We’re back with yet another edition of the weekly Power Rankings, and for another week, things have changed drastically around the NBA, and not just on-court.

The blemishes left from the risk of operating a full season in the midst of a global pandemic without a bubble is taking their toll on an uncharacteristic season full of its own surprises and unforeseen circumstances. Rarely is there ever conventionality, and that’s nary been more apparent than this week since a league-wide COVID-19 outbreak could be on the horizon. Commissioner Adam Silver has mentioned an apprehensiveness to pause the season for competitive purposes, as nearly 1/4 of the teams in the NBA have been affected by a player having to sit out as a result of health and safety protocols.

The season is young, and while losing a few bodies for the moment being isn’t too injurious for the entire league to garner another shutdown, in the long run, the bottom line is that the current plan of keeping the season going while being remissive of how this is affecting the fairness of the game may not be sustainable, pending the severity of the pandemic in the early wintry months of 2021.

Back to basketball for a second, the Golden State Warriors might not be of laughing matter anymore, as if they’ve ever been. The previous struggles both Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre had are starting to fade, and it is wearing off on the rest of the entire supporting cast and crew around Stephen Curry with them winning six of their last eight contests. As for the top of the Western food chain, the Lakers continue to reign as the league’s best team even with injuries stacking up. But for teams like the Nets and Hawks, a blend of chemistry issues and external distractions have led to their regression.

Now that we’re approaching the fourth week of play, let’s take a look at where each team stands.

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1. Los Angeles Lakers (8-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)

Excusing a loss to the San Antonio Spurs at home even with LeBron James and Anthony Davis combining for 50 points, the Lakers, whenever they feel like flipping the switch, still look like the league’s most dangerous team. Which is, of course, frightening, considering they’re getting better by the minute as soon as new pieces Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrel continue to get more acclimated to their new team. Following the loss to the Spurs, they survived a 35-point explosion from Bulls star Zach Lavine to hold on for a 117-115 home win, and remained perfect on the road by giving it to the Rockets in a home 120-102 blowout in which Markieff Morris and new Rocket DeMarcus Cousins were ejected after an altercation.

Their late-game defense is questionable, but always compensated for by game-breaking offense, and they’re not just getting it from their arduous LBJ-AD frontcourt; 2nd-year talent Talen Horton-Tucker had a breakout game against Houston on Sunday night, scoring 17 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing 3 assists and swiping the defense loose for four steals in 21 minutes.

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2. Phoenix Suns (7-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 4)

For the team with the second-best record in the West, they could’ve very well overtaken the top spot had it not been for their failed comeback against the Clippers last Sunday. Still, they saw some good competition come their way, and they answered the call in exceptional fashion, going 3-0 against the Pelicans, Jazz, and Nuggets. Now winners of four of their last five, the Suns look like a well-oiled machine, and Chris Paul’s influence is not to be understated.

Ball movement is their M.O., evident in them going 2-1 in their last three games, as Villanova standout Mikal Bridges found his groove against the Pacers in this system revitalized by Paul’s presence. He would end up going off for a career-high 34 points off 12-18 shooting from the field and 6-8 shooting from downtown.

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3. Los Angeles Clippers (7-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 2)

Aside from the Clips going 3-1 this past week and avoiding blatant disaster in blowing a huge lead to the Suns, they’re still in the driver’s seat, getting solid contributions from the likes of Serge Ibaka and Lou Williams. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are doing their part, obviously, but the help from new Clipper Nicolas Batum, who’s averaged 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds off of 53 percent shooting from deep, has been greatly appreciated. Defense seems to be an issue, surprisingly evident in their loss of a 22-point lead against the Warriors, and their lack of a true point guard that is a consistent scorer is felt when their two stars get cold.

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4. Utah Jazz (6-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 7)

Well, it seems like Donovan Mitchell’s cold spell has worn off completely. Since his abhorrent start to the season, he’s averaged 26 points in the last three games he’s played. And with Mike Conley, who has picked up the slack for this low-scoring backcourt by averaging over 21 points and six assists on 47 percent shooting this past week, he’s finally getting the assistance he needs. Bojan Bogdanovic has snapped out of his cold streak, also going 6-of-7 from deep in a 28-point scoring effort against the Spurs.

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5. Philadelphia 76ers (7-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 3)

On Thursday, the Sixers possessed the league’s best record, and promptly, four days later, they’d only cycle eight players onto the court to create a makeshift Sixers team that was crushed by a visiting Denver Nuggets team, all due to the huge hit the team took from the health and safety protocols. Since last Thursday, they’ve dropped two consecutive games. When healthy, the 76ers are a sure-as-day top-three team in the NBA but now that they facing a few games without Ben Simmons, who is tending to a knee issue, things may get even more difficult. Barring postponement, a game against the struggling Hawks should get them back into winning shape.

