Josh Childress (Photo. Fil Kwiatkowski)30. Miami Heat (8-28) — Would Miami beat the ‘Wolves in a 7-game series? Most likely, but for this moment right now, D-Wade and Co. are the new owners of Worst Team in the League status. To celebrate, they’ve got TWO national TV games this week: Wednesday against Chicago and Friday against Portland. Granted, before the season those games would’ve been hyped as a playoff rematch for one and Shaq vs. Oden for the other, but now you’ve got this.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (5-31) — The month from hell continues with a home game against Golden State and road dates with Phoenix and Denver this week. ‘Sota did pick up one win, though, knocking off the Heat behind another big scoring night from Rashad McCants.
28. New York Knicks (10-26) — Last Sunday’s win over Detroit proved that even the most dysfunctional families can sometimes throw a bangin’ holiday get-together in spite of themselves.
27. Seattle Supersonics (9-28) — Can someone please stay with Jeff Green at all times over the next few days? The rookie took 48 points and a game-winner from Kobe on Monday, and you don’t want him to sit around and dwell on it and lose his confidence already.
26. Los Angeles Clippers (10-23) — They haven’t won a game in 2008, and it doesn’t look any better this week when the Suns, Jazz and Nets come calling. How long before the Clips pack it in and focus on getting Al Thornton as much PT as possible?
25. Philadelphia 76ers (10-24) — Another team that’s been winless since the calendar turned, the Sixers are at least getting some big-time games from Sam Dalembert. Four times in ‘08 he’s pulled down 15-plus rebounds in a game, including two games of 20-plus boards.
24. Memphis Grizzlies (10-27) — Last week we weren’t sure if Pau Gasol would be around for the Grizzlies to build around for the future. Since them he’s been on a tear; scoring 43 against the Warriors and recording 21 points, 18 boards, 8 dimes and 4 blocks against the Lakers.
23. Milwaukee Bucks (15-23) — Andrew Bogut’s not going to fall into being called a Draft bust easily: he’s averaging 20 points and 10.5 boards on 68 percent shooting from the field in his last six games.
22. Chicago Bulls (14-21) — The strangest part of this whole Joakim Noah mini-drama? One reason we assumed Chicago drafted Noah is because he was a winner in college who wouldn’t upset the chemistry of a supposed-to-be contending team.
21. Sacramento Kings (15-21) — Some people though Kevin Martin’s return would negatively impact John Salmons. While Salmons has still been logging 40-plus minutes a night since Martin came back, his shot attempts are already going down.
20. Indiana Pacers (17-22) — Jamaal Tinsley went all Jack Bauer against the Suns last week (8-for-26 FGs, 0-for-7 3PA, never passing in overtime), and it looks like somebody (Jim O’Brien) let him know that wasn’t gonna fly. Over the next two games Tinsley shot a total of 10 field goals.
19. Charlotte Bobcats (14-23) — How good has Gerald Wallace been lately? Monday’s monster 40-point showing against the Nuggets highlighted a stretch where he’s averaged 25.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.6 blocks a night over his last five games. In that span, the ‘Cats knocked off Boston, Jersey and Denver while losing nail-biters to Cleveland and Detroit. And in that Detroit game, Wallace primarily played point guard since Ray Felton and Jeff McInnis were out injured.
18. Atlanta Hawks (16-17) — While no one was looking, Josh Childress went and became a solid NBA player. He’s put up 15.8 points and 6.2 boards over his last five games.
17. New Jersey Nets (18-19) — When you have no scorers in the front court, a point guard who’s a legendary passer but not exactly Allen Iverson when it comes to getting buckets, and a go-to scorer who lives and dies by a streaky jump shot, you end up like the Nets: never knowing whether you’ll score 110 or 75 points on a given night.
16. Toronto Raptors (20-17) — Forget the YouTube ad; Chris Bosh punched his All-Star ticket to New Orleans when he went for 40 points on the Knicks and 38 on the Blazers over the weekend.
