Now that we’re past the festivities of Super Sunday, the focus of the sporting world is on the hardwood, both on the collegiate and professional levels. And concurrently, some of the league’s best teams at this point in the season are locked in on maintaining their momentum, while climbing teams like Milwaukee are beginning to get their legs under them as we enter the second week of February.
Meanwhile, sobering pre-season expectations are hitting teams like the Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, and Orlando Magic, and it’s a mix of injury woes subsequently crashing into pandemic problems that have affected the NBA as a whole. Some teams have been hit harder than others by both plaguing issues and while they haven’t told the whole story as to how their seasons have gone so far, some teams like the Kings and Hawks have capitalized off of some streaks of key wins and are making the case to be within the realms of playoff qualification.
So with that, let’s get down to it and break down this week’s power rankings.
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1. Los Angeles Lakers (18-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 4)
Should LeBron James be this year’s Most Valuable Player? Aside from Philly’s Joel Embiid, if this past week’s story told us anything, it’s a matter of why isn’t he atop the heap of the MVP race. James put up a near triple-double even in the hindrance of a maskless, rowdy, heckling Atlanta Hawks “fan” sitting courtside for 21-9-7, and then one game later goes for a 27-10-10 triple-double against the Nuggets. He finished the week putting up 33 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists against the Pistons and displayed LBJ-like heroics as per usual with back-to-back triples in OT against Detroit at home.
And speaking of that “Courtside Karen” incident, just like last night’s Super Bowl where Chiefs Safety Tyrann Mathieu unintelligently trash-talked Buccaneers Quarterback (and eventual Super Bowl MVP) Tom Brady, you’re much better off not tugging at Superman’s cape. James has averaged 30 points, 7.5 rebounds, 10.5 assists per game off 55.6 percent shooting from the field, and a near career-best 41.7 percent from three-land.
Anthony Davis has noticeably struggled as a scorer in the paint and concerns toward his interior game were accentuated this week, but this team has proven they can turn it on whenever they want, courtesy of their comeback win vs. Denver this past week.
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2. Utah Jazz (19-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 2)
Staying within the top three is this Utah Jazz team that is still on fire as we enter a new month. Their only loss came this month to the Nuggets, and they’ve picked up from where they left off before their 11-game winning streak came to an end against Denver, still a top-5 defensive team in the NBA. Currently, Utah makes the most threes per game, owns the league’s best record, and they hold opposing offenses to an average of 105.7 points per game.
Up by more than 10 points entering Sunday’s contest against the Pacers, a Mike Conley-less Utah Jazz team (hamstring tightness) prevailed behind Donovan Mitchell, who engineered the win against a resilient Pacers team on the verge of a comeback with ferocity in his adeptness to attack the rim and score with ease on the perimeter.
Mitchell came just short of his first career triple-double when he had 27 points, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds off an inefficient but persistent 36 percent from the field. That’s now 15 of their last 16 games they’ve won, and they surely look the part of contenders at this point in the season.
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3. Philadelphia 76ers (17-7, Last Week’s Ranking: 3)
Philly doesn’t move an inch in this week’s rankings, and why should they? A loss to Portland when they didn’t have either Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum was disappointing, but it didn’t dampen the tear that these Sixers have been on since 2021 began. The 76ers remain in first place in the Eastern Conference thanks to the inadequacy of both Brooklyn and rivals Milwaukee and Boston as they continue to sift through their own injury obstacles this early in the new year, and with Philly earning wins over the Lakers at home thanks to a Tobias Harris game-winner and a beatdown of a Nets team that didn’t have either Kevin Durant (health and safety protocols) or Kyrie Irving (finger(s)) it’s become that much more of a possibility the 76ers maintain this dominance over the Eastern Conference that will be leading to a first-place finish in the conference.
Joel Embiid is still a frontrunner on the MVP ladder, averaging a career-high 29.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists off 55 percent shooting in 19 games this season, and more importantly, post a top-15 defense to equal their high scoring outing on a nightly basis.
