K-Mart benefits from A.I.’s generosity(Photo. Gary Land)
30. Minnesota Timberwolves (3-20) — After catching an unfocused Phoenix team at the end of a road trip and stealing a win, the Wolves have lost five straight. Word is Randy Foye will miss another month or so with his knee injury. Lucky him.
29. New York Knicks (7-17) — Monday’s loss to Indiana was another “rock bottom” candidate in a season full of them: The Knicks played atrocious defense, and at one point missed 20 straight shots.
28. Seattle Supersonics (7-18) — Kevin Durant dropped 30 on the Knicks, then a couple nights later was held to 6 in Utah. That’s been a microcosm of his season so far.
27. Charlotte Bobcats (8-14) — They beat the Clippers and the LeBron-less Cavs recently. Beyond that, their last win over a decent team was back on Nov. 19 when they beat the Blazers, and that was before Portland caught fire.
26. Memphis Grizzlies (7-17) — Seven losses in their last eight, but that one win was against the Magic. Rudy Gay put up 32 points apiece in the last two games without Pau Gasol around.
25. Los Angeles Clippers (9-14) — Chris Kaman could be All-Star. His 18.6 points, 13.9 boards and 2.7 blocks is impressive enough, but he’s gotta fight through Yao, Amare, Camby and Chandler out West.
24. Miami Heat (7-17) — How about those offseason acquisitions? Penny Hardaway is gone, Smush Parker is out of the rotation, Mark Blount has taken over Wayne Simien’s role as the big guy taking up a seat on the bench, and Ricky Davis’ production has been slipping lately.
23. Milwaukee Bucks (10-14) — Don’t say Michael Redd is strictly a shooter. He’s handed out 9 assists in three of his last four games.
22. Philadelphia 76ers (10-14) — On the bad-offense/good-defense scale, Sam Dalembert is a step ahead of Ben Wallace right now. He’s been good for 10-plus boards and 3-plus blocks a night lately, and he can score a little, too.
21. Chicago Bulls (8-13) — Slowly getting back to where they need to be. Very slowly. So what if their wins are over teams like New York and Seattle?
20. Sacramento Kings (9-14) — Where did this Brad Miller resurgence come from? He’s averaged 23 points, 9.5 boards and 4.5 dimes over the past two games.
19. Cleveland Cavaliers (11-14) — LeBron came back after a disastrous stretch where the team went 0-6 and averaged 80 points a game without him. LeBron hasn’t been as dominant as he was before the injury (24.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 6 apg), but the Cavs have been able to win a couple of games.
18. New Jersey Nets (10-14) — Five losses in their last six, over which Vince Carter is putting up 25 points a night but Richard Jefferson’s numbers have taken a dip.
17. Indiana Pacers (13-12) — It’s easy to look like a juggernaut against the Knicks (117 points) but Indy can drop buckets when they’re in rhythm, putting up 104.5 points per this season. And it’s not just one guy dominating. On any given night, Mike Dunleavy, Danny Granger, Jamaal Tinsley or J.O. can be The Man.
16. Washington Wizards (13-10) — On top of Caron and Jamison’s output, contributions from DeShawn Stevenson, Andray Blatche and Brendan Haywood have kept the Wizards in the mix while Arenas is out. Now would you depend on those three to consistently bring it in a playoff series?
15. Golden State Warriors (14-11) — Remember how Al Harrington was supposed to be killing in training camp and poised for a huge year? If his current 14 points a night holds up, it would be his lowest scoring average since he was a backup with the Pacers in ‘04, and his 5.4 rebounds per game would be Al’s lowest since ‘01, his third year in the League.
14. Atlanta Hawks (12-12) — With the Heat struggling, the Wizards playing without their marquee star and the Bobcats (again) not living up to their talent, the Hawks have a realistic shot of finishing second in the Southeast. And what if Orlando continues to slump? Nahhh, we can’t go that far yet.
13. New Orleans Hornets (15-10) — Look out: Tyson Chandler has pulled down 18 and 19 boards, respectively, in his last two games. He’s not blocking as many shots, but his 11.6 points per game is on pace for career-high.