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6. Milwaukee Bucks (6-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 13)

Though Giannis Antetokounmpo sat out in the Bucks’ 10-point win over Cleveland after sustaining a nasty fall against the Jazz a couple of nights before, the Bucks star scored a rousing 27 points in one half against the Jazz for a total of 35 points off 14-25 shooting. It’s been a rather gradual welcoming into the fold for new acquisitions Jrue Holiday, but the mindset of defensive tenacity stays the same. In fact, all of Milwaukee’s wins have come by a winning margin of 10 points or more.

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7. Boston Celtics (7-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 10)

It seemed as if the Celtics had got the ball rolling being led by their two superstar wings in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (combined 25.1 ppg through 10 games) as they reeled in four straight convincing wins without a starting point guard. Only trailing the Philadelphia 76ers for the Eastern lead, the C’s then became included in the slew of teams impacted by the health and safety protocol fiasco, losing both Tatum and Brown as well as Robert Williams III and others due to a team outbreak likely caused by close contact with the reportedly-contagious Washington Wizards.

Two upcoming games of theirs against the Heat and Bulls have been postponed, and with Jayson Tatum recently testing positive for the virus, many bodies won’t be available for the next 2-to-3 weeks for a Celtics team that finally looked like it found its stride.

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8. Indiana Pacers (6-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 8)

Though not moving an inch in this week’s rankings due to a loss against the Suns in which they allowed Mikal Bridges to score a career-high 34 points, Domantas Sabonis has really shined, scoring 28 points and snatching 22 boards off the glass to become the first player since Jermaine O’ Neal in 2003 to post the 20-20 stat in a single game in a Pacers uniform. It’s a testament to the work he has put in to be one of the game’s youngest and most promising bigs, and with games against teams like Sacramento and Portland who are equally insufficient at defending the paint, more opportunities for achieving more personal records will arise.

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9. Miami Heat (4-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 17)

A 2-1 week with a career-high performance from Tyler Herro against the Wizards resulted in a murky future for the Heat, at least in the immediate sense. Though they were supposed to have a rematch against the Celtics on Sunday, the game got suspended and even worse, Avery Bradley’s status, for at least another game due to health and safety protocols, will be in doubt. Combined with the ankle ailment of Jimmy Butler, they face higher hurdles to climb with increasingly difficult scheduling with back to back games against Philadelphia coming up.

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10. Dallas Mavericks (5-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 22)

Alongside Luka Doncic, who seems to have turned the corner in overall productivity and consistency,  has been the play of Tim Hardaway Jr., who’s gained a lot of respect from his coaching staff and organization for his devotion and work ethic as well as his desire to not just be “the third or fourth option” on a talented roster. He’s stepped up during Dallas’ three-game winning streak and revival, first by scoring 30 points off 11-14 shooting against Houston, and then he had his highest-scoring game as a Dallas Maverick – a 36-point superstar showcase against the Magic. Dallas is one of the teams that will also have a game or two postponed as a result of the COVID outbreak affecting the league, since power forward Maxi Kleiber will be quarantined 10-14 days with a positive virus test.

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11. Portland Trail Blazers (5-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 16)

Portland’s backcourt can score, if that needed any further confirmation, and while it’s been a little inconsistent as both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum take turns putting up all-world numbers on a nightly basis, both guards lead their teams in scoring nearly every night. Defensively, it’s been anything but stellar, now as the 23-ranked team in all of the NBA. Their second unit’s frontcourt also remain incapable of getting stops; Enes Kanter and Carmelo significantly lower the team’s defensive prowess, allowing 115.9 points per 100 possessions when sharing the court.

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12. Denver Nuggets (5-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 19)

Another team caught up in the web of the health and safety protocol problem, Denver was supposed to get Michael Porter Jr. back from a short quarantine period, only to end up losing him even longer because of protocol. Despite not having their third-best player, it hasn’t directly affected the Nuggets, since they’ve been able to win without him, now winners of four of their last five. Nikola Jokic still looks insurmountable as a matchup nightmare, Jamal Murray’s shot has finally returned from the bubble, and Gary Harris, whom they’ve announced would not be in trade talks, has been impressive, averaging 16.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and one assist in his last three games.

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13. Golden State Warriors (6-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 15)

The Dubs raise two spots in this week’s rankings, and for good reason. Imagine a world where Stephen Curry has the most forgettable performance from the field in his career…and the Warriors, down a backcourt compadre in Klay Thompson, win against a respectable opponent that could very well be in the playoffs a few months from now? That’s what’s happening in the good fortune of the Warriors at the moment, as Curry shot 2-for-16 from the field in a Warriors two-point win over visiting Toronto. The reason? Andrew Wiggins, now visibly gaining more confidence by the day, led them in scoring with 17. Winners of four of their last five, the only thing holding them back has been the rough outside shooting from Kelly Oubre, who is now 7-of-50 from downtown on the season.

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14. San Antonio Spurs (5-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 20)

The Spurs picked up a signature win up against the Lakers in the midst of their third week of play, but they’ll have to find a way to earn their sixth win without DeMar DeRozan, who in his own accord is having a noteworthy year worthy of praise. He is averaging 21.2 points per game off 49 percent shooting, and a true shooting percentage of 59.9 percent this year with a career-high 7 assists per game that he’s also putting up, but will not be in the Spurs’ rotation against Minnesota this week as he tends to personal matters. Also worth the mention, he’s confidently shooting – and making – as many threes in nine games this year that he made all year last season.

