NBA Power Rankings: LeBron James and the Cavs Return to Form
We've almost reached the end of the 2017-18 regular season. The time for teams to move up or down these power rankings is running out.
With near-full-season numbers established, it's not as easy to say some statistic is unsustainable or misleading, or that it somehow doesn't reflect what's going on with a team.
The stats we have say most of what we need to know...but not everything. If they covered the whole story, we'd run down the standings and call it good.
As always, these rankings are about each team's present strength. How are injuries making a squad weaker than its record indicates? How do we weigh its recent play against its overall numbers? The goal is to organize all 30 teams into an order that reflects who's most (and least) dangerous at the moment.
These aren't championship odds. The Golden State Warriors, for example, don't look great because Stephen Curry is out with a knee injury. But if they survive the first round in his absence, get him back and flip the switch, they're suddenly right back up there with the Houston Rockets in the elite tier.
For now, considering their shoddy recent efforts and poor health, they're below that level.
Stats are accurate through games played Thursday, April 5.
30-26
1 of 14
Last week's ranking in parentheses.
30. Phoenix Suns (30)
After going 1-10 in February and 0-14 in March, the Phoenix Suns snatched a game from the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, taking a 97-93 win behind 28 points from Josh Jackson. Despite that, Phoenix remains on pace to finish last in both offensive and defensive efficiency, which is bad.
At least Danuel House is out there having fun and throwing lobs to himself off the backboard.
29. New York Knicks (28)
I'm sure there's one out there, but it's hard to come up with a worse loss than the one New York suffered against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. The Knicks scored a season-low-tying 73 points to a Magic team that had just lost games against the tanking trio of the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.
New York's defensive rating since March 1 is 113.7, which is the league's worst. And things have gotten so bad on the injury/shutdown front that the coaches are having to fill in as extra practice bodies.
Which...the Knicks are still practicing? What's the point?
28. Memphis Grizzlies (27)
After two straight wins to close out the last ranking session, the Grizzlies had seen enough. So with Marc Gasol off to an 11-of-12 start, scoring 28 points in 23 minutes against the Utah Jazz on Friday, interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff pulled the plug, sitting his big man for the entire fourth quarter. Memphis would go on to lose 107-97.
That's how you tank.
27. Orlando Magic (26)
If you started guessing which teams are among the top five in defensive efficiency since March 1, how many would it take you before reaching the Magic? Twenty? Twenty five? Believe it or not, Orlando has been that stingy on D. The reason it so deservedly remains this low in the rankings is a near-league-worst offensive rating during that same span.
The Magic ran up a dreadful streak of losses to the Nets, Bulls and Hawks before ending the skid with a stifling 97-73 win over the Knicks on Tuesday. Then they went out and beat the Dallas Mavericks the next night.
26. Chicago Bulls (29)
This has been a disastrous week for the Bulls' tanking efforts. Wins over the Magic, Washington Wizards (by 19 points! A season-high margin of victory!) and Charlotte Hornets got Chicago's victory total all the way up to 27, putting it in line for the seventh-best lottery odds.
On the housekeeping front, Zach LaVine (knee tendinitis) and Kris Dunn (turf toe) are both officially out for the year, and Denzel Valentine's knee debridement surgery means his season is also over. The Bulls are packing it in and winning, the tanker's worst nightmare.
25-21
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25. Atlanta Hawks (25)
Barring a late scoring surge, the Hawks are in line to finish with a bottom-five offensive rating for the second year in a row. With Dennis Schroder's ankle officially ruling him out for the season, it's hard to see how Atlanta will avoid low point totals over its final three games.
If all goes according to plan during that stretch, the Hawks will secure the East's lowest win total.
24. Sacramento Kings (24)
Buddy Hield scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half of Sunday's 84-83 win over the Lakers, saving his only second-half bucket for a critical breakaway dunk that sealed the game. He's more than established himself as a reliable scorer this year. Ball-handling, quickness and defensive deficiencies matter a lot less when you're one of the NBA's elite snipers.
Among players averaging at least five three-point attempts per game, Hield sports an accuracy rate that trails only those of Joe Ingles, Klay Thompson and Kyle Korver.