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4. Los Angeles Clippers (19-5, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)
The Clippers played in what was arguably a finals preview this past Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets on the road and while they suffered a 124-120 loss, they were in a groove heading into that game. That groove, to their chagrin, has turned into a stumble as they’ve lost both Paul George and Patrick Beverley to lower-body ailments. Health has to be a primary focus if they’re to keep their deadlock at first with Utah atop the West, and they know just how lethal they can be when all of their guys are actively getting minutes and contributing to wins.
They gave up a second-half 16-point comeback and dropped a second-straight loss to Boston, an Eastern Conference foe in another inter-conference matchup on Friday night as they didn’t have Jaylen Brown, and then lost to the all-of-a-sudden red-hot Sacramento Kings two days later.
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5. Milwaukee Bucks (15-8, Last Week’s Ranking: 7)
It was only a matter of time that the Bucks got back to playing their best brand of basketball, so it’s no surprise they’re getting back into the swing of things. They’ve recalibrated and molded new pieces into their offensive and defensive schemes so that they could get back to being competitive in the East, and a 4-0 streak will easily signify that noticeable improvements are being made, and quickly. They made the bludgeoning Indiana Pacers humble themselves with a 20-point scalping, then followed that with a performance from Eastern Conference Player of the Week Giannis Antetokounmpo that featured 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists that garnered national attention and exclaimed this statement: the Bucks are coming, and they aren’t backing down.
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6. Brooklyn Nets (14-11, Last Week’s Ranking: 6)
So…that happened.
As if the most publicized team in town needed another lede to add to the already compelling tale about the first year of the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving-James Harden trio in Brooklyn, go ahead and add the 19 minutes that a previously-“quarantined” Durant would play in a game against Toronto (Tampa, I guess?) he apparently wasn’t supposed to even be in right into the scrapbook.
After being told he wouldn’t start as a precaution from being in contact with someone who had an inconclusive COVID-19 test an hour prior to the game, Durant went into the game during the second quarter and was ultimately pulled as a result of further inconclusive testing. It was a weird and inconceivable occurrence, but that leaves Brooklyn without their 7-foot shot creator for the next few games until at least Friday against Golden State.
Brooklyn suffered a couple of losses after Durant was pulled, including that exact game against the Raptors, and went on to lose against the Sixers on the road without both Durant and Kyrie Irving on the floor. These games where players are quarantining directly affect the team’s record and can make playoff positioning a slippery slope now that we’re a quarter way and more through the season.
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7. Phoenix Suns (13-9, Last Week’s Ranking: 9)
Make that five of six games that the Suns have won in the past few weeks, but that doesn’t mean Monty Williams isn’t apprehensive to making lineup changes to fine-tune things about his defensive schemes to produce a couple more wins so Phoenix can remain hot in the middle of the pack in the West. Cameron Johnson was moved to the bench in their loss to the Pelicans last Wednesday as has he scored only 8 points in 26 minutes.
He came off the bench in a sixth-man role, the place he started his career at coming out of UNC back in 2019, and in his place was the stronger defender of the two in 7’0, 240-lb Frank Kaminsky III, who was a temporary plug-in that’s been appraised as an ode to teams playing big, and as he’s the appropriate substitution for that specific role (Monty Williams’ words).
He’s averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds in two starts this season and off the bench this year, Johnson has produced in significant dividends, scoring 17 points and grabbing five rebounds in Sunday’s win over Boston while averaging 15.5 points as an integral piece in the secondary lineup.
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8. San Antonio Spurs (13-10, Last Week’s Ranking: 12)
Moving up three slots this week is the San Antonio Spurs, who are 6-4 in their last 10 contests and are getting healthier in an opportune time. Derrick White continues to get welcomed back into the fold, and DeMar DeRozan is quietly putting together an All-Star season, averaging 19.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5 assists in the Spurs’ last four games. Additionally, he’s putting up a career-best 60.7 true shooting percentage, keeping an attacking mindset to tuck his head to get to the line while making around 88 percent of his attempts at the charity stripe, and involving others in the offense as a point-wing, averaging a career-best 6.6 assists per game.
