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1.) Celtics (2)
In each of the past three seasons, there's been 70-win talk with Phoenix, Detroit and then Dallas. But these Celts are the first team to last this long with only three losses since (gulp) the 72-win Bulls in 1995-96.

2.) Pistons (1)
If the Pistons want No. 1 back right away, they can give us something to think about by winning in Dallas or San Antonio (or both) this week. Before losing to Boston, remember, Detroit had won 11 straight by nearly 17 ppg.

3.) Hornets (6)
Chris Paul must be seething after failing to win First Trimester MVP honors in the West. How else to explain the venom he played with over the weekend in a big back-to-back road sweep of Golden State and Phoenix?

4.) Lakers (5)
We've resisted putting the Lakers (or Hornets) above the Suns, Mavs and Spurs. But with the West powers ailing or inconsistent and L.A. at 14-5 since a 7-6 start, plus 2-0 vs. Phoenix, you can make the case for a week.

5.) Spurs (4)
Duncan insists he's fine after colliding knee-to-knee with Corey Maggette. But Sunday's late hit, just as Manu returned to work, means SA still hasn't finished a game with its three best players intact since November.

6.) Suns (3)
Our pal Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic has an idea why Suns fans are so edgy when their team leads the West with nine more road wins than home defeats. The reason: Phoenix is 1-6 against the West's top eight.

7.) Mavericks (8)
Hard to believe Dallas is just 7-8 on the road after last season's 31-10. But some normalcy is creeping back into Mavsland: Dirk has been top scorer in nine straight after it happened just seven times in the first 25 games.

8.) Blazers (7)
Don't be so sure that the Blazers' seven-game trip will ruin the fairy tale. Portland is 5-1 on the road during this astonishing 16-1 run. And its only road losses since Thanksgiving were at Dallas, San Antonio and Utah.

9.) Nuggets (11)
The Nuggets and Lakers became 20-game winners Friday night. Which means A) The West now has seven teams on a 50-win pace and B) Denver needs a 40-10 finish to uphold Melo and AI's preseason touts of 60 wins.

10.) Warriors (9)
Did we jinx 'em? Fair question after the Warriors follow up Stephen Jackson's coronation as the West's First Trimester MVP with their first back-to-back losses (at Mavs, home to Hornets) since the 0-6 start Jack missed.

Week 10 Rankings

lol, I remember that one time the Magic were ranked #1.

Wow it's like old times! The Celtics, Lakers and Pistons all in the Top 4

edee wrote:Wow it's like old times! The Celtics, Lakers and Pistons all in the Top 4

Hopefully it'll stay that way

The West now has seven teams on a 50-win pace

wow.

TEAM (LAST WK) REC. BREAKDOWN: CONTENDERS
1 Boston (2) 29-3 Off: 111.6 (6), Def: 97.1 (1) -- If you predicted that Big Baby would be the game's leading scorer on Saturday, give yourself a pat on the back, and then give me a call. I've got some questions for you.

2 Detroit (1) 26-8 Off: 114.5 (1), Def: 102.6 (2) -- The good thing about the Boston game is that it prepares the Pistons well for a back-to-back in Dallas and San Antonio on Wednesday and Thursday.

3 San Antonio (3) 23-9 Off: 111.4 (7), Def: 103.9 (4) -- The Spurs had a loss in Denver and two too-close-for-comfort wins over really bad teams this week. But it's all about the big picture, and getting Manu Ginobili back was more important than the results.

4 L.A. Lakers (6) 21-11 Off: 111.6 (5), Def: 105.6 (7) -- Andrew Bynum just keeps getting better. He averaged 20.0 and 14.5 in the two wins this week and his numbers are 16.1 points, 10.7 boards, 2.46 blocks and .677 from the field in his last 13 games. That's better than Jermaine O'Neal's numbers, by the way.

5 New Orleans (7) 23-11 Off: 109.1 (12), Def: 104.4 (6) -- Road wins over Golden State and Phoenix (without David West) on back-to-back nights is about as impressive as it gets. And they have them within one game of the No. 1 seed in the West.

TEAM (LAST WK) REC. BREAKDOWN
6 Portland (5) 21-13 Off: 109.2 (11), Def: 108.3 (19) -- Do you believe yet? And they're winning on the road (five of their last six) now too. And Mo, it's time for Brandon Roy to crack the Top 10.

