NBA Team Rankings: Pelicans Soar, Suns Slip

We've seen a lot of fun games this week involving great late game shot making, blown leads, and drama due to a garbage time windmill dunk. There are a group of teams we know generally will be in the mix come April and there are about five teams in particular who stand out as worst than the rest. Then there's a middle group that's really tough to figure out right now. Those are the teams I'm trying to focus on. Some may improve and become solid playoff teams, where as others may go in the other direction (whether by choice or not).

As always, the way I create these rankings is by answering the question: if the playoffs started today, who's going to win the championship? I answer that question and then continue the rankings by comparing teams until I get to the last one.

1. Boston Celtics (21-6) - last week: 1st

The Celtics are in the midst of a road trip with wins over the Nets, Raptors, and a beat down over Phoenix. However, the loss to the Warriors at least lets a little doubt creep in and was a bit of a weird one. I expected them to come out focused and ready to beat a Golden State team that is not as complete as they were when the teams faced off in the NBA Finals.

2. Milwaukee Bucks (19-7) - last week: 2nd

The Bucks had a letdown against Houston on Sunday after four straight wins. Middleton has had a slow start in his first five games back, and unfortunately left the game on Sunday due to a left ankle sprain according to reports. Hopefully it is just a minor setback.

3. New Orleans Pelicans (18-8) - last week: 6th

New Orleans has won seven straight. Zion Williamson had 35 points on at least 66% from the field in both games against Phoenix. Oh, and capping off an awesome win and performance with a windmill dunk as the game is already in hand....I love it.

4. Memphis Grizzlies (17-9) - last week: 8th

Memphis has won five straight, albeit against mostly bad teams. This is a very deep team and even with Desmond Bane out right now, they keep rolling.

5. Golden State Warriors (14-13) - last week: 4th

The losses of guys like Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr have hurt the Warriors' depth. The good news is that Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole are playing better with the Celtics game being the most notable good sign. Klay had 34 points and the Warriors got a much needed win.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers (17-10) - last week: 5th

The Cavs got outscored 27-15 in the fourth quarter against the Kings and lost at home. Not ideal, but I wouldn't read too much into the loss as it was without Donovan Mitchell.

7. Denver Nuggets (16-10) - last week: 7th

The Nuggets won a tough battle in Portland in dramatic fashion with Jamal Murray making the game winning shot. Murray followed that up by scoring 30 points in a win over Utah on Saturday.

8. Phoenix Suns (16-11) - last week: 3rd

Phoenix had a terrible week. They lost to Dallas, Boston, and New Orleans twice. One of the biggest issues for the Suns is that father time might finally be catching up to Chris Paul.

9. Brooklyn Nets (16-12) - last week: 10th

Brooklyn continues to rise after getting another win over Indiana despite being shorthanded. In the win, Cam Thomas came off the bench and scored an efficient 33 points.

10. Philadelphia 76ers (14-12) - last week: 9th

Embiid was dominant in the 76ers' win over the Lakers in OT. How about De'Anthony Melton scoring 33 points and making 8 threes?

11. Sacramento Kings (14-11) - last week: 16th

This week the Kings suffered a loss at Milwaukee and bounced back with a great win at Cleveland before falling to the red hot Knicks. They have been such a fun story and are a well rounded team. They also have the second best scoring offense behind only Boston.

12. Dallas Mavericks (13-13) - last week: 15th

I know they just got routed by Chicago, but they did not have Luka and all of the teams below them have been very inconsistent as well. Dallas has shown they can compete with and beat some of the teams near the top of my rankings. They beat Phoenix, New Orleans, and almost beat Milwaukee.

13. Portland Trailblazers (14-12) - last week: 17th

Portland would be undefeated in December if it weren't for a game winning shot by Jamal Murray at the end of Thursday's Nuggets-Blazers game. With Damian Lillard in the lineup, they are 9-5 this season.

14. Los Angeles Clippers (15-13) - last week: 14th

Paul George had 36 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in the win over the Wizards. On the other side of the coin, Kawhi has been underwhelming in the seven games he's played only averaging 11.4 points per game.

15. Toronto Raptors (13-14) - last week: 13th

The Raptors have lost back-to-back games to the Orlando Magic. That kind of speaks for itself. Gary Trent Jr. had 24 points in the most recent loss.

16. Miami Heat (12-15) - last week: 12th

The Heat have been very disappointing so far this season and Saturday's loss the Spurs might be the lowest point of the season for them so far. Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Tyler Herro were all in the lineup for this one. Can they turn it around?

17. Indiana Pacers (14-13) - last week: 18th

The Pacers had a really solid win early in the week against Golden State, but just fell to the shorthanded Nets on Saturday. Tyrese Haliburton had 35 points and 9 assists while the Pacers defense couldn't contain Cam Thomas.

18. New York Knicks (14-13) - last week: 23rd

The Knicks have now pulled off four straight wins. In their latest win over the Kings, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett had 27 points each. In all four victories, they have out rebounded their opponents.

19. Atlanta Hawks (14-13) - last week: 11th

Atlanta's been in the news lately due to drama surrounding an incident between Trae Young and head coach Nate McMillan where Trae reportedly refused to participate in shoot around and instead focus on treatment. The good news is that they did get an overtime win over Chicago on Sunday.

20. Minnesota Timberwolves (13-13) - last week: 21st

Minnesota had two good wins this week before falling to Portland 124-118 on Saturday. Anthony Edwards had 26 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds in the loss.

21. Utah Jazz (15-14) - last week: 19th

Utah lost a tight one to Denver on Saturday 115-110. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had his best game of the season with 27 points and 5 threes in the loss.

22. Chicago Bulls (11-15) - last week: 22nd

The Bulls lost a heartbreaker to the Hawks in overtime. In the loss, DeMar DeRozan had 34 points and 13 rebounds.

23. Los Angeles Lakers (11-15) - last week: 20th

The Lakers dropped three of their four games this week, with Anthony Davis essentially missing two of them due to illness. They made a strong effort to push their game against the 76ers to overtime, but ultimately fell short.

24. Oklahoma City Thunder (11-15) - last week: 25th

Oklahoma City fell to Cleveland 110-102 on the road on Saturday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 23 points in the loss.

25. Washington Wizards (11-16) - last week: 24th

Wizards fans cheered for John Wall after he made a bucket during the game and proclaimed 'this is still my city'. The Wizards may be on a six game losing streak, but they can always have their fond memories of Wall in a Wizards uniform to reminisce about.

26. Houston Rockets (8-18) - last week: 27th

The Rockets got a big win over Milwaukee 97-92 on Sunday. Jalen Green had 30 points and 7 rebounds in the win.

27. Orlando Magic (8-20) - last week 29th

Orlando just beat Toronto in back-to-back games. In their latest win, they got contributions from many players including 23 points from Franz Wagner and 20 points and 12 rebounds from Paolo Banchero.

28. San Antonio Spurs (8-18) - last week: 30th

The Spurs got a notable win over Miami on Gregg Popovich's coaching anniversary. They had six players in double figures including Keldon Johnson with 21 points.

29. Charlotte Hornets (7-20) - last week: 26th

Charlotte gave up 53 points to Joel Embiid in Sunday's loss. Despite the loss, they got a really solid game from Terry Rozier who had 29 points and shot 50% from the field.

30. Detroit Pistons (7-22) - last week: 28th

Detroit got a win over Miami on Tuesday, but has lost three straight since. In their latest loss to the Lakers, Bojan Bogdanovic had 38 points.