15. Cleveland Cavaliers (19-18) — It’s a new year, and the Cavs are 5-1 since the ball dropped at midnight. LeBron is averaging 30 points, 10 boards and almost 7 assists so far this month.
14. Orlando Magic (23-16) — On the flip side, the Magic have been floundering since ‘07 turned into ‘08, going 1-5 in January. Luckily they play in arguably the League’s worst division, so they can still pull it together and not lose any ground.
13. Utah Jazz (22-17) — Bouncing back from their worst loss of the season (getting pantsted in Portland), the Jazz have run off four straight impressive wins.
12. Washington Wizards (20-16) — Are they really this good? Back-to-back wins over the Celtics, five W’s in their last six games, and all of this without Gilbert Arenas. It’s reached the point where people are seriously questioning whether Washington is better off without Agent Zero.
11. Houston Rockets (20-18) — One positive byproduct of T-Mac’s latest stint on the injured list is that Yao has settled into being The Man. You can tell that he wants the ball in crunch time and that he expects to produce, which you couldn’t always say about him before.
10. Golden State Warriors (22-16) — Dropping 22 points, 8 assists and 2 steals per game, Baron Davis’ All-Star case is solid. His backcourt mate, Cold-Vicious Monta Ellis, is making a run that’s unfortunately a little too late, scoring 28 points per in his last two games and shooting 67 percent from the floor.
9. Denver Nuggets (22-14) — Allen Iverson had been playing so well that people seemed to forget about 25-ppg scorer Carmelo Anthony. Well, everybody except for the 1 million-plus who voted for him for All-Star.
8. New Orleans Hornets (25-12) — This team is playing so well that they haven’t had use for Lottery pick Julian Wright, who would be contributing to a lot of teams right now with his skills.
7. Portland Trail Blazers (23-14) — Winning 18 of their last 20 games, the Blazers have officially stolen Detroit’s unofficial title as the Hottest Team in the NBA. And did you know the highest-paid players on the team are Steve Francis (via his buyout) and Raef LaFrentz?
6. Phoenix Suns (26-11) — How will the Suns fare without Grant Hill? Their only loss since he departed was a blowout against the Jazz, but Phoenix also didn’t have Steve Nash and Shawn Marion available for that one. Leandro Barbosa has stepped up his scoring, dropping 20.8 a night in his last five.
5. San Antonio Spurs (25-11) — Did getting hammered by the Pistons on national TV wake the defending champs up? They smoked the ‘Wolves their next time out (expected), then turned on the winning switch when it mattered against a pesky Sixers’ team.
4. Los Angeles Lakers (26-11) — Beating the Sonics without Andrew Bynum is one thing, but Kobe can’t score 48 every time out, right? Right?
3. Detroit Pistons (28-10) — Sunday’s loss to the Knicks, where the Pistons only scored 65 points and made NY look like a playoff team was as bad as we’ve ever seen the Billups/Rip/Tayshaun/’Sheed Pistons look.
2. Boston Celtics (30-6) — Officially struggling. Three losses in their last four, and in between there was a win over the Nets where Boston needed a furious fourth-quarter rally to win. The rest of the week has them against Portland and Philly, neither of whom will roll over.
1. Dallas Mavericks (26-12) — The Mavs went into Arco and had their seven-game win streak snapped, but overall they’ve still been playing better than anyone else in the League lately. The Sacramento loss was the first game since Dec. 15 that Dirk Nowitzki didn’t lead Dallas in scoring.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:29 am
YOUNGFED says:
Good call the Pistons and Celtics haven’t been playing their best basketball.
Also that Knicks game was scary the Pistons looked horrible. I think we should trade tayshuan.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:00 am
YG Lafluer says:
Beating the Sonics without Andrew Bynum is one thing, but Kobe can’t score 48 every time out, right? Right?
