T.J. has the Raps on a roll.This isn’t the most exciting time for a lot of NBA fans. With only a handful of games remaining on every team’s schedule, the contenders are mostly in cruise control, gearing up and saving their energy for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the have-nots are in Shutdown Mode, stashing their banged-up stars on the inactive list and maybe/maybe not positioning themselves for a better Lottery pick come June. That made it hard to get a real gauge when putting together this week’s NBA Hit List power ranking — we can’t tell who’s trying and who isn’t. That said, we’ve got a new No. 1 this week, and a familiar No. 1 falling into the No. 3 spot.
30. Memphis Grizzlies — Does Pau Gasol watch Chicago Bulls games with a longing look on his face?
29. Boston Celtics — Doc Rivers gets an extension for that?
28. Milwaukee Bucks — Four of the five projected starters have been shut down for the season: Michael Redd, Charlie Villanueva, Bobby Simmons and Andrew Bogut. Mo Williams is shooting on an island.
27. Atlanta Hawks — “We’re really running out of ways to say ‘they stink’ and ‘except for Josh Smith.’”
That’s what we said last week. And nothing has changed. Except for the fact that J-Smoove finally snapped over the weekend, going off on Mike Woodson during a game.
26. New York Knicks — In case you haven’t noticed, they’re terrible again.
25. Sacramento Kings — When you can say things like, “We were better off without Bonzi Wells and Rick Adelman,” you know things aren’t going well.
24. Philadelphia 76ers — We’ll let Pat, our in-house Sixers fan, explain what happened on Easter Sunday - the definition of Philly’s season: “Sixers came out all wearing white headbands to show ’solidarity’ or something. With 3 minutes left in the first quarter, Iguodala, Willie Green and Andree Miller already took them off.”
23. Portland Trail Blazers — Picked up wins over the Jazz and Rockets without Zach Randolph.
22. Charlotte Bobcats — The schedule gods gave the ‘Cats a double-dose of the shell-shocked Wizards and followed with a rusty D-Wade, allowing Charlotte to win three of its last four.
21. Seattle Supersonics — At least they’re showing some heart. Seattle mounted a huge fourth-quarter comeback in Utah over the weekend, and on Monday probably had the Rockets feeling like the playoffs had started already in a surprisingly physical game.
20. Indiana Pacers — Does any team have an easier final stretch? The Pacers finish the season with Philly, Milwaukee, Miami, Jersey, Atlanta and Washington on the slate.
19. Minnesota Timberwolves — Just getting the young guys (Foye, McCants, Craig Smith) some burn…
18. Orlando Magic — When you watched the Magic tear through the East back in November/December, did you think they’d be fighting for their playoff lives a few months later?
17. New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets — NOK fans can blame Chris Wilcox for what looks like an ultimately failed playoff push. Wilcox took out both Desmond Mason (broken cheek/nose, gone for the year) and Tyson Chandler (turf toe, day-to-day) when Seattle came to town last week.
16. Washington Wizards — Will they win another game before golfing season is officially underway? To their credit, the Wizards haven’t been getting killed since Gilbert and Caron went out, but they can’t close out games while missing their closer (Arenas).
15. New Jersey Nets — Don’t let the 5-wins-in-their-last-7 fool you: the Ws came against Charlotte, Indiana, Philly, Atlanta and the depleted Wizards. The Nets lost to Detroit during that stretch and got destroyed by Chicago.
14. Golden State Warriors — We’re pulling for the Warriors to edge out the Clippers for the West’s 8-seed, mainly because Warriors/Mavs would be a lot more entertaining than Clips/Mavs.
13. Los Angeles Clippers — Pretty sure this isn’t what Tim Thomas signed up for.
12. Miami Heat — Now that all their guys are back (most notably The Guy), let the title defense officially begin.
11. Los Angeles Lakers — Smush Parker’s 25-5-6 against Steve Nash over the weekend should be enough to get him out of Phil’s doghouse. For a few days, at least. He’ll be back before long for one reason or another.
10. Denver Nuggets — Five straight wins, including two Ws over the Lakers and one over the Mavs. Carmelo and the guys actually played D against Dallas, holding the Mavs to just 71 points.
9. Chicago Bulls — Kirk Hinrich is quietly on a roll heading into the season’s last few games, putting up 21 points and 6 assists a night in his last five.
8. Cleveland Cavaliers — Sputtering down the stretch, and the most intriguing question remains, will Larry Hughes get his bonus? Gotta wonder if Larry has ODB’s “Got Your Money,” Currency’s “Where Da Cash At?” and Fat Joe’s “Make it Rain” bumping on the iPod before games now.
7. Utah Jazz — Despite having a down year, Andrei Kirilenko is still one of the most important players on this team, and his broken hand could be Utah’s ultimate undoing. The Jazz aren’t looking good with four straight losses.
6. Toronto Raptors — The T-Dot fans are all but salivating at the possibility of their team sticking it to Vince Carter’s Nets in the first round. If the Raps can grab the No. 2 seed in the East, it just may happen.
5. Houston Rockets — Yao and T-Mac just need to stay upright for a few more games, and then they’re in the playoffs. This is like watching the last few laps of a NASCAR race and hoping no one crashes, but knowing it’s a good possibility.