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15. Brooklyn Nets (5-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 14)

The Nets drop a spot in this week’s ranking, and it’s more to do with the behind-the-scenes drama mixed with the health and safety protocol holdouts to key pieces. Kyrie Irving, who sat out in consecutive contests for “personal reasons of not wanting to play” and Kevin Durant, who also sat out but for COVID-19 protocol reasons, missed three games in a row, are now having their work cut out for them as the Nets are now under .500 for the first time this year.

Caris LeVert has been responsible for picking up their workloads as the third best player on the team, averaging 23.2 points, 6.4 assists and 4.4 rebounds in the Nets’ last five games. If the Nets cannot get back to full strength soon, Denver, Orlando, New York and Milwaukee will make things harder for a Nets team that’s suddenly treading water.

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16. Houston Rockets (3-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 5)

Houston drops 11 spots in this week’s rankings, and James Harden’s recent struggles. Since returning from an ankle sprain, Harden’s been mediocre, per his standards, averaging 17.8 points off an underwhelming 39.8 shooting percentage. In three of those contests, his poor scoring performances have resulted in losses, and after being shellacked by the Lakers on Sunday night, another showdown with the Lakers await, as well as a back-to-back series duel with the Spurs.

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17. New Orleans Pelicans (4-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 9)

It’s been a rough go of it for the Pelicans, who had three very winnable games with multi-possession leads against the Pacers, (up six with 21 seconds) the Thunder (up four with 2:00 left) and the Hornets (up 18 at one point) but dropped all three. It also looks like, from a defensive standpoint, they struggle to understand and enact their defensive schemes against opponents. The outside shooting as a team (32.2) has been worrisome as well, as it’s greatly shrunk driving lanes and creation spots on the wings for both Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram this season.

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18. Atlanta Hawks (4-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 6)

It’s been a notable fall-off for Atlanta, who’s cooled off since their hot 4-1 start that put the league on notice in the season’s first two weeks. Injuries are becoming too overwhelming to overcome – Danilo Gallinari is still out with an ankle sprain, Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn have played in a combined two games (Rondo’s played both; Dunn hasn’t suited up for them yet) and recently, Bogdan Bogdanovic suffered a fractured right knee and his timetable to return is unknown. Furthermore, Trae Young has a turnover problem, giving away 19 possessions in his past three games.

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19. Orlando Magic (6-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 11)

The Magic may have “run out of magic”, and have, more or less, become cursed in the past couple of days. After going 4-0 to open the week, they’ve gone a pedestrian 2-4 and have seen Markelle Fultz unceremoniously tear his ACL during last Wednesday’s win over Cleveland. They’re now down two starters with Jonathan Isaac suffering the same injury back in the bubble this past summer, and now have to rely on the tandem of rookie Cole Anthony and Terrence Ross to supply backcourt offense with quite possibly the worst cour game stretch of any team in the NBA right now – Milwaukee, two games against Boston and one game against Brooklyn is next up on the schedule.

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20. Charlotte Hornets (5-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 27)

Raising seven spots are the Charlotte Hornets, who have shown they’re better when they start their fourth overall pick LaMelo Ball, or just overall have him on the court. While matched up against the Pelicans and his brother Lonzo for the first time in the league, as well as being on a primetime ESPN broadcast, Ball dropped 22 and was the catalyst to the Hornets overcoming an 18-point lead to knock off the Pelicans on the road. One game later, he became the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double in a win against the Hawks.

The Hornets finished their week on a positive note, going 3-1 to finish it while being led by Gordon Hayward, who’s undergoing a career revival on a new team, as he has averaged 25.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 4 games.

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21. New York Knicks (5-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 18)

Though expected, the Knickerbockers have floated back down to earth, following two blowout losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder and an ugly home loss to the visiting Nuggets. However, Julius Randle, though a likely trade asset if all goes well and the Knicks end up as a tenth seed or lower in the East at season’s end, is playing like an All-Star, playing like a walking-double-double with averages of 23.4 points, 13.2 rebounds and 7.2 assists in 5 games.

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22. Cleveland Cavaliers (5-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 12)

A 1-3 week is probably a good enough reason to drop the Cavaliers ten spots in this week’s rankings, as they’ve also fallen back down to earth with a fairly easy schedule including the likes of Milwaukee – who they lost to by 10 even with them not having Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court – Orlando and Memphis. Though Andre Drummond fought his hardest to compete with him scoring 26 points and grabbing 24 rebounds, Cleveland’s true lack of talent (that’s still developing) showed against good teams this past week.

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23. Oklahoma City Thunder (5-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 28)

It seems that the first year under Chris Paul that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had done a bunch of good for the confidence of the third-year guard of Kentucky. After expectedly starting the season 1-3, OKC went 4-1 away from Chesapeake Energy Arena, and during their recent road trip, SGA averaged 20 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.8 assists.

