2015 NBA Power Rankings: Warriors Remain on Top Entering Conference Finals

A month-and-a-half after the NCAA narrowed its field down to the Final Four, the NBA has followed suit. Where once 16 teams of disparate strength stood, now the four heartiest remain.

And unlike March Madness, it'll take more than a weekend for a true champion to emerge from among the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, all of whom have walked through some sort of fire to reach this point.

Usually, this space is used to place all 30 of the Association's teams in order from worst to first based on recent performance and present personnel. But 26 of those teams have already turned their full attention to the summer of 2015 and all that entails.

So, rather than trouble you with those off-court dealings ahead of the opening of the conference finals on Tuesday, let's home in on those who still have skin in the game as far as the Larry O'Brien Trophy is concerned. The order here is based on the viability of each team in the impending series and in the NBA Finals thereafter.

4. Houston Rockets

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Who says lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place?

In 1995, the Houston Rockets battled back from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Phoenix Suns in seven games and secure a spot in the Western Conference Finals. Twenty years later, the Rockets pulled off a similar feat, this time at the expense of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Both comebacks were nothing short of stunning, though this latest one—just the ninth time in NBA history that a team has rebounded from down 3-1 to win—was replete with oddities.

In Game 5, James Harden strung together a triple-double (26 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) despite being under the weather. In Game 6, the Rockets erased a 19-point second-half deficit while Harden, still slowed by illness (and showing it in his 5-of-20 shooting night), cheered from the bench. Come Game 7, the Clippers seemed to run out of steam, leaving Houston with no problem in pursuit of its first conference finals appearance since 1997.

But the Rockets are aiming for much more than that. "I don't think we all came together just to get to the Western Conference Finals," Dwight Howard said after Game 7, per Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press. "All of us are in pursuit of that ring. We're happy, but none of us are satisfied. We just have that focus about us, and we want to win. It's not going to be easy, and we don't want it to be. We want to fight for it — for what we think is ours."

Trouble is, like all the bloodlines battling it out in Westeros, the Rockets aren't the only ones with claim to the NBA's iron throne. Houston will first have to contend with a seven-game series against top-seed Golden State.

And if recent history is any indication—the Warriors swept the Rockets during the regular season, winning by more than 15 points per game, and made minced meat of the Memphis Grizzlies over the final three games of their series—Houston's end could be as swift and brutal as any yet seen in Game of Thrones. 

That is, unless Patrick Beverley returns from his wrist injury in time to pester Stephen Curry on Houston's behalf.

3. Atlanta Hawks

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

For a moment, let's forget that the Hawks of these playoffs have hardly (and only rarely) looked like the same Hawks who rewrote the franchise record books (19 straight wins, 60 total wins) during the 2014-15 season.

The fact is playoff basketball is all about survival, and Atlanta has done well enough to reach its first conference finals since the NBA started organizing itself by conference in 1970—even if the competition has been spotty thus far.

"It's a good feeling," Al Horford said after his Hawks fended off the feisty Washington Wizards in Game 6, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chris Vivlamore. "I don't know if it's set in quite yet, honestly. It's a good feeling. I'm excited, and I'm looking forward to the next round." 

Once the Eastern Conference Finals tip off Wednesday, the Hawks will find themselves pitted against the Cleveland Cavaliers, from whom they took three of four regular-season meetings. Granted, regular-season results usually have little, if any, bearing on the playoffs. And in Cleveland's case, none of those losses came at the expense of a group that resembles the one the Cavs currently have on offer.

Atlanta, on the other hand, is essentially the same team now that it has been all season, save for the absence of Thabo Sefolosha and the nagging pains plaguing the active roster.

On paper, that sort of relative health and stability would appear to serve the Hawks well in the hothouse of the postseason. But, in practice, Atlanta's road to Round 3 was a surprisingly bumpy one and cast some concern about whether this team, devoid of a true superstar, has that all-important next gear into which it can kick things.

