtics (47-17): A bit of a rough patch for a great team, Boston barely beat the banged up Bucks, and then lost two in a row to the Clippers and 76ers. Both are improved teams, but Boston needs to handle those squads. The recent struggles don’t alarm me, but it’s the wrong time to be losing gimme games with the Bulls catching fire.
5. Dallas Mavericks (47-19): This group will always be a nice regular season team that can’t get very far in the playoffs. They should play the Lakers in the second round this year and may not have home court. Even if they do, they’re poorly equipped to exploit the Lakers. Teams that frustrate the Lakers have quick point guards and multiple guys that can guard Bryant. The Mavs have the ancient Jason Kidd who isn’t even as quick as Derek Fisher. Shawn Marion is the only guy on the Mavs' roster who can guard Bryant, unless you try Peja Stojakovic, and trust me, that will get ugly real quick. The Lakers also have versatile big guys who are ideal defenders for Dirk Nowitzki. It’s just a bad matchup for Dallas all around.
6. Miami Heat (45-21): The Heat are one of the few teams that have two guys fully capable of bothering Bryant. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are athletic, strong, and smart enough to limit Kobe. You could see against the Heat that The Mamba got frustrated down the stretch. The problem for Miami is, the Bulls and Celtics are really tough matchups, so they may never even face the Lakers. It was good to see this team bounce back from a five game skid with the big win over LA and a blowout victory over a good Memphis team.
7. Oklahoma City Thunder (42-23): Finally we have another team pressing to join the top-6 teams in the league who’ve been entrenched as elite all year. The Thunder have won three straight, and reports say that Kendrick Perkins will soon be in the lineup. How confident would you be in the Spurs if they played a fully healthy Thunder squad in the second round of the playoffs? I don’t know either, but it’d be great to watch.
8. Orlando Magic (42-25): I’ve run out of things to say about this team. Dwight Howard is fabulous, and nobody else is all that good. They are probably going to win in the first round and then get mauled by the Celtics in round two.
9. Denver Nuggets (39-27): I wanted to use Denver in my riser spot, but they’ve flat out earned the ninth ranking on this list. They’re 7-2 since trading Carmelo Anthony. They could very well matchup against the Thunder in the first round of this year’s playoffs. That would be an incredibly up-tempo, fun series.
+1. Houston Rockets: They’re 7-3 in their last ten games, putting them just under the .500 mark for the first time this season. Only three games out of the #8 seed out west, this well-coached and deep team could make a run.
--from Adam
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