He capped off their road trip with a signature 31-point, 6-assist, and 7 rebound night against the Nets this past Sunday, and in retrospect, it feels like last year watching these Thunder; we are once again seeing a blend of young, impressionable lottery-pick players working with grizzled veterans to engineer some trap wins against top talent when teams who think they’re getting an easy game on the schedule are least expecting it. But, their upcoming schedule that includes the likes of the Lakers, Spurs and Sixers will likely curb their expectations.

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24. Sacramento Kings (4-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 21)

Sacramento drops three spots this week, and they’ve only won one game since their 3-1 start leftover from the beginning of the season. One thing that’s solid: new GM Monte McNair hit a home run with selecting Tyrese Haliburton in the first round of the 2020 draft. The Iowa State guard is a starter already, and scored 12 points off 5-8 shooting with eight assists in a 144-123 road loss to the struggling Raptors. His poise, control and equanimity as a rookie is exemplary, and Kings fans have to wonder how he slipped outside of the top-10 and to them in the draft.

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25. Chicago Bulls (4-7, Last Week’s Ranking: 30)

The Bulls have to be commended for how much they’ve stayed in games, but they, understandably, have problems closing those tight contests, and during their West Coast voyage, went 1-3 as a team while only beating the Blazers and losing to the Lakers, Clippers and Kings by a combined nine points. Zach LaVine has been the sole reason they’ve even been competitive, scoring 35 against the Lakers to lose by two points and subsequently dropping 45 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in the three-point loss to the Clippers two nights later. He’s set records during this hot scoring streak, becoming the second Bull since Derrick Rose to post a stat-line of 40-5-5 for five games in a Bulls uniform.

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26. Toronto Raptors (2-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 23)

It’s gone from bad to worse for the Raptors, who have more than struggled out of the gates for the worst start of the Nick Nurse era. Aside from slightly recalibrating with a 144-123 win over Sacramento, they’re well on the outside looking in as a fringe lottery pick team, or at least that’s what they’ve looked like.

The loss of Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol has really done them in, and they’re without both facilitation from inside the paint and rim protection with the both of them playing elsewhere. They’re still a competitive team, but without a true shot creator anywhere other than the guard spot, they cannot trust Pascal Siakam, who in all means is performing optimally with an averaged 24 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in the Raps’ last four games, to be that guy especially when he has such a limited scoring acumen.

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27. Memphis Grizzlies (3-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 24)

During what’s been a tumultuous period of turbulence on the Grizzlies’ season so far, injuries have ravaged a promising young team that is set to make a run for the playoffs. A bright spot for their dark times: Desmond Bane, the 3-and-D prospect out of TCU and their first-round pick, has done quite well in the beginning of his career, averaging 8.9 points while shooting 48 percent from deep – the second-best average of all rookies this season.

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28. Minnesota Timberwolves (3-7, Last Week’s Ranking: 26)

Dropping two spots in this week’s ranking are the Timberwolves, who got Karl Anthony-Towns back from a wrist injury. Prior to his return, the Wolves were still in the midst of an seven-game losing streak, and even with him coming back, they were unable to scrape away a win against the Spurs. Two games against the equally-unhealthy Grizzlies will tell the story on whether or not these Wolves can be taken seriously with their health improving by the day.

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29. Detroit Pistons (2-8, Last Week’s Ranking: 29)

The highlight of the Pistons’ week was a 110-105 win over the Suns at home after trailing by 23 points in the second quarter, but they’ve gone only a mediocre 1-3 since then. Jerami Grant is a walking highlight and Blake Griffin’s knee seems intact, but the rest of the roster is still in the process of developing, and aiding in the development of their younger teammates.

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30. Washington Wizards (2-8, Last Week’s Ranking: 25)

This is starting to look – and feel – like last season all over again, but way worse. 2-8 is pretty bad, and now Thomas Bryant, their starting center, is out for the season with a torn ACL. Bradley Beal cannot catch a break, and though the star is practically putting up 45+ points a night without any help (Russell Westbrook is going to be out “at least a week” with a quad injury) they continue to look lost on defense, now having the 27th ranked defense in the NBA.

Happy belated New Year! The first Power Rankings sheet of 2021 might be the most abnormal ranking we’ve done in a while, as is the second week of every new season. A bunch of odd losing and winning streaks come and go, but in a shortened season, it’s clear as day that whoever can get hot will remain hot, and those that get out of the blocks slowly hardly ever recover.

The 72-game season will not be so kind to teams who don’t clean up and execute the simple things, since there won’t be enough time in the day to make the proper adjustments there could be made in a regular 82-game campaign. However, certain teams that were preseason playoff locks coming into this year who are experiencing a downturn in productivity shouldn’t fret, since they have all the pieces that need to work through the kinks this early in the year.

Both the Lakers and Clippers stayed strong and resilient atop the rankings for another week, while the Brooklyn Nets, devastated by the news surrounding Spencer Dinwiddie’s season-ending (for all we know) ACL tear, have dropped 4 of their last 5 since their win on Christmas against the Celtics. It’s a big shakeup in week 2’s Power Rankings, so let’s get into the chaos for another week.

