2015 NBA Power Rankings: Where the Chips Fall with 1 Month Left
To paraphrase Drake, if you're reading this, it's already the middle of March Madness...so thanks for taking some time away from college basketball to pay some attention to the pros.
Believe it or not, the NBA has plenty of excitement to offer this time of year, especially this season.
For starters, the playoff pictures in both conferences are still rather blurry. In the East, just three games separate the second-seed Cleveland Cavaliers from the fifth-place Washington Wizards. Below those squads, no fewer than five teams are duking it out for the final two spots—maybe six for three if you include the slumping Milwaukee Bucks in sixth.
Out West, four-and-a-half games separate the second-place Memphis Grizzlies and the seventh-place San Antonio Spurs, with the Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns fighting for the No. 8 spot.
Sure, the Association's game-to-game stakes pale in comparison to those of the NCAA tournament, but that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of surviving to be done before 16 teams advance to the postseason while the other 14 await the draft lottery.
So, while you're celebrating (or weeping over) your bracket, why not get caught up on how the NBA's hierarchy has shifted since last week? To get you in rhythm, we've ranked all 30 clubs (as we always do) based on recent performance and available personnel.
30. Orlando Magic
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James Borrego needn't worry too much about the Orlando Magic's 6-12 record on his watch. For one, the worse Orlando does down the stretch, the better its odds will be of landing a primo pick in the 2015 NBA draft. If the season ended today, Orlando, at 21-49, would have the fifth-best odds of winning the lottery.
And if the Magic decide to dump Borrego rather than remove his interim tag, he may well land on his feet with the head coaching gig at his alma mater.
Either way, Victor Oladipo will still be in Orlando, presumably maturing into a bona fide star. The No. 2 pick in the 2013 draft has certainly played like one of late. He's averaged 22.4 points, 5.1 assists and 2.7 steals while knocking down 41 percent of his threes through the month of March so far.
29. Los Angeles Lakers
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It's true: The Los Angeles Lakers do everything with class and at the highest level, even tanking.
The Lakers' 80-73 loss to the Utah Jazz on Thursday was the home team's fourth in a row and ninth in 10 games. All of L.A.'s defeats therein have come by single digits, often featuring the Purple and Gold fighting to the bitter end before succumbing to the opposition, superior and otherwise.
These Lakers will likely go down as the worst ones in the history of this storied franchise, but at least they can be proud of the blueprint they've put forth for playing hard and losing with dignity—in service of a rebuild.
28. New York Knicks
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Andrea Bargnani's long been derided as a detriment to his team in the NBA, but on Thursday, his futility actually helped the New York Knicks, albeit in a backward way.
The Italian big man had a look to tie the game in overtime against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he was way off the mark. Bargnani's miss sealed a 95-92 loss for the Knicks and, in turn, kept them at the head of the pack in the race for ping-pong balls in the league's draft lottery.
This, just two days after taking down the defending champion San Antonio Spurs behind an identical 7-of-16 shooting night from Bargs.
27. Minnesota Timberwolves
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The Minnesota Timberwolves won the Toilet Bowl at Madison Square Garden on Thursday in overtime, 95-92.
But in doing so, did the Wolves actually get the short end of the stick? After all, by beating New York, Minnesota ceded ownership of the NBA's worst record—and, thus, the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick—to the Knicks.
On the other hand, the Wolves might be better off vacating the basement. The league's most long-suffering team hasn't won the lottery since 2004 and has taken home the top pick just four times in the 30-year history of the NBA's peculiar draft tradition.
Moreover, Minnesota is already teeming with young talent, most notably Andrew Wiggins (20 points, 12-of-14 on free throws Thursday night), and could use whatever on-court success it can muster in the meantime to help develop those promising prospects into bona fide pros.
26. Detroit Pistons
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The early returns from Reggie Jackson's tenure with the Detroit Pistons can be described as rocky at best and disastrous as worst. Jackson has hit an abysmally low 37.6 percent of his shots, including 28.9 percent of his threes, while turning the ball over 3.3 times per game. The Pistons, in turn, have lost 11 of 13 since the trade deadline and fallen to six-and-a-half games back of a playoff spot as a result.