For some, such as the Denver Post's Christopher Dempsey, how the Hawks fare over the next two weeks (and perhaps beyond) could serve as a referendum on whether a team can succeed at the highest level without a singular talent leading the way:

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It would be another piece of validation to the belief that you can win big without the superstar. It would give other general managers the courage to put teams together differently, if they so choose. It would give more fans in more cities a sense that, yes, their team could make a run too.

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In the meantime, the Hawks are likely focused less on the potential big-picture implications of their run and much more on the dogged attempt to keep it going.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images

Like the Hawks, the Cavaliers have hardly looked like their regular-season selves of late, albeit for slightly different reasons.

Kevin Love's been out of commission since suffering a shoulder dislocation at the end of Round 1. Kyrie Irving hobbled through much of Round 2 with foot and knee troubles. Against the Chicago Bulls, LeBron James, not exactly a picture of health himself, shot just under 40 percent from the field, knocked down just three long balls in 28 tries and turned the ball over 4.5 times per game.

And yet, in some ways, the Cavs appear to be a stronger, more dangerous team now than they were at the start of the playoffs, when fitness and efficiency weren't such concerns. The supporting cast showed its true colors, with the likes of Matthew Dellavedova, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert coming through in a big way behind Cleveland's wounded (and suspended) mainstays.

For all the hubbub about James' audible at the end of Game 4, head coach David Blatt earned his stripes when it comes to making in-series adjustments and rallying his guys to the cause.

That being said, the Cavs are far from out of the woods just yet. They'll have to conjure up even more of that same resolve if they're to overcome a Hawks team that's healthier, more disciplined and more experienced as a collective than they are on the way to the NBA Finals.

Fortunately for Cleveland, it should have some distinct advantages opposite Atlanta. For one, the frontcourt combination of Thompson (6'8") and Timofey Mozgov (7'1") has the requisite size, strength and tenacity to take advantage of the Hawks' tandem of Al Horford and Paul Millsap, just as Brook Lopez, Marcin Gortat and Nene have in these playoffs. Irving should be a credit to the Cavs' cause as well, though his injuries could prove problematic when attempting to contain quick guards like Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder.

But the biggest feather in Cleveland's cap is clearly James. Whether you believe he's still the best basketball player on the planet, there's little doubt that LeBron is the best in this series. That simple fact has worked in James' favor many times before and figures to hold once again as he seeks his fifth straight Eastern Conference crown.

1. Golden State Warriors

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

A two-game hiccup in Round 2 is about as close as the Warriors have come to having their charmed lives interrupted this season. Even then, the Memphis Grizzlies could only shake Golden State's confidence for so long before head coach Steve Kerr found a way to take Tony Allen out of the series—and before Allen's own hamstring troubles slowed him down even further.

That, among other things, gave Stephen Curry just enough daylight to recapture the magic he rode to his MVP honors. After shooting a dismal 27.6 percent from three through the first half of the series against Memphis, Curry turned the beat around in a big way, knocking in 51.4 percent of his treys over the final three games, including a miraculous three-quarter-court heave in Game 6.

"It's just one of those special moments," Allen said of Curry's shot, per the Associated Press (via ESPN). "He's a special kind of guy. They make those kind of shots."

The Warriors will need to make their fair share of long balls, preferably closer to the hoop than Curry's highlight, if they're to take care of the trey-happy Rockets. Houston finished first to Golden State's second in three-point makes during the regular season.

The bigger concern for the Dubs may well be a relative lack of experience. While Houston boasts a host of players (James Harden, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Jason Terry, Corey Brewer) who've played in and beyond the conference finals, Golden State has but one: Leandro Barbosa, who reached Round 3 with the Phoenix Suns in 2005, 2006 and 2010.

As Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal cautioned of the Warriors:

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There's no veteran to lean on. There's no key player who's actually going to be on the court when he tells everyone to settle down and remember that they're just playing another basketball game, even if it comes with more of a national spotlight. 

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What the Warriors do have, though, is a great player in Curry, who's proved equal to the task at each step so far and a team around him that's hungry to hang the franchise's first championship banner in 40 years.

But the Rockets, Cavaliers and Hawks all have great players of their own and will certainly have some say in the matter before the league's next coronation in June.

Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.

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