Sacramento's minus-8.1 net rating marks it as the league's second-worst team. Some good luck (or maybe bad in light of the deliberate effort to lose) in close games is why the Kings may still pick outside the top five.
23. Brooklyn Nets (22)
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson posted 20 points and 14 boards to help Brooklyn beat the Miami Heat in Saturday's 110-109 overtime shocker, proving yet again that the Nets aren't your average bottom-feeder. They're generally playing harder than the other teams in their range of the standings, and they seem to get at least one standout effort per week from a young talent.
RHJ joins Caris LeVert, D'Angelo Russell, Jarrett Allen and Spencer Dinwiddie on the season-long rotating Nets narrative of, "Hey, that guy might turn out to be pretty good!"
Thanks to their three-heavy approach, the Nets can beat anybody. They served another reminder in Thursday's 119-111 win over a motivated Bucks team. Brooklyn drilled 19 of its 39 triple tries in that one.
22. Dallas Mavericks (23)
Over at Cleaning the Glass, there's a thorough breakdown of how the Mavs' surprisingly productive half-court offense isn't effective enough to offset a plodding, unathletic attack that can't generate easy points in transition or on putbacks.
Maybe Dennis Smith Jr., who bounced the ball off the floor for a breakaway self-alley-oop in the closing seconds of a tight 115-109 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, took that to heart.
Dallas feels like one of the tankers most likely to ditch the cellar next season. It has the shooting and smarts to execute in traditional sets, and Smith represents a path toward more explosion.
21. Los Angeles Lakers (21)
If there's a positive to the fact Brandon Ingram (concussion) and Lonzo Ball (left knee contusion) are both missing time, it's that the Lakers are getting a chance to do weird stuff down the stretch—like play Julius Randle at the point.
"He made some plays for us," head coach Luke Walton told reporters after L.A.'s 117-110 loss to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday. "But then I think it got him out of his beast-mode rhythm that he's been in."
Walton's referring to Randle's preferred attack method, which is essentially squaring up an opponent, tuning out passing opportunities and charging over, around or through the unlucky sap tasked with guarding him. It's brutally effective.
Prospective free-agent buyers have a lot to like in Randle, who finished an assist shy of a triple-double against the Jazz and is averaging 20.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists since the break.
20-16
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20. Charlotte Hornets (18)
The Milwaukee Bucks' win over the Lakers last Friday officially eliminated the Hornets from playoff contention, which partially explains the eggs Charlotte laid in consecutive losses to the Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers and Bulls this week.
The Hornets are on pace to finish with the league's lowest turnover percentage, highest rebound rate and highest free-throw rate. All year, there were indicators (like those) that suggested Charlotte was better than its record. Maybe next season...
19. Detroit Pistons (19)
You just know it's killing head coach Stan Van Gundy that the Pistons picked this meaningless closing stretch to match their season-long winning streak of five games. The run ended against Philadelphia on Wednesday, but Van Gundy must be wondering where this was in the middle of the year, when things were slipping away.
It cannot be encouraging that most of the Pistons' recent surge came with Blake Griffin (ankle) sidelined. It's never good when the guy you owe $140-plus million to through 2022 isn't integral to winning.
18. Washington Wizards (14)
John Wall is back and...not so great yet. He turned the ball over eight times in Tuesday's lethargic blowout loss to the Rockets and dredged up some of the stagnant play that was mostly missing during his absence.
After Washington's offense stalled against Houston, SB Nation's Mike Prada tweeted: "Whoever plays the Wiz in the playoffs is gonna use the 'switch and bait them into Your Turn My Turn Ball' strategy. If the result is THAT—Wall dribbling and throwing grenades, [Bradley] Beal doing same with bad shots, Otto [Porter Jr.] invisible, [Markieff] Morris annoyed—this season will be over real soon."
Not to pile on, but the Wizards were also dreadful in Sunday's 19-point loss to the Bulls. Can't blame Wall for that one; he sat it out.
17. Los Angeles Clippers (13)
Danilo Gallinari won't be participating in the Clips' closing run. Just two games into a return from a fractured hand that cost him 18 contests, Gallo aggravated the injury in Sunday's loss to the Pacers. According to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times, L.A. doesn't expect him back.