"I think I've been overthinking myself at times," Jackson told MLive's David Mayo. "Just continue to (know) my teammates are all great shooters. You've got to move on to the next shot. I don't care if they've missed 20 in a row, I'm going to keep coming back to them once they're open. They've been telling me they know they've missed some shots, but when guys start to stay home on them, just continue to attack and find pull-ups, find ways to attack."
To be fair, Jackson has had his moments in Motown. He put up 22 points, eight rebounds and nine assists in his second game as a Piston, chipped in 25-7-7 against Charlotte, erupted for 23 points and 20 assists at the expense of a Memphis squad that he burned for 32 points in last year's playoffs and tallied his first triple-double as a pro against Philly on Wednesday.
The overall picture isn't a pretty one for Jackson, but when deciding what to do with him in restricted free agency this summer, the Pistons can't fault his effort or desire.
"I want to just go out here and continue to battle and prove to my teammates that I'm someone who's going to work hard each and every day, and someone who's deserving to be in that position," Jackson added.
25. Philadelphia 76ers
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Today's Philadelphia 76ers aren't the same ones that started the season an NBA-record-tying 0-17. That's true in a literal sense, since seven members of Philly's current squad didn't start the 2014-15 campaign on the Sixers' active roster.
But the team's transformation from October to now is about more than mere personnel. The Sixers are a respectable 3-3 in their last six games—with an overtime loss to the Bulls and a seven-point shortfall against the Nets—in large part because they're playing hard and buying into what head coach Brett Brown wants from them, irrespective of their inferior talent.
"I think we have a more of a team identity," studly rookie Nerlens Noel told ESPN's Mike Mazzeo. "We've done a much better job of moving the ball, guys know their roles and I think the chemistry has just gone to another level.
"Everybody respects each other in this locker room, and no matter what we've gone through, everybody stays close and guys aren't getting too into themselves, which is something you have to be concerned about. Hats off to these guys, they come and bring it every night."
Which is a remarkable accomplishment in itself for a 16-52 club that could just as easily mail in the remainder of its schedule.
24. Sacramento Kings
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It's only fitting, given their nickname, that the Sacramento Kings would still be rife with palace intrigue.
The latest bit of it has centered on team owner Vivek Ranadive's decision to hire former Kings stalwart Vlade Divac to serve as the team's vice president of basketball and franchise operations. According to The Sacramento Bee's Ailene Voisin, Ranadive brought in Divac despite resistance from two men—general manager Pete D'Alessandro and special adviser Chris Mullin—whose power within the organization figures to be most directly threatened by Vlade's arrival.
Per Voisin, those two were also not responsible for bringing in George Karl to serve as the Kings' next head coach. As it happens, Karl has his own thoughts about how such a fractious cabal can coexist within an organization.
"I think organizations are a little bit like basketball teams," he told Voisin. "They have to play together, work together. Where the responsibilities fall, what the opinions are, behind closed doors we're allowed to have fights, heated discussions. But Bill Walsh told me when I first started coaching that 'organizations that aren't together don't win.' I know Pete and Mike Bratz from Denver. I know Mullie. I am getting to know Vlade. I don't think that's too many people if we pull together."
Karl will need his players to do the same if they're to make productive use of the regular season's remainder, especially now that DeMarcus Cousins is fighting through the ill effects of a calf strain.
23. Brooklyn Nets
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The Brooklyn Nets, as a whole, have not fared well without Kevin Garnett. They've gone 6-8 since the trade deadline, despite Thaddeus Young, Brooklyn's recompense for sending Garnett back to Minnesota, chipping in 13.7 points on 51.9 percent shooting (52 percent from three) as a Net.