And, as a surprise to nearly everyone, he’s attempted and made as many threes this year than his first two seasons as a Spur with 14 threes made. Something to keep track of: the Spurs have a +12.0 net rating when DeRozan and White share the floor in Gregg Popovich lineups so far this season.
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9. Denver Nuggets (12-10, Last Week’s Ranking: 5)
Denver is 6-4 in their last 10 games, and Nikola Jokic is still within the frame of the MVP picture. But lately, incomplete rosters for games have resulted in losses, and the injury reports are filling up going into their eighth week of the season. The week opened with the 11-point win and shocking road upset of a then-streaking Utah Jazz team, but they haven’t won since.
Two straight losses featured a 21-point loss to the Lakers that looked nauseatingly similar to the Western Conference Finals in the Orlando bubble and then they ran into a trap game against the suddenly succeeding Sacramento Kings, losing by five and allowing Harrison Barnes to score 28 points and rookie Tyrese Haliburton to drop 23 points, while Jokic went off for a now meaningless 50 points in a losing effort. Denver is still a top-5 defensive team, and that accolade will be put to the test the minute they face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night.
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10. Boston Celtics (12-10, Last Week’s Ranking: 10)
Following their nerve-racking loss to the Lakers last week, the Celtics set their GPS for a Western road trip and during a trip they’re still on at the moment, they’ve gone 2-2 and have some key wins against the Warriors who were at full-strength, and the Clippers when they didn’t have both Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. Led by the superstar trajectory of Jayson Tatum and a “return to what he used to be before injury” game by Kemba Walker, they outlasted the West’s best team before subsequently laying an egg against the Kings and Suns a few days later. They’ve lost four of their last six games and while it’s reportedly truthful that Danny Ainge is looking to make some rapid roster improvements in the coming weeks leading up to the trade deadline, most notably at the center position, they have to be focused on getting healthier just to stay afloat near the top of the East with all other teams in the conference showing their progress in becoming contenders.
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11. Portland Trail Blazers (12-10, Last Week’s Ranking: 11)
Though it’s understood that Damian Lillard has to burn the candle on both ends since his compatriot CJ McCollum will be out for a few more weeks, Lillard’s minute-by-minute usage is something worth the worry, as the 2020-21 season marks the third-highest usage percentage of his career at 30.7. The highest? His 31.5 usage percentage in 2015-16, a season that featured Terry Stotts utilizing Lillard to play over 35.7 minutes per game (second-highest MPG of his career since his rookie season) as he averaged over 25.1 points per game.
This season is almost mirroring those efforts, it’s just that Lillard has become a much more skilled scorer since then, now averaging 29.1 points per game while playing around his career average of 36.4 minutes played at 36.1 minutes per game. It’s something to monitor for sure, and while he’s already showed he could handle the extra workload with season’s past as examples, rest isn’t something they can afford Lillard to have while they tread through the time of not having multiple starters in their five on the floor.
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12. Golden State Warriors (12-11, Last Week’s Ranking: 12)
A 5-5 stretch of 10 games has the Warriors on the cusp of qualifying for a playoff spot at eighth in the oversaturated Western Conference, and a 2-2 week that featured wins over the Pistons and Mavericks as well as losses to the Celtics and Mavericks in a two-game series on the road told one major inconvenient truth about these Dubs: even Stephen Curry’s greatness cannot absolve the ineptitude of a roster that is compact with injuries. The Warriors need to get healthy and get their deep frontcourt composed of James Wiseman, Kevon Looney, and Eric Paschall back as well as hope that Kelly Oubre, who’s struggled mightily to score the basketball, will start to resemble the star wing that averaged over 18 points off an efficient 45.2 percent shooting and 35 percent from deep during his lone but career-best year in Phoenix.