Los Angeles isn't quite mathematically eliminated yet, but it'll need some help to sneak into the postseason.
16. New Orleans Pelicans (15)
The four-game losing streak was excusable. New Orleans fell to quality opponents in Houston, Portland, the Cleveland Cavaliers and OKC before finally getting a chance to breathe with a win over the Grizzlies on Wednesday.
As it stands, the Pels will probably have to win one of their final three games against the Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs to avoid sliding out of the playoff picture. Anthony Davis, who shot under 50 percent from the floor in those losses to Cleveland and OKC, must carry his guys against a tough schedule. AD has done everything for the Pelicans since DeMarcus Cousins tore his Achilles in late January, and nobody'd blame him for being gassed.
We'll see if he's got a closing kick.
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15. Denver Nuggets (20)
We buried the Nuggets prematurely last week, and they responded with four straight wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Bucks, Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves—miraculously vaulting to within half a game of a playoff spot despite a punishing schedule.
Nikola Jokic and Russell Westbrook are the only players in the league averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists since the All-Star break, and Paul Millsap is showing signs of life as well. He scored 36 points to help beat OKC in overtime last Friday.
The Nuggets, seemingly finished, will make this interesting.
14. Miami Heat (12)
If Hassan Whiteside launched into an expletive-riddled screed following an overtime loss to the Nets as a way to trick high playoff seeds into overlooking his team, the Heat are selling the vulnerability angle well.
The alternative: Miami is stumbling toward the playoffs (possibly as an eighth seed with the Toronto Raptors and OKC on the schedule next week) toting a major locker room distraction.
Outside of a 98-79 victory over the Cavs on March 27, the Heat are conspicuously short on quality wins over the last month.
Shout out to Wayne Ellington, who set the single-season NBA record for made threes by a reserve this week. That guy makes some tough ones.
13. Milwaukee Bucks (17)
The Bucks' 119-111 loss to the Nets on Thursday didn't do much for their effort to move out of the eighth spot in the East. Then again, with Cleveland locked in at No. 3, maybe climbing the standings toward that sixth seed isn't such a great idea anyway.
Perhaps it's just the insular world of Bucks Twitter, but there seems to be a groundswell of support for busting out some Giannis Antetokounmpo-at-center lineups with designs on a first-round upset.
The sample is tiny, but it suggests that'd be a risky move.
In 232 possessions with Giannis at the 5, Milwaukee's net rating is minus-8.5. It'd be a curveball for sure—one that'd make Milwaukee eminently switchable (except it doesn't like to switch on D) while also getting the team's five best players on the floor at the same time.
Assuming the Bucks have a lineup ace in the hole is a mistake. At best, playing Antetokounmpo at center would be a gutsy, excusable gamble by an underdog with little to lose.
12. Minnesota Timberwolves (16)
Jimmy Butler didn't make it back for Thursday's critical meeting with the Nuggets, and it cost the Wolves, who fell by a final of 100-96 and only hold an advantage over Denver via a tiebreaker now.
He'll have to make an impact over the Timberwolves' final few games. And, admittedly, his imminent comeback accounts for more in Minnesota's ranking than its performance this past week.
11. Indiana Pacers (9)
Victor Oladipo earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors, and Indiana won't fall any lower than fifth by playoff time. And though Oladipo has been excellent all year, his recent play continues to make the Pacers a dangerous postseason opponent.
He hung 30 points and 12 assists on the Clippers last Sunday, hitting 11-of-17 shots and snatching five steals. If his three-point stroke holds up (way down from the 38.1 percent he shot before the break), Oladipo could add a series win to a season that'll surely include Most Improved honors.
10. San Antonio Spurs
5 of 14
Last Week: 10
The Kawhi Leonard nonsense rages on, with head coach Gregg Popovich introducing the term "his group" and Brian Windhorst of ESPN reporting general managers will ask about Leonard's availability in trade this summer.
Through it all, the Spurs have persevered.