Trouble is, several of the Nets' incumbent players have suffered mightily without the Big Ticket, chief among them Mason Plumlee. The second-year big man has averaged just 7.4 points and 5.1 rebounds—and recently lost his starting job—absent KG, whom Plumlee credits with his maturation.
"Like I said a lot of times, I couldn't ask for a better vet, a better guy to show me the ropes," Plumlee told the New York Post's Tim Bontemps. "Not just on the court — that speaks for itself — but family-wise, money-wise, all that comes with the NBA.
"He's very helpful, and still is."
Just not for the Nets as a whole, apparently.
22. Milwaukee Bucks
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The schedule has not been kind to the Milwaukee Bucks of late. They've lost four in a row and five of their last six games, all to teams that currently own or are fighting for playoff spots.
To that end, the slate won't lighten much for Milwaukee from here on out. The Bucks will head to Brooklyn on Friday before returning home to host Cleveland, Miami, Indiana and Golden State.
What's worse, Milwaukee may have to face this brutal stretch with a wing rotation thinned considerably by the absences of O.J. Mayo (hamstring) and Jared Dudley (back). And at 34-34, the Bucks' postseason cushion has shrunk to a mere three-and-a-half games with 14 to play.
21. Charlotte Hornets
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Michael Kidd-Gilchrist made headlines this week when he declared his intention to become an historically great defender.
"I want to say ever; not just in the league (now). The best defender this league has seen," Kidd-Gilchrist told The Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell. "It's baby steps. But when it's all said and done, I want people to say, 'That guy right there was the dog!' That's all I want."
As it happens, MKG's confidence in his defensive acumen may, in some respects, be tied to his growth on the other end of the floor. Per The Observer, Kidd-Gilchrist spent the summer sharpening his hitchy jump shot with the help of Charlotte Hornets assistant coach and noted NBA marksman Mark Price.
So far, the hard work has paid off. Kidd-Gilchrist has converted 43 percent of his mid-range shots this season—up from 28 percent a year ago—and has averaged a sturdy 12.6 points on 48.6 percent from the field since the All-Star break.
"When my shot started falling I just became more confident in myself both on and off the court. I don’t shy away from things anymore," Kidd-Gilchrist went on.
The Hornets will need all the confidence they can squeeze out of MKG if they're to snag a spot in the lower rungs of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
20. Denver Nuggets
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There wasn't much the Denver Nuggets could do to slow down James Harden on Thursday. The Beard burned them for a career-high 50 points in what turned out to be a 118-108 win for the Houston Rockets.
By and large, though, the Nuggets have been a far better team since Melvin Hunt supplanted Brian Shaw as head coach. Denver dropped 19 of its final 21 games under Shaw and promptly won six of its first eight with Hunt at the helm before falling to Memphis and Houston this week.
Hunt's audition figures to earn him no less than a puncher's chance at retaining his job once this season is through.
"As an organization, we have all been impressed with the job Melvin has done thus far," general manager Tim Connelly told The Denver Post's Benjamin Hochman. "When the season concludes, he will be one of the candidates as we begin an exhaustive search to find a head coach."
19. Phoenix Suns
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Don't count the Phoenix Suns out of the playoff hunt just yet. A 74-72 win over the Anthony Davis-less New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday moved the Suns within two-and-a-half games of eighth place in the Western Conference.
Closing that gap, though, could be a Herculean task for Phoenix given the team's daunting schedule down the stretch. Of the Suns' 13 remaining games, 10 will come against teams currently slotted to make the postseason.
The other three dates—home against Sacramento and resurgent Utah and at New Orleans—won't be walks in the park, either.
18. Boston Celtics
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Isaiah Thomas' absence hasn't done much to hamper the Boston Celtics' on-court results...yet. The C's won their first four games with Thomas sidelined by back and elbow bruises and came within five points of taking down the depleted Thunder in OKC on Wednesday.
All told, Boston has slipped precariously into the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Staying there, though, will be another story. The C's are in a dead heat with Indy at the moment, with a trip to San Antonio on tap for Friday.
The good news is that Thomas should be back in action within a week or so, per CSNNE.com's A. Sherrod Blakely.