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1. Los Angeles Lakers (5-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 2)

Consider it a small sample size that doesn’t quite tell the whole story, but the Lakers are quite the squad, as we’ve all come to expect. Aside from only losing two games at home this year, the Lakers are rolling on the road, now a perfect 3-0 away from the Staples Center, and as always a good offense is engineered by a suffocating defense, and the Lakers are posting the sixth-best defensive rating in the NBA at the moment.  LeBron James is starting to look like the guy who finished second in MVP voting last season, as the four-time Finals MVP casually put up a triple-double against the Spurs and continued his greatness with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists against the Grizzlies.

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2. Los Angeles Clippers (5-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 7)

Talk about an adjustment. The Clips, salivating of a comeback-to-relevancy win to regain some credibility as a serious threat to the Lakers in the West after blowing a franchise-worst 51-point loss to the Mavericks last week, got back on the saddle in their second week of play. How’s bludgeoning the Trail Blazers and Timberwolves by 23 each sound? Paul George is back to his regular-season stat sheet filling ways, evident in his 39-point extravaganza against the similarly 5-2 Suns that garnered some chippiness from Devin Booker and the Clippers’ Pacific division rivals. However, big leads continue to be an issue to keep, and once teams start to go on runs against them, they can’t keep up or stop them from letting those leads build.

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3. Philadelphia 76ers (5-1, Last Week’s Ranking: 9)

Consistent offense seems to be a problem the Doc Rivers-led Sixers have yet to solve, but what hasn’t hurt them has been their stifling half-court defense, now especially since the 76ers have flexed their defensive prowess with the league’s best defensive rating. It’s become an evolutionary tale for a Sixers team that last year was as proficient on the opposite end of the floor since they finished third in the league last year in the category and behind Ben Simmons’ overtly adequate skill of stopping guards that want to beat him off the dribble as well as challenging slashers and bigs under the bucket as a 6’10 mismatch proves to be something the league’s most shifty creators cannot get around in the start of this season.

But, we’ll see how good this Sixers team can be with a tough five-game stretch against five teams that are really good at scoring the basketball – Brooklyn, Denver, Atlanta, and two games against Miami await the 5-1 Sixers to start 2021 for them.

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4. Phoenix Suns (5-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 14)

Hopefully, this isn’t too much of deja vu from last year – the Suns got hot and put the league on notice with a .500 record that was constructed by the immaculate play of Devin Booker, Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Mikal Bridges, and the rest of the 2019-20 Suns and were promptly humbled from a hard schedule and lack of true talent other than the four mentioned. It’s different this time around, and with Chris Paul to accompany him, the spacing is apparent and being put to use as Booker and others like DeAndre Ayton are cooking defenses left and right to help the Suns claim the second-best record in the NBA, for the time being at least.

Aside from a comeback bid falling short against the Clippers, the Suns are showing they belong in the West, and a balanced scoring effort is working out for them, not just in their starting lineup, but off the bench as Cameron Johnson and Cameron Payne lead the second unit in scoring.

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5. Houston Rockets (2-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 21)

No joke – Christian Wood is putting in his bid for the MVP award this early in the new year. It seems like a change of scenery was the only necessary thing for the 6’10 Power Forward who was already putting up some respectable numbers in Detroit, as the former Running Rebel has scored 31, 23, 21, and 20 points in his first four games in a Rockets uniform, and has averaged 23.7 points per game under new head coach Stephen Silas.

He’s a double-double machine who’s per 36 of 23.4 ppg., 10.6 rpg., and 2.2 bpg. suggest that he’s only going to get better as the season progresses, and on another note, it’s likely James Harden remains a Rocket for the time being since the Rockets post a top-12 offensive rating that’s sure to improve with John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Wood and Harden grow more chemistry with one another. The minute they do…watch out.

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6. Atlanta Hawks (4-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 6)

Take Atlanta’s 145-141 loss to the top-heavy Brooklyn Nets with a grain of salt – a team that’s still rebuilding and developing hung in there with the best of em’ in the KD and Kyrie-led Nets and had one of the games of the year with Trae Young leading the charge as one of the league’s blossoming young talents. And also, take into account their redeeming win in convincing fashion against the Nets in the two-game series one game later, noteworthy of their offensive system clicking on all cylinders this early into the season. The Hawks are one of the most exciting teams to watch this year if you ever get a chance to see them, and their playoff goals look as attainable as ever with the fifth-best record in the Eastern Conference so far.

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7. Utah Jazz (4-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 10)

A lot of things are going wrong for the Jazz right now, like Donovan Mitchell’s abhorrent start, but that is being heavily outweighed by the amount of good that’s fallen upon Utah this early on. Last year, Jazz supporters and media prognosticators both hammered Mike Conley’s inability to transition into Quin Snyder’s system with ease, as the Grizzlies’ all-time scorer struggled mightily in his new city following his departure from Memphis last season.