Following a dominant effort against the Rockets on Sunday, San Antonio lost a road back-to-back against the Clippers and Lakers. LaMarcus Aldridge went for 23 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks against the Rockets, and he's scored at least 23 points in 11 of his last 12 games.
Since March 13, only LeBron James has produced more total points than Aldridge.
San Antonio won't reach the 50-win plateau for the first time (in an 82-game season) since 1997, and it's hard to take it seriously as a title threat with or without Leonard. But you've got to admire the Spurs' resiliency. They're in line to finish with the league's No. 7 net rating despite enduring what has to qualify as a worst-case scenario campaign.
9. Oklahoma City Thunder
6 of 14
Last Week: 6
Paul George and Carmelo Anthony shot a combined 9-of-35 from the field (3-of-18 from deep) in Tuesday's 111-107 home loss to the Warriors, squandering a 44-point, 16-rebound explosion from Russell Westbrook and casting further doubt on the postseason readiness of OKC's supporting cast.
"There's something mechanical in my shot," George, mired in a gruesome shooting slump for weeks, told reporters afterward. "I don't know what it is. It feels funny. Shooting the ball feels funny. So I'm going to work with the trainers and try and figure that out."
Despite this protracted stretch of off-target shooting, George is still topping Anthony from the field (42.8 percent to 40.3 percent) and from long range (39.7 percent to 35.8 percent).
With three games left, one of which comes against the Grizzlies, Oklahoma City is all but assured of a playoff berth. But with George's shooting issues and four losses in their last five games, the Thunder aren't closing the regular season on a promising note.
8. Boston Celtics
7 of 14
Last Week: 4
Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn't going to let the ultra-short-handed Celtics get away with a seventh straight win Tuesday. He scored 29 points and registered a critical chase-down block on Jaylen Brown in the final minute. But that 106-102 loss doesn't detract from how remarkable it was that Boston could even compete.
Playing without its first four options at point guard—Kyrie Irving (knee surgery), Marcus Smart (thumb), Terry Rozier (ankle) and Shane Larkin (illness)—the Celtics were still in Tuesday's game throughout. Al Horford, Jayson Tatum and Brown all shouldered ball-handling duties.
This is a Celtics team that, despite loads of injuries, beat the Jazz in Utah on March 28 and knocked off the top-seeded Raptors last Sunday. The roster doesn't look like one that belongs in our top 10, but head coach Brad Stevens is pulling strings and the young guys (Brown and Tatum in particular) are expanding their games by necessity.
Like the Warriors without Curry, Boston can't truly consider itself a contender—not with Irving officially out for the remainder of the season and playoffs, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. But forcing Toronto to sweat it out for the East's No. 1 seed this late stands out as a remarkable achievement.
7. Portland Trail Blazers
8 of 14
Last Week: 3
Portland has lost three of its last five games (including one to Memphis and one to Dallas), and Damian Lillard is dealing with a sore left ankle. The injury prevented him from playing in Thursday's loss to the Rockets.
Still, since March 1, only the Rockets, Jazz and Sixers have outscored opponents by a larger margin than the Blazers.
Firmly ensconced in the West's third spot, Portland should let Lillard take it easy down the stretch. He'll need to be fully healed for his team to have a chance, as the Blazers dip from a net rating that would rank third in the league with him on the floor to one that'd slot in at 22nd when he doesn't play.
6. Golden State Warriors
9 of 14
Last Week: 11
The Warriors are fine without Curry on the floor...as long as Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green are all out there together. That configuration's net rating is a plus-4.7 this year, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Golden State is still proceeding cautiously. Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston both took nights off this week, and Quinn Cook's 50-40-90 shooting probably won't continue. But these guys have gotten enough of their key pieces back to climb a bit.
The sans-Curry recipe must include stellar defense, lots of Durant and just enough shooting from Thompson, Cook and anyone else who can hit from outside. That's basically what the Dubs got in Tuesday's impressive win in Oklahoma City, and it'll have to continue through a first round that probably won't include Curry.
The Warriors aren't a contender without their two-time MVP, but they're a top-10 team. That's true even if they were mentally checked out as the Pacers hammered them by 20 Thursday.