12. Houston Rockets (12-12) — Hard to place them correctly on here. In the same week they knock off the Pistons, they get handled by the Mavs. After the Big Two, is this team as bad as the sans-LeBron Cavs?
11. Utah Jazz (14-12) — Were it not for a young and inexperienced Sonics team with an ice-cold Kevin Durant, the Jazz could’ve been looking at an 8-game losing streak as they ride out this Southeast road trip.
10. Toronto Raptors (14-11) — A four-game win streak was snapped when the Raps were blown out of their own gym by the Celtics over the weekend. The rest of this month is gonna be real tough, with seven straight road games against Western Conference opponents.
9. Denver Nuggets (14-10) — Notice that a number of Allen Iverson’s big scoring nights have come in Nuggets losses: 51 against the Lakers, 38 against Portland and 32 against the Knicks. Conversely, when A.I. dishes out 10-plus assists, Denver is 6-0.
8. Portland Trail Blazers (13-12) — The win streak is at eight games, including two big victories over the Jazz and W’s over the Warriors, Hornets and Nuggets. Brandon Roy is killing during the streak, averaging 24 points, 6.8 assists and 5.3 rebounds a night.
7. Los Angeles Lakers (14-9) — Beyond just the stats, Andrew Bynum won his head-to-head matchup with Chris Kaman over the weekend, putting up 14 points, 9 boards and 6 blocks in a Lakers win. This came after averaging 18.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 3 blocks in a two-game split with Golden State.
6. Orlando Magic (17-9) — Five losses in their last six, and the rest of this week doesn’t get any easier with Houston, Utah and Boston on the slate. For Dwight Howard, that’s a steady diet of Yao, Boozer and KG.
5. Detroit Pistons (17-7) — It hasn’t exactly been the toughest stretch of schedule, but nonetheless the Pistons are 8-2 this month. Chauncey is carving up opposing point guards, dropping 19.6 points and 7.3 dimes per in December.
4. Dallas Mavericks (17-9) — Bounced back from an ugly loss at Toronto with a three-game win streak over good teams: New Orleans, Houston and Orlando. Dirk Nowitzki’s scoring may be down (21 ppg), but he’s passing the ball (4.1 apg) and can still take over when necessary.
3. San Antonio Spurs (18-6) — They couldn’t win every game without Duncan. The Spurs got ran by Golden State and dropped a close one to the Lakers while Duncan was out, then beat Denver in the big man’s return. On Monday TD dropped 36 and 17 on the Suns, but San Antonio lost without Tony Parker in the lineup.
2. Boston Celtics (20-2) — Which side of the fence are you on? The “They haven’t played anyone” side will argue that Boston lost to the only two really good teams they’ve played so far: Orlando and Cleveland. The “You can only beat who’s in front of you” side can counter that Boston is 3-0 against last year’s Atlantic Division champs, the Raptors, including a blowout W in T.Dot earlier this week.
1. Phoenix Suns (18-7) — Love the Grant Hill acquisition. The general concern was that Hill’s feet/ankles/knees wouldn’t be able to hold up under Mike D’Antoni’s penchant for running his key players ragged, but Hill has played and started every game so far, logging almost 35 minutes a night and putting up 16 points per. Grant played 30-plus minutes in wins over Utah and San Antonio that helped put the Suns atop the League this week.
Related posts:
December 18th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Str8baller says:
First
December 18th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Bust Jlaze says:
Grant Hill…HOF!! Just for coming back from devastating injuries as if they never happened. Crazy…
December 18th, 2007 at 10:40 am
williams says:
were you tired when you started writing this? There appears to be a few grammatical errors near the top..
i’ll let you off though seeing as the grammar is usually on point, and the rankings are too until you get to the top 5. Boston can’t NOT be top.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Celts Fan says:
Phoenix = 18-7
Boston = 20-2
Call me a homer all you want, but how does Boston not get the top spot. Even those 2 losses were to Orlando by 2 (had Tony Allen made a wide-open lay-up in the last minute, that may’ve panned out differently) and to Cleveland in OT (that had Ray Allen made 1 of his 2 foul shots in the last 10 seconds, may’ve also played out differently.) It’s not like they lost by 20 to each of these teams. Both L’s were really, really close. Oh well, next week’s should have us #1 once they knock off Chicago, Detroit, and Orlando this week.
