NBA Power Rankings: Losing Teams That Nobody Wants to Play

Only a handful of teams have been playing great basketball this season. In fact, there are more teams that have been consistently awful than there are teams that have been consistently good.

You could see this coming before the start of the season. The lockout left teams with just a couple weeks to come together. Here we are a couple months later and teams are still trying to come together. Overall, the quality of play has been pretty lousy.

However, as per usual, there are a couple of losing teams out there that are not as bad as their records suggest. They may not be winning games, but they'll at least put up a good fight night after night.

There are four in particular that spring to mind. 

Golden State Warriors (No. 22)

Okay, so maybe all this talk about the Warriors now being a defensive team was a bunch of nonsense. The Warriors are currently 29th in the league in points allowed per game.

There's nothing wrong with this Warriors offense, though. Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis and David Lee are all averaging better than 17 points per game and the team as a whole is scoring 99.3 points per game.

It's a good thing the Warriors let their opponents score so many points. Indeed, their opponents have to score so many points.

As it is, the Warriors are playing decent basketball right now. They've scored over 100 points in four straight games and have won five of eight overall. The only losses in that span were two to a great Oklahoma City Thunder team and a bad OT loss at the Sacramento Kings. Their wins include victories over Portland, Utah, Denver and Houston, all four of whom are over .500.

The Warriors are still not a great team, but if you think they're a pushover, think again.

Phoenix Suns (No. 20)

The Suns have won five of seven since the start of February, but that's more than a little misleading. The only truly good team the Suns have beaten since the start of the month was the Atlanta Hawks.

Nevertheless, the Suns are a tough nut to crack because of one man. Steve Nash is no spring chicken, but the dude is still ballin'. He's had double-digit assists in six of Phoenix's seven February games. He can still dish out.

Nash alone makes the Suns a tough team to play. If he's not dishing the ball to Phoenix's shooters, he's driving through the lane or knocking down shots of his own. He can do these things in his sleep.

The Suns may not be a great team, but one can only imagine how horrid they would be without their 38-year-old two-time MVP.

Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 19)

The Timberwolves got embarrassed in the two games they had to play without Kevin Love. If you take those out of the equation, you'll notice that the Wolves have been playing some damn good basketball recently.

The Wolves are a tough team to play because of how balanced they are. They're really not that awful defensively and they can throw a variety of weapons at you on offense. Love is one of the best there is, Ricky Rubio is a magician, Michael Beasley is still solid and you never know what Derrick Williams is going to do when he gets in there.

It suffices to say that the Wolves are much better than they were a year ago, when they won just 17 games all season. They could tie that mark before the month is out, and they probably will.

The Wolves are tough enough now. Just imagine how good this team could be down the line.

New York Knicks (No. 14)

No surprise here, right?

Through three games, it was pretty easy to be skeptical about Linsanity. Sure, Jeremy Lin was doing work, but he was doing so against three awful teams.

Then he had his way with the Los Angeles Lakers. Eyes = opened.

There seems to be no stopping Lin at this point. In fact, he's been a model of consistency and he's getting Amar'e Stoudemire back this week. Stoudemire is one of the best pick and roll guys in the league, making him and Lin a natural fit.

Carmelo Anthony will be back soon, too. To boot, he said on Monday that he's very much on board with Linsanity.

"When I get back Jeremy will have the ball in his hands and I'm playing off of that," said Melo, according to Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.

Rest of the league, you've been warned.

This will probably be the last time I mention the Knicks in this capacity. They'll be over .500 in no time.

Zachary D. Rymer's NBA Power Rankings

Rank	Team	Record
1	Miami Heat	21-7
2	Oklahoma City Thunder	21-6
3	Chicago Bulls	23-7
4	San Antonio Spurs	19-9
5	Philadelphia 76ers	19-9
6	Los Angeles Clippers	17-8
7	Atlanta Hawks	18-10
8	Indiana Pacers	17-10
9	Dallas Mavericks	17-11
10	Los Angeles Lakers	16-12
11	Boston Celtics	15-12
12	Orlando Magic	17-11
13	Portland Trail Blazers	15-13
14	New York Knicks	13-15
15	Houston Rockets	16-12
16	Memphis Grizzlies	14-14
17	Denver Nuggets	16-12
18	Utah Jazz	14-12
19	Minnesota Timberwolves	13-15
20	Phoenix Suns	12-15
21	Milwaukee Bucks	12-15
22	Golden State Warriors	10-14
23	Sacramento Kings	10-17
24	Cleveland Cavaliers	10-16
25	Toronto Raptors	9-20
26	Detroit Pistons	8-21
27	New Jersey Nets	8-21
28	Washington Wizards	6-22
29	New Orleans Hornets	4-23
30	Charlotte Bobcats	3-24