Larry’s NBA Power Ratings
It is Martin Luther King Day, the unofficial midway point of the NBA season, and the Los Angeles Lakers are dragging ass.
A team with Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol is 6 games under water (17-23) and showing absolutely no signs of making any move that would enable them to escape the humiliation of having to share a platform with the have-nots at the NBA Lottery ceremony this coming June.
Now comparisons to great Laker teams of the past, including the West/Chamberlain/Baylor 1972 group that won 33 regular-season games in a row, draw only laughs. And at the end of January a team that has won only five road games all season will begin a crushing 7-game road trip.
Amazing.
To the rankings:
1. CLIPPERS (32-9) – Seven wins in the last eight, and four in a row since that puzzling loss at the home to the Magic. Easily the best team in the league since Dec. 1.
2. THUNDER (32-9) – Kendrick Perkins was supposed to be the defensive anchor, but Perk’s minutes have been reduced – he rarely plays more than 30 a game now.
3. SPURS (32-11) – SA has had no trouble coping while Manu Ginobili rehabs from injury, partially because the immortal Tiago Splitter has shot over 70 percent from the field in the last three games.
4. HEAT (26-12) – It’s all about motivation with these guys. A few losses here and there won’t matter all that much, and no one else in the East seems capable to stepping up.
5. KNICKS (25-13) – Fun TNT game on tap Thursday in Boston, when Melo and KG go at it again in the first meeting since the Honey Nut Cheerios game a few weeks back.
6. GRIZZLIES (26-13) – Memphis’s second period at Chicago the other night might have been the Grizz’s best 12 minutes of play on the road all season. They ran 13 straight points in one stretch and held the Bulls to 12 total.
7. PACERS (25-16) – Good reports out of Indianapolis on Danny Granger, who is ramping up his workouts after missing all season due to a knee injury suffered in the pre-season.
8. WARRIORS (24-15) – Bad timing – the Warriors had to face both the Heat and Spurs without injured star guard Stephen Curry. The results were predictable.
9. NETS (24-16) – MLK day game between Nets and Knicks is last one of the regular season between NYC rivals. Too bad, because they’ve turned into good takes in a season with so many throwaway games.
10. NUGGETS (25-18) – Denver 121, Thunder 118. In overtime. Might wind up being the best game of the season this year. (Corey Brewer had 26 off the bench for the Nuggets.)
11. BULLS (23-16) – Bulls backers are buzzing about Tom Thibodeau’s decision to sit Joakim Noah for the last 23 minutes of Chicago’s overtime loss to the Grizzlies on Saturday night.
12. HAWKS (22-18) – These guys don’t need a coach. They need a shrink. Just when you think they have their s*** together, they score five points in a quarter (vs. Chicago). [ad-6571516]
13. JAZZ (22-19) – Utah starting to make a move in the West with three straight wins and looking at a home-favorable schedule for the next three weeks.
14. BUCKS (21-18) – Miwaukee defeated Toronto, Phoenix and Portland last week, the first time in more than a decade that the Bucks had won three games on a road trip.
15. CELTICS (20-20) – Doc Rivers has exhausted his almost unlimited supply of patience, and unloaded on his team after Sunday night’s bad loss in Detroit. Look for a big trade unless things improve between now and All-Star Game.
16. MAVERICKS (18-24)
17. TRAIL BLAZERS (20-20)
18. ROCKETS (21-21)
19. TIMBERWOLVES (17-20)
20. 76ERS (17-23)
21. LAKERS (17-23)
22. KINGS(16-25)
23. PISTONS (15-25)
24. RAPTORS (15-26)
25. MAGIC (14-26)
26. HORNETS (13-27)
27. SUNS (13-28)
28. WIZARDS (8-30)
29. CAVALIERS (10-32)
30. BOBCATS (10-30)