80-2 baby, it’s gonna happen!
December 18th, 2007 at 11:06 am
DOC says:
I like it but Toronto to high they aint top 10.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:12 am
penske1 says:
I was about to write about how I understand that it’s difficult to compare the records of teams in two different conferences, and that there is no denying that Boston’s 14.2 point for/against differential shows their dominance, but then I went and looked at their game log and I can’t find a single contender among their victories.
No San Antonio
No Phoenix
No Detroit
No Dallas
A loss against Orlando
The only marginal team they have beaten so far is the Lakers. I enjoy watching Boston, but I have to say that they simply have not been tested yet, and we don’t really know how good they are. No way they deserve the #1 spot.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Kobeef says:
This list is a nice christmas gift to the Colagelo Family.
That Toronto is way off. Utah, Golden State, New Orleans are all better.
Similarly, barely beating the Sprus without parker is not enought to make me think the Spurs should be ranked below the Suns.
At this point it seems evident the title is going through the Spurs or Celtics….maybe Pistons in the top 3 also. It will be interesting to see if Detroit brings in another big now that they have opened up some cap space by shipping Mohammed.
Joe Dumars - GM of the year
Nate MacMillan - Coach of the Year
KD = Rookie of the Year
KG = MVP
December 18th, 2007 at 11:32 am
MSkittle says:
How is 20-2 not worthy of Number 1?
December 18th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Austin Burton says:
When you have played the NBA’s weakest schedule.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Youngfed says:
I gotta agree with yall on this one 20-2 is still 20-2 yall gotta show better respect than that Dime, real talk. NO F@#King WAY Phoenix is #1. Ridiculous.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Youngfed says:
Come on they’re schedule wasn’t that weak.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Youngfed says:
my bad their schedule foward corection I no how the haters be watching for errors. LOL
December 18th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
penske1 says:
Good lord #12, english?
December 18th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Brown says:
The reason the Raptors are so high is because in that 4-game win streak, they completely handed it to Houston, Atlanta (who were rolling at the time), Dallas and Indiana. The hit list is a reflection of how you’ve fared in your recent schedule, not your record on the season overall. If you beat good teams, then your ranking is higher than if you beat bad teams. This is why Phoenix is #1, because they just beat the Spurs.
Take a look at who Boston has beaten this month - Cleveland (sans-Lebron), Philly, Toronto (twice), Chicago, Sacramento and Milwaukee. That’s hardly anything to warrant the #1 spot. Until they beat some good teams, the #1 ranking is going to a team in the west, plain and simple.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
YOUNGFED says:
Yeah kinda rushed that one too #13. I told yall the haters be watchin’
December 18th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Mo says:
This list must’ve come out before the Jazz lost to the Hawks.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Myrie says:
Didn’t Boston just barely beat: Toronto, Bobcats and the Heat? 20-2 yes..no denying it.
They BEATDOWN my Knicks (damn…that game was Rated R)
But really…..how good are they?
December 18th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Celts Fan says:
Let me ask all of you, would you be confident playing a team that had KG, Ray Allen, and The Truth in a 7 game series?
Everyone’s playing unselfish, the bench has come through really well, the questions on Rondo and Perk have been answered, and they’re the best statistical defensive team in the entire league. That’s how good they are Myrie. In case you forgot, Toronto won the Titanic, err I mean Atlantic last year, so they’re obviously a good team, that Heat game was the 2nd of a back-to-back, and the Bobcats game was too (I think, but not sure.) Either way, even Jordan’s Bulls lost to the Raptors and other bad teams. It happens sometimes. It’s the attitude and effort you give in those bad nights and the ability to pull out a W when you’re off your game that makes a champion.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Celts Fan says:
aka don’t act like the Knicks
December 18th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Myrie says:
Celtsfan–
I guess we’ll know more on Wed night when the Celts play the Pistons. Pistons may be the only team that doesn’t have to double and of Bostons players. Then again…you know they will and force Rondo to make jumpers.
hard to argue with 20-2…..you don’t get a record like that by accident. But their #2 in the rankings because their untested. And Toronto is weak. Don’t be fooled by ‘06-’07. Last yr all their players had an out of body experience.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Gee ... Shaq is so lame now? says:
So it’s gone get funky when I’m frying you fishes…C-LO
But you the Don right?