17. Indiana Pacers
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The prospects of Paul George joining the Indiana Pacers for the season's stretch run aren't as promising as they once seemed. Per The Indianapolis Star's Candace Buckner:
"However, even as George has practiced for three weeks, Pacers' teammates, while highly supportive, see a player who looks good for someone who broke his leg while noting that he is still on the mend. One teammate declared that George is "not even close to 100 percent" while expressing strong skepticism about a return this year.
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The Pacers, for their part, are far from desperate to get him back in the fold. They remain in the thick of a thrilling playoff race in the Eastern Conference, despite dropping their last three games.
Not that George's services wouldn't come in handy right about now. The Pacers will play five games—four against likely playoff-bound foes—in the next seven days.
16. Utah Jazz
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Another week has passed, and the Utah Jazz are still the NBA's best team since the All-Star Game. An 80-73 win over the Lakers in L.A. bumped Utah's post-break mark to a sterling 12-3 by way of yet another outstanding defensive performance.
The Jazz's spot atop the second-half standings could be in jeopardy, though. On Saturday, Utah will take its much-improved record up to Golden State to face the Warriors, who've won 12 of 16 games since watching Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson light up Madison Square Garden in mid-February.
15. Chicago Bulls
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Twenty years ago this week, the Chicago Bulls received a fax that would go down as (perhaps) the shortest and most notorious in NBA history. "I'm back," it read, thereby announcing Michael Jordan's return from his minor league baseball sabbatical.
The piece of technology that sent that message has long since gone out of style, though the Bulls' need for such uplifting news hasn't. Chicago had lost five of six—a skid portended by the absences of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson—prior to Wednesday's domination of Indiana.
Fortunately for the Bulls, they should be privy to an "I'm back" or two in short order. According to the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson, Butler and Gibson are back to practicing fully with their teammates, and Rose has resumed his spot in non-contact drills.
"You want to build some continuity," head coach Tom Thibodeau told Johnson. "And it would be good to have everyone out there. You look at all three guys and they’re critical to our team. When we have those guys, it gives us good depth."
Whatever depth Thibs can muster could prove crucial to the Bulls down the stretch. As of Thursday, Chicago was just a half-game up on fifth-place Washington but only a half-game behind third-place Toronto and two-and-a-half back of second-place Cleveland, with two games against the Raptors in the coming week.
14. Oklahoma City Thunder
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The next time the Oklahoma City Thunder have to travel, they ought to bring Samuel L. Jackson with them, lest they risk losing another key player to a snake bite—metaphorical or otherwise.
The latest victim? Serge Ibaka, who will miss the next four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his sore knee. That leaves OKC without its top rim protector and pick-and-pop option for a crucial stretch run, during which the team's postseason hopes will hang in the balance.
Worse still, Kevin Durant remains sidelined by discomfort in his surgically repaired foot. According to The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry, Durant was held out of practice on Thursday, after resuming some activities last weekend, and doesn't have a firm date for his return to OKC's lineup.
"You always want everybody available to you, but that's not realistic all the time in the NBA," general manager Sam Presti told ESPN's Royce Young. "We've learned that, and we feel really good about the depth of our team. We feel really good about the potential of our team. And we expect to play well."
That'll be tough for OKC to do, with games against Atlanta, Miami and San Antonio in the coming week and Russell Westbrook left to lean on the young duo of Steven Adams and Enes Kanter for frontcourt support.
13. Toronto Raptors
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Canada got its first up-close look at Andrew Wiggins as a pro on Wednesday when the Timberwolves took on the Raptors in Toronto. It could be quite a while before Canadians get to see their native son sport a Raptors jersey, if he ever does.
"I love Minnesota," Wiggins said prior to Minnesota's five-point loss, via The National Post's Eric Koreen. "They treat me nice up there. I plan to be there a very, very, very long time."
The good news is that the Raptors aren't in desperate need of Wiggins' services just yet. They've won three of their last four games, with Terrence Ross back in the starting lineup on the wing.