Umm… Yes he can. He’s done it before and he can do it again.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:33 am
the_don_mega says:
17. New Jersey Nets (18-19) — When you have no scorers in the front court, a point guard who’s a legendary passer but not exactly Allen Iverson when it comes to getting buckets, and a go-to scorer who lives and dies by a streaky jump shot, you end up like the Nets: never knowing whether you’ll score 110 or 75 points on a given night.
—LMAO!!!
January 15th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Bobby stew says:
Bynum’s injury may shake things up a little in L.A. I was really pleased to see Kobe becoming more of a team player. I Hope this injury doesn’t make him go back to his old 40 shot, 2 assist games again.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Kobeef says:
Lakers are officially leading the Pacific division (almost halfway through the season) for the first time in about 5 years.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Smitty313 says:
I like it better when Kobe goes off like that. It’s more exciting to me for some reason.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:21 am
celtics4life says:
I know I sound like a homer but the c’s have half as many losses and 4 more wins the the Mavs. Dont forget 2 of there 5 starters are hurt and they are nice enough to employ brian scalibrini, that alone should net them the top spot.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:43 am
gogogo says:
The lakers lose Bynum. The good news for them? They’ll have an excuse for when the Suns whoop up on em on thursday….
January 15th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Raynman says:
lakers go 7 in a row, are #1 in the west and they still get placed behind boston (losing 2 in a row) and detroit (lost 2 ny, NY!!). Y’all giving bynum 2 much credit…
January 15th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Mike C says:
As of right now, the Lakers are the number one seed in the western conference..
I consider myself one of the biggest Laker fans around and even I never expected this to happen this season..
January 15th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Austin Burton says:
I’m just not prepared to say the Lakers are the best team in the League. They just struggled to beat the Grizzlies and the Sonics.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Celts Fan says:
true Austin, but they look great, and my (homer) pick for MVP may be going up in flames when Kobe averages 35+ over the next 2 months to keep them afloat without Bynum.
Everyone realizes that for the Blazers, with those 2 as their highest paid guys, they can move Raef’s expiring contract ($12M per) next year with a few of the youngsters to bring in a star and let Francis’ deal expire (I believe that’s also at the end of next year, but may be the year after that) AND also get cap space. What a great job by the front office there. That team looks like they’re building for HUGE success in a year or so here, and they’re lightyears ahead of where anyone thought they’d be this year too.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
GEE ...I am the 4th Don says:
Atlanta should be doing way better than they are doing. To me they are a team that should be doing just like the Blazers. I see where an debate could be made that they even have better all around position pieces than the blazers.
All props to the Blazers and Atl. needs to look at them and see what they are doing and get their mojo working.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Raptor's Fan says:
Can’t argue, good job.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
mavid says:
Blazers just have some amazing chemistry that ATL lacks as of now. When ATL has it going (see their blowout victory against the Bulls), they are scary good. But, with inconsistent pg play and Joe Johnson going through occasional slumps, this team is still gonna be .500 throughout the year.
ATL might be the best transition team in the league. When they run and attack, they’re hard to stop. When they slow it down and iso Joe on offense, well, it’s just not the same.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Dank says:
woooow. the Mavericks 1st? I officially am canceling my subscription to this magazine. how are the Mavericks 1st? have you people seen nothing the past 4 years? I’m going to write to my congressman, and tell him to propose a law that states that until the Mavericks redeem themselves by winning an NBA title (which is NEVER going to happen), they shall not be ranked 1st in anything. not even if they have the best record in their division. THE MAVERICKS SUCK. The Lakers should be 1st. end of story
January 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Mike C says:
I don’t think Bynum’s injury destroys the Lakers as much as everyone thinks.
Even without Bynum, they’re a better team than they were a last couple of seasons, with much-improved bench and another player besides Kobe that can hit big shots down the stretch (Fisher).
Now, they probably won’t hold onto that #1 spot in the west for very long, but its not like they’re suddenly going to turn into a lottery team either.
The only reason they struggled against Memphis and Seattle is because they didn’t have enough time to adjust to playing without Bynum’s inside presence on D.