That isn’t the case this season and the veteran point guard is picking up the slack for the struggling Mitchell, leading his team in scoring with 20.3 points per game as well as overall plus-minus. He’s getting into the flow of things and being the elusive, Ball-IQ-savvy floor general that makes his team better, appearing as second on the league assist list.

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8. Indiana Pacers (4-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 5)

At 4-2 and in the second seed within the Eastern Conference, you’re starting to see what staying in good health can do for a Pacers team that’s constructed well enough to challenge for a playoff spot. Coach Nate Bjorksen has these Pacers, well, pacing, down the floor and hustling on D with the seventh-best defensive rating in basketball, and quickly turns that into a breakneck offense that puts out the sixth-best scoring effort in the NBA.

Victor Oladipo and Malcolm Brogdon looking like a near-perfect pairing is one thing, but having the growing Domantas Sabonis who’s becoming more of an adept, confident scorer on a nightly basis, is another factor that plays into their favor. However, they are going to be one man short, as they’re temporarily losing TJ Warren for an extended period of time as he gets surgery done in a stress fracture on his left foot.

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9. New Orleans Pelicans (4-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 16)

The Pelicans find themselves in the top-10 of the Power Rankings for the first time this year after rebounding from an embarrassing blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns, and their 4-2 record has largely been as a result of Stan Van Gundy’s defensive approach of packing the paint with both shot-blocking aficionados Zion Williamson and Steven Adams closing off driving angles to the cup and the trio of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Eric Bledsoe forcing opposing offenses to get theirs from outside the perimeter.

Call it a blast from the past and SVG’s bread and butter of relying upon his bigs as the backbone of the defense, but it’s paid off in dividends; in six games, the Pels are the fourth-best defensive team in the NBA and are a top-10 team in opponent three-point percentage, and additionally are only allowing 38 percent of opposing shots to fall from within the paint this season.

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10. Boston Celtics (4-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 8)

The Celtics drop two spots in this week’s rankings, mainly due to some uncharacteristic losses to lesser opponents in the Pacers and Pistons. Two series against the two Eastern foes told a couple of things about these Celtics: yes, the Jays are awesome together, but beside them, this poorly built team is truly suffering without a third scorer in the starting lineup. Injuries to both guards Kemba Walker (who’s scheduled to come back some time this month) and Jeff Teague really increase the volume of touches for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but what exists on their bench (Grant Williams, Semi Ojeleye, surprising rookie Payton Pritchard, and more) may not do the trick to get the Celtics back onto the track of the deep playoff runs they’ve experienced for the last few years.

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11. Orlando Magic (4-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 11)

The Magic started off the season going undefeated at 4-0, but snapped back into reality and with their increasingly challenging schedule, things may not improve for a Magic team still missing some venerable pieces in their frontcourt, most notably Jonathan Isaac. After dropping two straight to the Sixers and Thunder, the hot start the Magic got on this year is starting to cool off now, and they’ll greatly need for their $40M asset in Markelle Fultz to get over his gripping inconsistencies — he is shooting just over 13-43 from the field in the past three games.

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12. Cleveland Cavaliers (4-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 12)

Bad news and good news follow the Cavs after two weeks of play. Bad news first: their fiery perfect start to the season finally concluded after two straight losses coming into this week, but the good news: they put on quite arguably their best performance of the season against Atlanta in which they held the league’s second-best offense to under 100 points and Collin Sexton seems to be turning the corner as a dangerous two-way threat, as he scored a team-high 27 points against the Hawks and extended his streak of games with 20+ points to 11 games, which of course has carried over from last season. The rebuild is off to a strong start in the third year of the post-LeBron era in Cleveland, and newly-appointed head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has done a phenomenal job in his first 17 games within the role.

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13. Milwaukee Bucks (3-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 3)

Just like the Lakers, a small sample size won’t foretell the story of the Bucks’ 2020-21 season in a nutshell, and quite frankly, their position on this list isn’t exactly warranted since the Bucks know and feel as if they’re better than their even 3-3 record, as told in their stampeding of the Bulls and split series with the Heat. But, with them dropping one to the team that beat them in five games back in the bubble’s Eastern Conference Semifinals, the questions surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s skillset and improvement from last season as a pure scorer in the halfcourt when defenses bring their wall coverages are still within conversations on whether or not he’ll be rewarded the MVP award for a third-straight time.

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14. Brooklyn Nets (3-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)

Oh, how fortune can flip in the matter of days.

Though the Nets started off their season in expeditious fashion cruising past Boston and Golden State and winning by double digits in both contests, lady luck just ripped the rug from right under the Nets, as they would go on to drop four of their last five contests. Those losses, largely incumbent upon the lack of the Nets having a true third scorer other than Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, are also due to the fact that from a team defense perspective, there just isn’t as much consistency from that of a championship contender.

A 107.3 defensive rating isn’t impressive — rather a middle of the pack rating, probable residue from giving up 141 points to the Atlanta Hawks in a barnburner — and their struggles have raised questions about their depth and decision making in the clutch.