12. Miami Heat
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Dwyane Wade hasn't been Flash for years, but if his recent stretch of spectacular play is any indication, he doesn't need to be.
Wade has scored 25 or more points in each of his last seven outings—his longest such streak since piling up that many points in eight straight games back in December 2010. As Grantland's Zach Lowe noted, Wade's done it not with speed and hops but with the craftiness he's accrued over the course of his 12 seasons in the NBA: "But, man, does Wade have a glorious old-man game. He can't dial up the athleticism anymore, so he relies on fakes, hesitation dribbles, and a silky touch off the glass."
Likewise, the Heat—despite the additions of Goran Dragic, Hassan Whiteside and Luol Deng—still rely on Wade to lead the way. They've won five of the seven games in which Wade's topped a quarter century in the scoring column, including a 14-point pounding of LeBron James' Cavs and a four-point win over Portland in which Wade tallied 15 of Miami's final 17 points.
11. New Orleans Pelicans
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At this point, it's pretty much common knowledge in the basketball world that Anthony Davis is what's next in the NBA. All that stands between The Brow and total domination are his own health and the quality of his teammates.
Unfortunately for Davis, neither factor has yet swung in his favor. Davis, whose suffered through a series of unrelated injuries during his three seasons as a pro, missed Thursday's game in Phoenix after spraining his ankle at New Orleans' shootaround.
The rest of the Pelicans did well to muck things up in Davis' absence but couldn't quite muster enough offense to sneak past the Suns in what turned out to be a 74-72 loss.
With or without Davis, the Pelicans could soon find themselves more than a game removed from eighth place out West, courtesy of difficult tilts with the Warriors, Clippers and Rockets in the week to come.
10. Dallas Mavericks
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Doubting the efficacy of Rajon Rondo with the Dallas Mavericks remains a pastime among some NBA observers. Just don't count Grantland's Brett Koremenos among them:
"I'm no Rondo fanatic. Nor do I think Dallas is some sleeping giant, playing possum before the playoffs. It's just that, of all the things I believe about basketball, one of the more prominent is the notion that smart people in this sport tend to figure s--t out. And in [Rick] Carlisle and Rondo, the Mavericks have two of the sharpest basketball minds in the league.
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Lo and behold, Rondo and head coach Rick Carlisle have begun to put their heads together without butting each other into oblivion. "I've been studying with coach a lot," Rondo said after Dallas' 119-115 win over Oklahoma City on Monday, via SB Nation's Tim Cato. "He called me in before the game and gave me a little test, and I think I continue to pass the test. We're on the same page a lot more throughout the game. I'm calling some of the plays before he calls them, so we're on the same page."
That detente between combative point guard and authoritative coach may not be the spark behind the Mavs' three-game spurt, but it'll certainly be necessary if Dallas is to make any noise in the playoffs.
9. Portland Trail Blazers
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So far, Arron Afflalo has done no worse than a decent job filling in for the injured Wesley Matthews with the Portland Trail Blazers. Since taking over Matthews' starting spot, Afflalo has averaged 13.7 points while knocking down an impressive 48.5 percent of his threes.
On the other hand, Afflalo has converted a mere 34.5 percent of his twos and given up big games to Kevin Martin (29 points), DeMar DeRozan (22 points), Bradley Beal (23 points) and Dwyane Wade (32 points).
On the whole, then, the Blazers' 3-3 record sans Matthews is a fair reflection of the mixed bag that Afflalo has been as a starter in Rip City.
8. Washington Wizards
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The Washington Wizards have rediscovered their winning ways, however precariously. They've ripped off five in a row, including victories over Portland, Memphis and a red-hot Utah squad.
The Wizards can only hope, though, that their 88-84 win over the Jazz won't come at any great price. John Wall twisted his ankle in the fourth quarter but managed to play through the pain.