All I’m saying is, don’t be too surprised when they beat the Suns for the third time on Thursday.
And when that happens, they HAVE to be on the top of the Hit List next week..
January 15th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
hoya saxa says:
The race is heating up: can Minnesota win more games than Boston loses?
January 15th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Myrie says:
Kobe only took 44 shots? Bah. He should take more in an overtime game. I mean….who else do you want shooting?..Trevor Ariza?
For New Orleans, 8th isn’t bad; but somehow I feel like their getting gipped(or is it ‘jipped’?) and should be ranked higher.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
mavsgirl75 says:
Dank: Then I guess every team that hasn’t won the title or has never gotten past the first rounds hould never be ranked number one? Everyone hates on the Mavs no matter what they do. I think you’d rank the Lakers number one even if they were worse than Miami. I couldn’t care less about Kobe and Co. Go Mavs!!!
January 15th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Steve says:
The Nets need Nenad Krstic back EXTREMELY BAD. If he’s back and 100% healthy playing PF (He’s just as valuable to the Nets as say L Aldridge is to the Blazers) they will be better than bfore with him because of the upgrade of Josh Boone over J Collins….
Boone/Williams
Krstic/M Allen
Jefferson/Nachbar
Carter/Wright
Kidd/M Williams
extra 2 of D Armstrong and J Collins. That is a 50 win team….. without Krstic its a 43 or 44 win team. Krstic is their primary offensive option on the interior, he is their offensive bigman. That dimension is SO SO SO important. Him and Boone make a very good frontcourt on offense compared to him and Collins in the past, and Williams/Allen rotating in is also very solid…… Krstic’s 16.5ppg/6.8rpg on 53% shooting is extremely important. Theyll be so much better once they have him back healthy (Marcus Williams at 100% will improve them and their depth a little bit as well. )………….. GETTING KRSTIC BACK IS SO SO SO SO HUGE FOR THE NETS.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Steve says:
The nets have absolutely NO HEART. They are quitters, and you can tell that from their 3 veteran leards (Cough: quitters).
Jason Kidd (After loss to detroit): “We’re just not that good of a team. We shouldnt beat detroit”.
RJ (after hearing of Pierce’s comments that he thinks the Nets will be around 50 wins and the 4 seed by seasons end): “Well, our offense isnt very good. We’re not a good team right now, especially on offense.”
AND NOW THIS QUOTE ABOUT HOW MUCH BETTER THE BLAZERS ARE!!!! The blazers are the youngest team in the NBA, I understand that without Krstic (Nets version of Aldridge) we are shorthanded, but with Boone and Williams we CAN get it done……. but we just QUIT last night. We cut it to 12 with about 8 minutes left, then Portland hit two 3pointers and we just quit. Ended up losing by 30 (Meanwhile the Wizards fight back from down 14 with 6 minutes left behind their leader/franchise player Caron Butler and win….. You wont hear Caron saying “Boston is just better, blah blah blah Im a quitter” like these chumps!!!! And we were at home, against a mid-level playoff team that is extremely young. THEY WERE ON THE ROAD AGAINST THE BEST TEAM IN BASKETBALL THAT IS INVINCIBLE AT HOME! NO QUIT FOR THEM, MUCH QUIT FOR US!!!!! The Wizards are without Gilbert and we’re without Krstic, we’re both right there about 3 games behind the Wiz…… they dont give up, they have HEART. THAT is the difference!!!!
AND then theres Vince Carter. Vince just doesnt say nothing because he doesnt care (And doesnt try, or play hard. Has no heart at all.).
The Nets are pathetic.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Steve says:
I’ll tell you what too. The hawks/Blazers and Wizards are 3 very fun to watch young teams. They are very talented and exciting. They are well coached, great chemistry, play the right way on both ends of the floor, and are led by 3 great young leaders/franchise players in Caron Butler, Brandon Roy and Joe Johnson (All 3 are deifnite allstars this year in my opinion. Period.).