4. Detroit Pistons — If what we saw Easter Sunday was any indication, LeBron can’t single-handedly take this Pistons team to seven games in a series.
3. Dallas Mavericks — Dirk Nowitzki has been slowed by injury (ankle) and illness (food poisoning) recently, but he’s still the front runner for MVP. The best player on the team with the League’s best record is putting up around 25 and 9 a night.
2. Phoenix Suns — You never got the feeling that Steve Nash was going to take over in last week’s loss to San Antonio, where Phoenix was taken out of their fast-pace game and looked as beatable as anyone. Nash (18.9 ppg, 11.5 apg) has a few more games left to convince the voters he’s a three-time MVP.
1. San Antonio Spurs — They got caught sleepwalking in a loss to the O’Neal-less Pacers, but have rebounded to smash the Sonics, Suns, Warriors and Blazers. Against Phoenix, Tim Duncan and Co. simply looked like the better squad; their last big test before the playoffs is a Tax Day meeting with the Mavs.
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April 10th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Goos says:
Im cool with your top 6. But having the Bulls behind the Cavs and the Jazz!? That’s just crazy. The Bulls are playing the best BBall in the East save for the hickup against a very, very good, and talented young Raptors squad. These guys just took over the 2nd spot in the East. Cleveland gave it up cause they don’t know how to play Basketball without LeBron. They lost to the Celtics Bench! Who cares that LBJ wasn’t playing. Bulls killed Detroit last week with all their players and without Ben Wallace, Noc, and having Gordon only score 2pts! And have wins against 5 of the top 6, including 3 of 4 against a Detroit. Their only loss coming off a Webber push off in the finas seconds.
April 10th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
causaubon says:
Nice to see the Raps getting some credit. As a realist I probably would have put them at 8th or 9th, but I’m a fan and 6th looks great to me. The only worry I have is about their seeding for the playoffs. Getting out of the first round is a long shot for this team. They’re young and only have 18 games of NBA playoff experience between them (TJ Ford-5, Mo Pete-13). What they need is to build confidence that they can carry over in to next year and become a force in the East. A first-round match-up and probable loss to Detroit, Miami or Cleveland would’ve been awful for confidence building because the Raps would have gone in to this series already expecting to lose. The Bulls might also have been seen as too big a challenge. Washington or Orlando would be perfect- beatable teams that would put up enough of a fight to make the Raps feel like they’ve accomplished something and let them face any 2nd round opponent (and any team next year) with confidence and the feeling that deserve to bang with the big boys.
But now, contrary to what you say in the rankings, I’m worried that the Raps might have to face the Nets in the first round. The Nets have the talent to be playing much better than they have this year and should really have given the Raps a run for their money for top spot in the Atlantic. And with all the history between these two teams, especially since the Vince Carter debacle, I’m afraid that the Raps may just psyche themselves out and lose a heartbreaker. They’ll want to make a statement that they’re now the top dogs in the Atlantic, they’ll want to draw blood for the fans and end up losing sight of their goal.
April 10th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Thiban says:
Thanks for the much deserved love for the raps, but im more worried about the warriors. i hope they make the jump and take that 8th spot, this is the most entertaining team in all of basketball. J-rich, Baron D, M. Ellis are the most exciting players ever. Peace
April 10th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Lay Z Junkie says:
I agree with causaubon about the Raps/Nets potential matchup but I think Washington may end up falling behind Jersey and into 7th the way they are playing and with all the injuries they face.
I should add that Rasho has NBA Playoff experience having won a championship with the Spurs. So it’s not just 18 playoff games between the team, though most of the players are quite green. I would just like to think that they wont know what to expect from the playoffs and therefore wont worry about it. If Sam Mitchell can keep them playing their own game, they’ll be fine and will win a first round matchup. After that, who knows?
Go Raptors!
April 10th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Adam says:
causaubon: I assume you mean the core only has 18 games of experience. Doesn’t Rasho have a ring? And hasn’t Darrick Martin been in the post season a few times? All I can pray for is that they get more accustomed to play-off basketball and are ready when Bosh, TJ and Bargnani all hit their primes..
April 10th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Adam says:
Oh wait, Lay Z Junkie beat me to it. Disregard my last comment.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
causaubon says:
My bad for forgetting about Rasho’s playoff experience. To be honest, I’ve been forgetting about him all year. Although he’s an unmeasurable improvement to Arujo.
April 10th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Thrillah says:
I don’t see why “playoff experience” is such a big deal. The raptors might not have much experience in the post season, but i have no doubt that they will go on to the 2nd round of the playoffs. The east is the weaker conference and the raptors had mainly trouble with western teams. The only eastern team that can give the raptors a hard time are the Pistons, and maybe the Bulls. One final note, the raptors are untouchable at home.
April 12th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Tyler says:
I just about agree with all of the rankings.
The wiz are my favorite team, but they’re doing soooo bad right now.
It’s extremely frusterating because I’m a HUGE fan and I watch EVERY game and they ALWAYS have a lead with about 1:00 left in the game then they lose it.
Against New Jersey, they had a 5 point lead with 1:30 left and the wizards were down 1 with about :45 left and the nets didnt hit any threes.
Thanks for giving the raptors credit for what they deserve.