"You know me. I want to play. I want to compete," Wall said afterward, via The Washington Post's Jorge Castillo. "I tied my shoe as tight as possible and ran it off. If it hurts afterwards I'll get a day off tomorrow to rest. So it's nothing."
Washington will need Wall to withstand whatever pain he's currently enduring if it's to climb back into the East's top four amid a West Coast trip that will take the team to L.A. (vs. the Clippers), Sacramento and Golden State by Monday.
7. Memphis Grizzlies
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The Memphis Grizzlies are 2-2 since Mike Conley re-aggravated an old ankle injury, with losses to one recently slumping Eastern Conference squad (Washington) and another (Detroit) that snapped a 10-game skid at their expense.
"We've got to get tough," Zach Randolph told The Commercial Appeal's Ronald Tillery (via HoopsHype). "It's not just one thing. It’s a lot. We were soft, and we didn't stick to what we were doing. It’s a disappointing loss, especially with what we’re talking about doing. We've got to do something to fix this."
And fast. Five of Memphis' next six games will feature current playoff teams, beginning with a trip to Dallas on Friday. How the Grizzlies fare therein may well determine whether they're able to hang onto the No. 2 seed out West, with five other teams within four-and-a-half games of their spot.
6. San Antonio Spurs
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Even (especially?) the defending champs are prone to mystifying lapses here and there. The San Antonio Spurs suffered through a humiliating one of their own on Tuesday.
"It was a pathetic performance, and I hope that every player is embarrassed," head coach Gregg Popovich told the media after the Spurs' 104-100 overtime loss to the Knicks in New York (h/t Bleacher Report's Tristan Thornburgh).
Apparently, his team got the message. The very next night, San Antonio picked apart Milwaukee by getting back to the basics of Spurs basketball, wrote Grantland's Danny Chau:
"Spurs players passed the ball 123 more times than the Bucks during the game, and Spurs players had 482 touches compared with the Bucks' 352. Let's put those numbers further in perspective: The Spurs passed the ball 356 times last night; the Warriors, who crushed the Hawks with an incredible 39 assists, passed the ball 358 times. There are different approaches in maximizing the effectiveness of ball movement. For the Spurs, more is more.
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And the more the Spurs move the ball, the better they'll able to not only weather the storm without Manu Ginobili and Aron Baynes but also continue to climb up the Western Conference standings.
5. Los Angeles Clippers
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The Los Angeles Clippers have clearly had problems keeping their cool on the court. They lead the NBA with 79 technical fouls—one fewer than they had all of last season—and have earned a reputation for hot-headedness and combativeness, particularly with the way they relate to referees.
Doc Rivers, though, is doing his best to play the part of Dr. Buddy Rydell. "We're a strange team. You're not going to change people," Rivers said, via Bleacher Report. "If you're an emotional person, you're an emotional person...but we have so many of them on one team that it's something that we have to get better at."
The Clippers, to their credit, are working on it. The combative Rockets baited L.A. into a tech and a flagrant foul on Sunday, but the Clippers were able to avoid any such altercations in subsequent wins over the Hornets and Kings.
More impressive, though, is the way the Clippers have kept their wits about them amid a slew of injuries. They went 9-6 without Blake Griffin, who returned to action in the loss to Houston, and remain perilously thin on the wing while Matt Barnes (hamstring) and Jamal Crawford (calf) recover from their respective setbacks.
Once those two return, L.A. might really take off—just in time for the postseason. In the meantime, the Clippers can count on Griffin, Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick, who's averaged 18.9 points since returning from a brief hiatus of his own in early February.
4. Houston Rockets
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James Harden's been playing like an MVP all season, but Thursday marked a new milestone for The Beard, not only in his campaign for NBA hardware but also in his growth as a basketball player.
The Beard blew up for a career-best 50 points—22 of which came at the free-throw line—to help the Houston Rockets brush aside the Nuggets, 118-108.