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13. Indiana Pacers (12-12, Last Week’s Ranking: 8)
Hanging on to a .500 record by a thread, the Pacers have lost 6 of their last 10 games and while they’ve been close, defensive lapses and Nate Bjorkgren’s reliance on floor-shrinking Domantas Sabonis played cause to Indy blowing an opportunity to beat the league’s hottest team in the Jazz on Sunday. As this three-game losing streak goes on, It’s becoming apparent the offense will have to diversify from a spacing standpoint and put their lone All-Star Sabonis in different areas around the halfcourt for the offense to not sputter as it has during this period of shifting pieces (ex. Victor Oladipo heading to Houston) and coaching adjustments.
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14. Houston Rockets (11-11, Last Week’s Ranking: 15)
Following some tough news surrounding the faulty right ankle of blossoming All-Star hopeful Christian Wood, Houston will now have to rely on DeMarcus Cousins to do the dirty work inside as the hybrid forward/center for a Rockets team that ranks second in defensive rating and 23rd in offensive rating. Though undermanned, Houston is exceeding expectations this year as a team that’s supposed to coast and monitor the progression of its younger, developing players, as they’ve outdone all prior prognostications with a 7-3 record through their last 10 games to show for it. The West may not allow them to break into the playoff picture with it being so rigid in difficulty, but if the former All-Star Center Cousins can return to pre-injury form like he’s slowly doing (14.6 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per contest) they might just do it.
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15. Sacramento Kings (12-11, Last Week’s Ranking:
Make that seven of eight games that have resulted in wins for the flaming hot Sacramento Kings, who saw their coveted leader and Point Guard De’Aaron Fox reel in Western Conference Player of the Week awards. Moreover, they’ve earned some key wins over the likes of Boston, Denver, and the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-point shooting has been a welcome attribute that’s inflated Fox’s offensive production during this winning part of their season, increasing his 3PT% of 29.2 to now over 32 percent from the field.
Interestingly, his field averages have raised as Luke Walton feels confident to run the offense through the fourth-year guard out of Kentucky as he’s put up a little over 27 points, eight assists, and 4 rebounds in the last eight games. Since he’s one of the more athletic finishers at the cup, he’s converting around 70 percent of his looks from inside the restricted zone. More importantly, he’s finishing off games in the clutch, scoring an average of 10 points every fourth quarter which is third-best in the league, only behind two elite scorers in Bradley Beal and Zach LaVine.
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16. Atlanta Hawks (11-12, Last Week’s Ranking: 15)
Clint Capela is experiencing a career year in the rebounding and scoring department, but when you play in such a spacious offense coached by Lloyd Pierce and operated by 2019-20 All-Star Trae Young, that’s more than a prerequisite to success. Playing 30.9 minutes per game, he’s grabbing a career-best 14.9 boards and 9.8 offensive rebounds per game, as well as 17.7 rebounds for his Per 36 stats. While on the topic of their frontcourt, the loss of DeAndre Hunter will be keenly felt throughout the defensive presence of Atlanta, as he’ll be sidelined for three to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on a lateral meniscus. He’s averaged over 17.2 points per game with 32.2 minutes on the floor.
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17. Toronto Raptors (10-13, Last Week’s Ranking: 20)
Toronto doesn’t seem as if they’ve gotten worse or better, and that’s an issue. Since starting the season 2-8, they’ve shown they still have enough to compete and remain competitive in the East, but injuries and, albeit, just a lack of talent is catching up to them in the most inconvenient of times. And, promptly, they’ve seen their season act in parabolic motion; a tale of highs and lows puts them in a vegetative state of perpetual flux.
In one instance, Fred VanVleet will drop a career-high 50 points in a home win, followed by a rare road win against a Kevin Durant-less Brooklyn Nets team. And in another, the sobering reminder of them not having their best on-ball defender in OG Anunoby as he rehabilitates himself back from a calf injury to them still playing sub-.500 basketball with the possibility of shopping longtime Raptor great Kyle Lowry to build the future in the midst of an average 5-5 record in the stretch of ten games hovers above their heads. Staring at ninth in the East and now hoping that they can qualify for the play-in tournament, things are souring quickly for Nick Nurse’s Raptors.