5. Philadelphia 76ers
10 of 14
Last Week: 8
Make it a dozen straight victories for the scalding Sixers (and four in a row since Joel Embiid went down with a facial fracture and concussion March 28), who remain driven in their hunt for the East's No. 3 seed.
Ben Simmons has been the engine propelling Philly's recent success.
Per the Elias Sports Bureau: "Simmons did his part and then some, producing 204 points, 150 rebounds and 170 assists. No player in NBA history, not even triple-double machine Oscar Robertson, had ever totaled at least 200 points, 150 rebounds and 170 assists within a calendar month of his rookie season."
And though the Sixers came apart early in the year whenever Simmons played without Embiid, that trend is reversing. Philadelphia's net rating with Simmons on and Embiid off has improved in three straight months and has been positive over the last two, per ESPN Stats & Info's Micah Adams.
Having everyone available is best, of course. Among five-man units that have logged at least 500 minutes this season, the Sixers' starting five of Embiid, Simmons, JJ Redick, Robert Covington and Dario Saric lead the league with a plus-21.4 net rating.
4. Utah Jazz
11 of 14
Last Week: 5
Ricky Rubio led the Jazz in scoring twice (twice!) this past week, Dante Exum just missed a career high with 21 points against the Grizzlies on Friday, Donovan Mitchell is physically incapable of scoring fewer than 20 points...and none of those things count as the most impressive recent development in Utah.
Because Joe Ingles dunked.
That's happened a few times before, but it always feels like an event—one Exum claimed never to have witnessed.
Utah looked unstable in the latter half of March, dropping three of its final six games. But with the rest of the West's messy middle tier slipping this week, the Jazz find themselves in the No. 4 playoff spot. This is a team nobody wants to see in the first round.
3. Toronto Raptors
12 of 14
Last Week: 2
Not long ago, it seemed like Toronto's grip on the East's top seed was more like a stranglehold.
Losses to the Cavs and Celtics this week injected uncertainty, and though Wednesday's rematch win over Boston solidified Toronto's supremacy in the East standings, there are real big-picture issues arising on both ends for the Raptors.
DeMar DeRozan is only making 27.6 percent of his threes since the All-Star break, and Toronto's defensive decline is starting to warrant panic.
Over the last three weeks, Toronto owns a bottom-10 defensive rating. It has surrendered big totals to ho-hum offenses such as Brooklyn's and Boston's. Taking care of the Celtics on Wednesday was vital, but if this past week was supposed to help us measure the Raptors against a couple of strong East opponents, they didn't separate themselves.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
13 of 14
Last Week: 7
Does this feel shortsighted? Perhaps driven by recency bias? Does it seem to ignore the months of lazy defense and absent effort?
Sorry, but whenever Cleveland whips itself into shape (led by LeBron James and another one of his statistical onslaughts), this is the only proper reaction. Because we all know the Cavs have had this in them.
James is making over half his threes in April while threatening to post a triple-double every night, and Kevin Love looks no worse for wear after missing a game and entering the league's concussion protocol in late March. He went for 18 points and 15 boards against the Raptors on Tuesday, drilling four of his six three-point attempts.
Go ahead: Try to convince yourself the Cavs aren't the most dangerous team in the East and a clear title threat—one enjoying better health than several other contenders. And keep trying to do that deep into June, when Cleveland is still playing.
1. Houston Rockets
14 of 14
Last Week: 1
This wasn't a perfect week for the Rockets, but nobody toward the top of the rankings looks pristine enough to inject much drama into the race for No. 1.
Houston dropped a 100-83 contest to the Spurs on Sunday, concluding a stretch of shaky (by Rockets standards) wins over suspect opponents. Head coach Mike D'Antoni had some tough talk for his coasting team after that Spurs loss, and it seemed to have the desired effect.
The Rockets hammered Washington on Tuesday, getting Chris Paul back from a hip injury that cost him a couple of weeks, as James Harden scored 38 points on only 18 shots.
With Paul back, Houston heads into the final week of the regular season in a class of its own. Cleveland is perking up, Golden State is looming and a handful of other teams will make a title run difficult. But the Rockets are deserving of this spot in light of their league-high win total, 14-1 March record and generally unstoppable offense.