It was said by a certain Kyrie Irving that he’s honored to have another guy next to him that can score whenever the team needed a bucket down the stretch, but per their loss to the Wizards, where both Irving and Durant had good looks to close out the Wizards at home and failed to do so, that was not to be. Now, they stare at a sub-.500 record with their backup guard Spencer Dinwiddie out for the year, and their star Kevin Durant out for at least a week as he follows COVID-19 safety protocols from being potentially exposed to the virus.

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15. Golden State Warriors (3-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 24)

If there was any phrase to act as a band-aid to the Warriors’ underlying ailments that’ll probably keep them out of the postseason this year if things don’t work themselves out this year, it’ll likely be these:

“Look at Curry man, so inspirational.”

Back to his style of making the dumpster smell sweet (not a slight, just wordplay) Stephen Curry earned his moniker of “Chef Curry” back in incredible fashion, scoring a career-high 62 points in the second meeting of a series with Portland and a near legacy-defining regular-season game.

The Warriors were staring 2-4 in the face, with concerns of shooting confidence seeping in the minds of Kelly Oubre and Andrew Wiggins.In dire need of some absolvement from their offensive woes, in came two-time MVP Stephen Curry flying his cape to save the Dubs from bottom-barrel irrelevancy with a marquee performance against those very Blazers that beat them two nights before.

The season is not lost for Golden State, they’ll just need to find a way to get back on track and get more from their wings to assist Curry, who will have to average 25+ nightly to supply for the lost Klay Thompson, who won’t suit up this season, and possibly a little into next year due to a torn left Achilles.

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16. Portland Trail Blazers (3-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 15)

The season for Portland has been a series of ups and downs, but it could be worse with their .500 record six games into the season. Though some defensive lapses certainly have not gone their way, they have to like their position in the West for the time being, especially after picking up some key wins over the Lakers to open the week. Enes Kanter seems like one of the less-appreciated pickups in the offseason, and he and Carmelo Anthony have underwhelmed on the defensive end for a team that’s sorely needed healthy bodies and help on the opposite side of the ball. But, secondary scoring from CJ McCollum — 28 ppg. off 45 percent shooting — has been a sight for sore eyes, and his quick start is rather uncharacteristic since he usually never starts out this hot.

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17. Miami Heat (2-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 4)

Since the last week of play, Miami once again saw a split of games that told two different stories. In their first game against the Bucks, they perhaps one of their most embarrassing defeats in the history of the franchise in a 45-point loss, and one game after recollected and rallied to come back and beat the Bucks on a back to back. Their offense has looked sporadic when Jimmy Butler was off the floor, but when he was on it, it didn’t pop as it did in the bubble, considering that he hasn’t looked like himself stemming from the ankle injury he sustained at the beginning of the season. In their loss to Dallas on Friay night, the Marquette man didn’t even attempt a shot.

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18. New York Knicks (3-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 27)

Well, it goes to show that old “Thibs” knows how to get the job done. As the last coach of the Timberwolves, a squad that experienced success after a long playoff drought back in 2018, he looks to do the same with a youthful and promising Knicks organization. And he’s off to a great start. Julius Randle’s role on this team was very much an uncertain variable following the decision to stay young and draft potential Rookie of the Year prospect Obi Toppin, but the Kentucky product has come to stake his claim as a franchise centerpiece, for however how long that will last. Averaging a little over 21 points, 10,5 rebounds and 7.5 assists in six contests, he is surely playing the best ball of his career. While the Knicks have a long way to go in terms of building a playoff-caliber roster, they’re quietly making headlines and building a culture that will last, no matter who is in that locker room.

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19. Denver Nuggets (2-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 18)

A rocky start (pun intended) by these Nuggets was met with even more misfortune, as Michael Porter Jr. is being told to quarantine for a couple of games in compliance to the league’s health and safety protocols. But conversely, Jamal Murray is beginning to regain his shot from the bubble and Nikola Jokic is looking like the best pure big man in basketball right now. Jokic is nearly averaging a triple-double, and new acquisition JaMychal Green fits like a glove. They should get that record to look a little better in 2021, since eight of their 11 games on the road feature the likes of the slipping Timberwolves and Mavericks.

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20. San Antonio Spurs (2-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 17)

While the Spurs made history after appointing Becky Hammon to Head Coaching duties following Gregg Popovich’s ejection, the Lakers still walked into AT&T Center and promptly destroyed DeMar DeRozan and the Spurs. From LaMarcus Aldridge’s age looking as if it is going to be a liability to the Spurs’ plans of challenging for a playoff spot, Rudy Gay’s continued inefficiency from deep (now shooting less than 25 percent from three) and their youthfulness not being quite ready to contend against the likes of the West’s elite, the better option is to look at these next few games against both the Clippers and Lakers as chances to watch their younger players develop.

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21. Sacramento Kings (3-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 20)

That euphoric feel of a 3-1 didn’t last as long as folks expected for the Kings, who like a bunch of the lowly teams in the West, lack consistent presence of more than two All-Stars in the starting lineup. Dropping two straight games to a Western powerhouse in Houston that does have that All-Star presence and is a practical measuring stick to what they should model their roster after will cause that lack of success. But what has been a positive for them: rookie Tyrese Haliburton seems to be a pick that new GM Monte McNair may have knocked out of the park. His defensive intuition and decision-making is something to watch grow and develop, but he will be sidelined with a bone bruise in his wrist for at least a week.