Anyway Boston is who we thought they were..LOL
They got the 2 spot on lock for real. I don’t know about giving the Suns that 1. I still feel San An is 1 and should keep the 1 spot till the playoffs and lets just interchange 2 through the rest lol.
December 18th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Myrie says:
oh yeah….big shout outs to the Knicks for not coming in 30th. I’m shocked about that. 29th is impressive. Any WNBA/D-League team can beat them right now…..
December 18th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Celts Fan says:
I bet you the McDonald’s All Americans could beat the Knicks. Honestly, they’re awful and they don’t put forth any effort. At least go out w/ your head held high…
December 18th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Myrie says:
CeltsFan–
Give us Kevin Garnett
December 18th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Gee ... Shaq is so lame now? says:
LOL that would be funny as heck the McDonald’s All American squad beating the Knicks.
Good one Celts.
December 18th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
What is this!? says:
“9. Denver Nuggets (14-10) — Notice that a number of Allen Iverson’s big scoring nights have come in Nuggets losses: 51 against the Lakers, 38 against Portland and 32 against the Knicks. Conversely, when A.I. dishes out 10-plus assists, Denver is 6-0″.
^^ I swear a guy like Iverson can’t win for losing with some people. If he scores points, while still averaging 7 asst a game, he’s still considered a ball hog. If he doesn’t score there are the idiots out there that say “A.I has lost a step”. It doesn’t make any sense. When Iverson had those big games he was still passing the ball, his teamates didn’t make the shots (it would be interesting to see how many times A.I passes the ball in a game and his teammates just don’t complete the shot, I want to see that STAT). Maybe if they made the shots Iverson could average 15 asst a game. He’s a SG not a PG, the only reason why he was playing PG at the start of the season is because all their PG’s were injured. He was brought to Denver to score and be a leader of the team, and has been doing his job. What else do people want at this point? I swear the back of his jersey should read “He hates me”. I’m sorry I had to get that off my chest, because when it comes to Iverson i’m just tired of the chaos, just let the man play b-ball for god sakes.
Oh and I also agree with everyone on the Celtics. They have barely even went up against anyone in the west, and played a tired Denver team off a back-to-back. I love KG and the rest of those guys, but some of you Celtics fans are taking sh*t overboard. Enough already! One of their real tests will come tomorrow when they play the Pistons, because I don’t care what anyone says, the Pistons has been the most consistant team in the east, or in general, over the past five years. Even though they get slept on just about every year, just like the Spurs, they are always there at the end. In order to get out of the conference teams have to go through them.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Respect says:
Y’all need to give Toronto some respect. They’ve compiled their record this season while being decimated by injuries. Teamwork is underrated in the NBA, and it is evident based on some messages posted here. Watch their play a few times and you’ll understand.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Thamilan says:
Raptors killed the Rockets earlier this season. The rockets may have more stars on their team, but Raptors are still a better team. By the way, i remember when a really bad Raptors team beat the Chicago Bulls with Jordan. New Orleans is a decent team but they’re unpredictable…and the Jazz just have been in a major slump. out
December 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Reed Ewing Frazier says:
My beloved Knicks are 29th which is where we deserve to be I not mad at the rankings people have made valid points but it is still early in the season it is still just the 1st qtr of a 4 qtr game. The Suns are still over rated I wonder what excuse people will come up with when they come up short again. Go Pistons Chanucy Billups(way better than Nash) is underated I wish we had him instead of Steph but oh well.