Like every highlight added to Harden's personal reel since arriving in Space City in 2012, this particular explosion may well read like another twist of the metaphorical knife that was left in OKC's side after the oft-discussed deal went down. Chances are, though, that Harden wouldn't be the superstar he is today had he not been sent to Houston, away from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
"No, because James needed his own team," Kendrick Perkins, a former teammate of Harden's in OKC, told Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick. "He wouldn't have been able to flourish and be the guy who he is under Russ and KD. So he definitely needed his own team to be able to do what he's doing right now."
3. Cleveland Cavaliers
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Here's something you've probably seen or heard at least a zillion times this season: David Blatt and LeBron James don't see eye to eye on a topic of particular importance to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Blatt thinks retaining the No. 2 seed in the East should be a priority for his Cavs, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "We got to finish in second place," Blatt said on Monday after Cleveland got its clock cleaned in Miami.
James (surprise, surprise) disagrees with his coach's assessment. "The coaching staff, if that's what they want, but for me, I never play for seeding. I just play," James told McMenamin. "And wherever at the end of the season we land, I'm ready. Just get me in the playoffs. Get me in the playoffs, I feel like I can win on anybody's floor. I feel like I can win at home. I'm that confident in my ability and our team's ability. So I've never in my 12-year career played for seeding. That's just not how I work."
James has a point—if that point has anything to do with avoiding the Heat in the first round. The Cavs dropped both of their trips to South Beach this season by double digits, albeit without Kyrie Irving in the first meeting and Kevin Love in the second.
Still, James, for one, probably wouldn't mind steering clear of his old squad if he can help it.
"If it happens, it happens, then we got to go out there, and we got to prepare ourselves the best way," James added. "They are playoff-tested — we're not. So it would be a tough challenge for us, and we'll be ready for it, if it so happens."
2. Atlanta Hawks
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Any doubts about Kyle Korver's importance to the Atlanta Hawks, particularly on the offensive end, should be swimming with the fishes right about now.
The Hawks have been without Korver for their last two games and missed him for most of their recent visit to L.A., after the All-Star sharpshooter had his nose busted by the shoulder of Lakers forward Ed Davis in the second quarter. Atlanta escaped with a victory but managed a mere 91 points in doing so and had to sweat it out against one of the NBA's worst squads.
The very next night, the Hawks had a similarly tough time putting away a Kings club that was absent Rudy Gay on the wing and has been operating without Darren Collison at the point since February.
It was all but inevitable, then, that Atlanta would get blown into the East Bay by Golden State on Wednesday. The Warriors smothered the Korver-less Hawks into a 35.6 percent shooting night and, as a result, came away with a 19-point win on their home floor—more than a month after taking down the Dubs in the ATL.
All told, the Hawks have scored a scorching-hot 110.9 points per 100 possessions with Korver on the floor this season and an abysmal 97.4 points/100 without him, per NBA.com. That gap is bigger than the disparity between Golden State's top-ranked attack and New York's second-least efficient offense.
Fortunately for the Hawks, Korver should be back on the court within the week.
1. Golden State Warriors
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Sure, the Hawks were shorthanded and road-weary when they arrived in Oakland on Wednesday, but that doesn't take too much away from the evisceration they suffered at the hands of the Golden State Warriors.
The Dubs were missing a key cog of their own in All-Star swingman Klay Thompson. According to NBA.com, Golden State has outscored its opposition by 16 points per 100 possessions when Klay plays, but that disparity drops to three points/100 when Thompson sits.
There was no such drop-off against the beast of the East for Golden State, in large part because these Warriors are ridiculously deep. Thompson's absence on account of a swollen ankle merely opened up more opportunities on the wing for Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala, who combined for 46 points at Atlanta's expense.
"What I take away from it is the number of players who made an impact," head coach Steve Kerr told The Associated Press afterward (via ESPN.com).
Thompson doesn't figure to be out for long; the Warriors' training staff will re-evaluate his right ankle next week, and he could return shortly thereafter.
But with perimeter threats in ample supply and a seven-and-a-half game cushion on the No. 1 seed out West, the Warriors need not rush Thompson back into action until his ankle is back in working order.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