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22. Dallas Mavericks (2-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 13)

Luka Doncic and the Mavericks wish they could have a do-over for this season’s opening. It’s been anything but good for these Mavs out of the gate, and Doncic has looked anything but an MVP candidate, now shooting an ugly 16 percent from downtown. Whether that is a conditioning thing following a short offseason and non-committment to an offseason fitness regimen or just a bad start that’ll probably blow over soon, it needs to be sorted out, and quickly, because the Southwest division with Houston and New Orleans is unforgiving and it will shun them if they don’t clean things up.

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23. Toronto Raptors (1-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 19)

What has happened to the once-defending champs? The argument could be made that these Raptors are capable to hang in there with other good competition, and rightfully could be 5-0 as every game they’ve margin of loss has been in the single digits, but 1-4 is their reality right now. Pascal Siakam is either not himself, or he’s regressed back to his G-League skillset, but either way his poor play is hurting the team and he has to right the ship soon. Big man depth continues to be a thorn in their side, but a favorable schedule — starting out with a banged up Boston team, and ending with a talent-deficient Warriors squad — should get them back on the winning track.

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24. Memphis Grizzlies (2-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 23)

Realistically, if injuries weren’t a variable into the Grizzlies’ equation, their record wouldn’t look like what it resembles right now. After losing Ja Morant to an sprained ankle for an undisclosed time, the Grizzlies, with Ja as an active participant for at least ten minutes on the rotation for a contest, have only earned one win against their opponents. While they were able to scrape away a win against the Nets when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant weren’t playing, they’ve suffered consecutive losses to the likes of the Lakers, Celtics, and still have the Lakers, Cavaliers and Nets again at home to play with both Ja and Jaren Jackson Jr. at home on the couch.

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25. Washington Wizards (2-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 28)

Team defensive issues aside, the tandem of Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook have really lit it up in 2020 and 2021, now a perfect 2-0 in the new year. They were able to scrap and claw for a win against the Timberwolves last week without Russell Westbrook, who was sat for rest purposes, and that resulted in Washington’s first win. They soon followed that performance with a nail-biting win against the Nets in which Irving and Durant both played, and with a new year on the horizon as well as the improving health of Rui Hachimura playing a role in his comeback, the Wizards have to be grateful for where they are right now.

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26. Minnesota Timberwolves (2-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 22)

Karl Anthony-Towns’ wrist injury completely deflated any chances of having momentum to enter the new year, and since his absence as been felt, they’ve lost four straight games. There is no remedy to replace KAT’s productivity, but they are using these games to observe and analyze just what each young player on this team needs to work on in order to be a better player and teammate, and they realize this is going to be a long, tedious process of developing a champion. So for Wolves fans, keep the expectations low.

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27. Charlotte Hornets (2-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 26)

LaMelo Ball has been the brightest star for this Hornets team that hasn’t exceeded expectations this year, which was understandable since this is a transitional year filled with weaving new pieces into the roster and getting younger players more comfortable with NBA minutes against top-tier competition. The rookie scored 22 points, grabbed 8 boards and passed for 5 assists in their upset win over the Dallas Mavericks. Team defense and inconsistency in scoring the basketball seems to be their issue, as they’ve given up a combined 235 points in their two losses to Memphis and Philadelphia.

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28. Oklahoma City Thunder (2-3, Last Week’s Ranking: 25)

This season wasn’t supposed to promise Thunder fans another trip to the playoffs, but rather a closer look as the gradual development of their youngest players as well as the roles of leadership undertaken by the likes of veterans Al Horford and George Hill. All of the best laid plans have all gone swimmingly, and they are winning a few games while instructing their young pieces and maintaining their confidence with a variety of minutes. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks like he’s set to be an All-Star someday (maybe sooner than later) and for a majority of their losses, they’ve all been relatively close, which means this team can still compete.

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29. Detroit Pistons (1-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 29)

While Detroit earned their first win of the season against the Celtics on New Year’s Day — thanks to a 24-point explosion from new Piston Jerami Grant — their efforts of developing their young guys isn’t quite off to the strongest start. Killian Hayes has a ways to go until he can be an NBA-caliber point guard, but that’s why Derrick Rose is there to guide him. For the rest of them, winning tight games appears to be too difficult, as their 1-5 record suggests that injuries have piled up and guys aren’t talented enough to compete against the East’s best teams just yet.

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30. Chicago Bulls (3-4, Last Week’s Ranking: 30)

Chandler Hutchinson, Tomas Satoransky and a staffer all tested positive for the Coronavirus this past week, and while Ryan Archidiacono remains out with what’s likely the same diagnosis, depth has crucified a team that’s schedule looks almost insurmountable to overcome right now. Portland, and both Los Angeles teams await them this week….yikes.