7 Phoenix (4) 23-10 Off: 113.6 (2), Def: 108.0 (17) -- For the sobering stat of the week, I turn to Paul Coro: The Suns are 1-6 against the current top eight in the West, with the only win coming against a Parker-less Spurs team.

8 Dallas (8) 23-11 Off: 113.4 (3), Def: 108.3 (18) -- Jerry Stackhouse says he'll be back for Wednesday's game against the Pistons, but it might be time to start worrying about Erick Dampier.

9 Denver (10) 21-12 Off: 107.4 (14), Def: 103.5 (3) -- Nene and Kenyon Martin are both healthy and as they get back in game-shape, they only make the Nuggets stronger. Martin had a career-high seven blocks in Thursday's big win in San Antonio and the two combined for 18 boards on Sunday against the Sixers.

10 Orlando (9) 22-13 Off: 109.5 (10), Def: 105.9 (10) -- Here's my take on the whole Nelson-Arroyo, Bogans-Dooling debate: It doesn't matter. The defense has been bad (110.8) since they began this 6-9 run (with Houston being the most impressive win) in early December.

NBA.com Power Rankings

^^ check the box that says 'disable smilies in this post'

^^ thanks 2poor.

lakers #4
bynum's a beast

NBA.com's seems better... glad the New Orleans Chris Pauls are getting some love, they deserve it..

tkb wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Hopefully it'll stay that way

+1 !

MagicMadness wrote:lol, I remember that one time the Magic were ranked #1.

Yeah me too

The playoffs this year for both Conferences should be absolutely ridiculous this year.

An incredible NBA season really.

we'll find out if those blazers are for real in a week when they hit that east coast swing! i'll think they'll hold on, they've been reppin' west coast teams on the road during their current hot streak.

ek da shrek wrote:The playoffs this year for both Conferences should be absolutely ridiculous this year.

An incredible NBA season really.

Not really. What teams do you think can beat either the Pistons or Celtics in the East playoffs. None that I can think of.

The West is becoming more jumbled though. The Spurs, Suns and Mavs are coming down a little and the Hornets, Lakers, Warriors, Blazers and Nuggets got a little better. Imagine if Oden were healthy, the Rockets and Jazz lived up to their potential. The power is still in the West by far imo.........

kellex wrote:we'll find out if those blazers are for real in a week when they hit that east coast swing! i'll think they'll hold on, they've been reppin' west coast teams on the road during their current hot streak.

?

they've gotten a few wins. 11 of the 17 games have been at home though.
the two quality wins were @denver (denver 2nd of b2b after san antonio the night before) and @utah. other wins were @memphis & @minnesota.
i wouldn't call that 'repping west coast teams on the road'

G35 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-




Not really. What teams do you think can beat either the Pistons or Celtics in the East playoffs. None that I can think of.

The West is becoming more jumbled though. The Spurs, Suns and Mavs are coming down a little and the Hornets, Lakers, Warriors, Blazers and Nuggets got a little better. Imagine if Oden were healthy, the Rockets and Jazz lived up to their potential. The power is still in the West by far imo.........

Chicago will get better. Toronto will be healthy. The Nets are the Nets. I imagine these opening round match-ups.

Boston-Wizards
Pistons-Chicago
Cleveland-Toronto
Orlando-New Jersey

Looks good to me.

I honestly think if Nets stay healthy and get Krstic back and effective before the playoffs they can threaten Pistons/Celtics with a rotation of Kidd/Carter/Jefferson/Krstic/Williams then Williams/Wright/Nachbar/Collins/Boone/Armstrong/Allen

This thread either needs an update or unsticky. The new powerranks came out yesterday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerrank ... 08&week=11

ek da shrek wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Chicago will get better. Toronto will be healthy. The Nets are the Nets. I imagine these opening round match-ups.

I don't see it. Chicago is quickly running out of time and they continue to drop games because of their continued ineptitude on offense.

As for Toronto, they remind me a lot of the Bucks last season. Once you have the bug it's tough to shake, even when you do get players back. It's tough to establish rhythm and chemistry midway through the season and I think the Raptors will continue to hover just around .500 for the remainder of the season.