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18. Memphis Grizzlies (9-9, Last Week’s Ranking: 16)
Speaking of a roller-coaster season, Memphis has had a three-game losing streak, a seven-game winning streak, and another three-game losing streak, which have all been in 2021. In Ja Morant’s return to the hardwood since his ankle injury, Memphis has been outscored by 81 points in his 88 minutes spent on the floor through this current losing skid, as they’ve now lost three in a row after winning seven games straight. Offensively, he’ll need to see his numbers rise if the Grizzlies are to seriously challenge for the eighth seed in the West since he’s only shooting 33 percent from the field during this low period.
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19. New York Knicks (11-14, Last Week’s Ranking: 19)
Currently sitting at eighth in the East while losing 6 of their last 10 games, the Knicks find themselves clinging to the edge of the playoff picture – which is 1000% better than how anyone predicted they’d be at this point of the season. Additionally, they’re beginning to get some big names in New York and some old ones too for Tom Thibodeau. As of Sunday afternoon, the Knicks traded for Detroit’s Derrick Rose and gave away Dennis Smith Jr. and a 2nd round pick in the deal, but it’s yet to be seen if the acquisition for Rose will pay off in the long run.
The rotation of Elfrid Payton and rookie Immanuel Quickley is possibly coming to an end soon, with Payton’s name being involved in some trade packages to playoff contenders as this month’s trade deadline nears. The Knicks are still ranked No. 6 in total defensive efficiency, but find themselves tied with Detroit for 24th in offensive efficiency. That’s significant to the Rose deal, for Detroit was better offensively when Rose wasn’t on the court for them (6.5 points per 100 possessions).
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20. New Orleans Pelicans (10-12, Last Week’s Ranking: 27)
It seems as if last week’s ailments have been cured, as ever since their last embarrassing loss to the Timberwolves on Jan. 23, the Pelicans have won five of their last seven games and are only two games away from obtaining an even-.500 record through 22 games this year. While Stan Van Gundy’s starting five that consists of Eric Bledsoe, Steven Adams, Zion Williamson, Lonzo Ball, and Brandon Ingram have earned their fair share of flack in their molasses-slow start to the season, they’ve netted a rating of plus-37.4 and an offensive rating of 137.4 in the past seven games. They have a fairly easy slew of games coming up with trips to Chicago, Dallas, and Detroit, but what will be of interest will be if, and who, the Pelicans decide to deal before the trade deadline is up.
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21. Charlotte Hornets (11-13, Last Week’s Ranking: 17)
James Borrego’s reliance on his backcourt depth has told the story of this season so far. Malik Monk looked like his elder Kentucky self as he put up 36 points in an overtime win against Miami last Monday, LaMelo Ball following that performance with one of his own, a stainless career-high 34-point, 8-assist night in a losing effort to Utah, and Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward’s combined 51 points in their blowout win over Washington. But the question remains: is James Borrego keeping Ball on the bench productive, or conducive to his confidence and insulting towards his ability this early in his career?
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22. Dallas Mavericks (10-14, Last Week’s Ranking: 21)
Putting Luka Doncic’s most recent display of the “Luka Magic” he’s so accustomed to putting on – I’m obviously referring to his 42-point, 11-assist double-double he put on for the patrons watching Saturday night primetime hoops on ESPN, Dallas has largely underwhelmed, and the team that owns the First-round pick they gave away in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis is the Knicks, who have a better record than them at the moment. They’re 3-7 in their last 10 games, but Luka is doing what he does best, averaging a little over 30.3 points, 9.8 assists, and 6.5 rebounds in four games.
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23. Cleveland Cavaliers (10-14, Last Week’s Ranking: 18)
The Cavaliers are 3-7 in their last 10 games after setting the world ablaze in the past two weeks. Now a whole four games out of posting a .500 record, they’ve been unable to stick with teams after the halftime mark, losing by a combined 43 points in two games this past week against Milwaukee, and by 22 against the visiting Clippers. Things will not get easier for a young team that’s still learning to put the pieces together for a whole 48 minutes, as they’ll play the Suns, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, and Clippers during a voyage out West.
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24. Oklahoma City Thunder (10-12, Last Week’s Ranking: 22)
Mark Daigneault’s Thunder have managed to weather the storm of a strenuous schedule despite them appearing as a team many would perceive to not be as good as they’ve been at this point in the season. Yet, just like last year, a massive reason they’ve been able to not go on long losing streaks has been their ability to finish games in the clutch, going 5-4 on the year in the game’s final moments with a baffling 127.1 offensive rating. They have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to primarily thank for that, as he’s now ranked in the top-15 of any statistic relating to the clutch this year.
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25. Miami Heat (9-14, Last Week’s Ranking: 22)
Jimmy Butler is back, which is good. They’re trying to get him back into the fold of things this year, and it’s been hard to do so when the schedule conflicts with that. They begin a tedious seven-game road trip that begins with a faceoff against Houston and Utah this week and need to find some sort of defensive identity quickly due to the hole that injuries, inconsistency, and the pandemic have left them to dig themselves out of.
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26. Chicago Bulls (9-13, Last Week’s Ranking: 24)
Look for Chicago to be a high-seller once the trade deadline approaches, as they’ll likely be adding to their backcourt if Lonzo Ball from New Orleans becomes available and if they can find proper compensation from a suitor that will take on Thaddeus Young’s contract. Other than that, Chicago should finally be receiving heavy Zach LaVine votes for an All-Star selection, as he scored 39 points on yet another occasion against Orlando. He then became the sixth player in Bulls history to record at least 40 career 30-point games in a Bulls uniform. That win over Orlando was their largest margin of victory so far this season.
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27. Orlando Magic (9-15, Last Week’s Ranking: 26)
Orlando finally got a win this past week as they split the series against Chicago from Nikola Vucevic’s 43 points, and subsequently were handed an L by the same Bulls one game later by way of a 26-point blowout. Orlando is without rhythm and flow offensively, and it translates in transition, as they currently possess the 25th best defensive rating in basketball. Their schedule gets rather gruesome this week, as they’ll have to play the Trail Blazers, Warriors, Kings, and Suns as they head out West.
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28. Minnesota Timberwolves (6-17, Last Week’s Ranking: 30)
Karl Anthony Towns has had a rough go of it, but he’s graciously returned from his bout with COVID-19. Towns has played in only four games this year, but he’s helped the Wolved get wins at 2-2. They’ve only won four games without him, and his floor-stretching ability is the impact he leaves on the court as their best player. Momentum is key in this league if getting ahead in the rankings is the goal, and Towns can help with manufacturing that.
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29. Washington Wizards (5-15, Last Week’s Ranking: 29)
Washington doesn’t move an inch in this week’s rankings, not just because they’ve lost seven of their last 10 games, but they’re getting healthier. Still, the defense continues to be their weak point as they simply cannot stop anyone, and their failure to build off their epic upset against the Nets last week resulted in them getting hammered by the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets two nights after. Bradley Beal finally cooled off against Miami, scoring only a bucket on a 1-14 night from the field.
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30. Detroit Pistons (5-18, Last Week’s Ranking: 28)
Losers of eight of their last 10, Detroit went 0-4 in their Western road trip with losses to Golden State, Utah, Phoenix, and Los Angeles in overtime. Though Jerami Grant has been the diamond in the rough in his 32-point night against the Lakers to force OT, the team lost a tightly-contested battle and is now shipping away talent; Derrick Rose was sent back to New York in exchange for a 2021 second-round pick and Dennis Smith Jr.
Photo Cred: Fox Sports 1430
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