NBA Team Rankings: We Love to Parity

We are roughly at the halfway point of the season and I’ve been reflecting a lot on how this season has played out so far in relation to past seasons. My first takeaway is that there seems to be more parity in the league now than I have ever seen in my 17ish years of following it. The league is no longer ruled by the Warriors, Spurs, or LeBron James. We have a good feel for who the contenders are for the championship at this stage, but they all have flaws and they all have bad losses. Just this week, the Boston Celtics lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 23 points and no…. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown did not sit out. My other big takeaway is the wild individual performances and uptick in overall scoring. Per Basketball Reference, average scoring per team is 113.8 points per game this season. Ten years ago it was 98.1 points per game. Some of the biggest reasons for this uptick are three point shooting, spacing, creativity, and an increase in skill level. Defenses have not fully caught up to match this higher level of play yet. I have loved watching it, and will be interested to see which defenses have the most success the second half of the season.

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 (28-12) – last week: 1st

Boston almost certainly had their worst loss of the season against the Thunder, but bounced back with a demolition of the Mavericks the following game. They won that game 124-95 and Jayson Tatum had 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists.

2. Memphis Grizzlies (26-13) – last week: 2nd

Memphis is on a six game winning streak. In their latest win over the Jazz, Desmond Bane had 24 points and 9 assists.

3. Denver Nuggets (26-13) – last week: 4th

Denver won two of their three games this week. They pretty much had their win over the Clippers wrapped up at halftime outscoring them 66-32. In what was supposed to be a marquee matchup, the Nuggets showed they are clearly a much better team at this point.

4. Brooklyn Nets (27-13) – last week: 3rd

Brooklyn’s winning streak ended on Wednesday, but they got two good road wins against New Orleans and Miami this week. Kyrie Irving had 29 points in the win over Miami, but this felt like more of a loss given Durant had to leave the game early due to an apparent knee injury.

5. Milwaukee Bucks (25-14) – last week: 5th

Giannis has had to carry a lot on his shoulders lately with Middleton out. On Friday, they lost to the Hornets 138-109 one of their worst performances of the season.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers (26-15) – last week: 7th

So obviously…. the highlight of the week was Donovan Mitchell’s 71 point and 11 assist performance on Monday against the Bulls. What words can even be used to describe how incredible that is? Speaking of Mitchell, the one game the Cavs lost this week was without him as they fell to Denver 121-108.

7. Philadelphia 76ers (24-15) – last week: 8th

The 76ers did lose to the Bulls on Friday with Embiid out, but they are trending in the right direction as Tyrese Maxey has now returned to the lineup. In their latest win over Detroit, James Harden had 20 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds.

8. New Orleans Pelicans (24-16) – last week: 6th

The Pelicans went 1-3 on the week with Zion Williamson expected to miss at least a few weeks due to a hamstring strain. We may see Brandon Ingram return this week which would certainly be helpful as the Pels have done well in spite of not being fully healthy this season.

9. Dallas Mavericks (23-18) – last week: 9th

Dallas did not have a very good showing against Boston on Thursday. Luka did not have a great game, but it’s clear to me they need to be looking to make moves soon to improve the roster around him in order for this team to be a contender.

10. New York Knicks (22-18) – last week: 13th

The Knicks are a funny team. In December they won eight straight. After that, they lost five and now have won four in a row. In their latest win over the Raptors, Julius Randle had 32 points and 11 rebounds.

11. Indiana Pacers (23-18) – last week: 12th

Indiana went 3-1 on the week and the one loss was by 3 points to the 76ers in overtime. In their most recent win over the Hornets, Myles Turner had 29 points and 9 rebounds.

12. Sacramento Kings (20-18) – last week: 11th

The Kings lost a tough one to the Lakers on Saturday. In fact, they have lost their last two games by a combined 5 points. In their loss to the Lakers, De’Aaron Fox had 34 points and 9 assists.

13. Miami Heat (21-20) – last week: 15th

Miami is coming off of a close loss to Brooklyn. In the loss, Jimmy Butler had 26 points and 8 rebounds. One thing that seems to be helping Miami as of late is the improvement of Victor Oladipo. He had 26 points against Phoenix on Friday.

14. Los Angeles Clippers (21-21) – last week: 10th

The Clippers suddenly are in a bit of a free fall. The have lost six in a row. In their loss to Atlanta, Kawhi Leonard played 38 minutes and had 29 points, but Paul George did not play and they fell short.

15. Portland Trailblazers (19-20) – last week: 14th

Portland has now lost their last three games. In their loss to Toronto, Damian Lillard had 34 points and 8 assists.

16. Golden State Warriors (20-20) – last week: 17th

Despite the recent losses to Detroit and Orlando, this has still been a successful home stretch with Curry out of the lineup. Klay Thompson had 30 points in the loss to Detroit.

17. Chicago Bulls (19-21) – last week: 20th

Chicago has won five of their last seven and could have won all seven. LaVine and DeRozan combined for71 points in their win over Utah on Saturday. For me, this is their best stretch of play this season, but can they keep it going?

18. Minnesota Timberwolves (20-21) – last week: 23rd

Minnesota won all four of their games this week. A good sign for the Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert partnership as Karl-Anthony Towns remains out.

19. Los Angeles Lakers (19-21) – last week: 24th

The Lakers are on a five game winning streak and LeBron has took his level of play up a notch. The biggest piece of news right now is the speculation around what the Lakers will do as the trade deadline approaches and LeBron’s thoughts on the situation.

20. Phoenix Suns (20-21) – last week: 16th

The Suns have now lost six in a row after the loss to Cleveland today. In their loss to the Cavs, Deandre Ayton had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

21. Atlanta Hawks (19-21) – last week: 22nd

Atlanta won their latest game over the Clippers 112-108. In the win, Trae Young had 30 points and 8 assists.

22. Toronto Raptors (17-23) – last week: 18th

Toronto went 1-3 on the week and just got a win over Portland on Sunday. In the win, Scottie Barnes had 22 points and 9 rebounds.

23. Utah Jazz (20-23) – last week: 19th

Utah is coming off of a loss to Memphis in a game Ja Morant did not play in. The highlight of the week for them was Lauri Markkanen’s 49 point game in the win over Houston.

24. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-22) – last week: 25th

Oklahoma City won three of their four games this week. In their latest win over Dallas, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points.

25. Washington Wizards (17-23) – last week: 21st

The Wizards were without Brad Beal in their latest loss to the Thunder. In that game, Kyle Kuzma had 23 points and 7 assists.

26. Orlando Magic (15-25) – last week: 26th

Orlando got a nice win over Golden State on Saturday 115-101. They got 25 points from Paolo Banchero and 24 points from Franz Wagner.

27. San Antonio Spurs (13-27) – last week: 27th

The Spurs are coming off of a close loss to the Celtics on Saturday 121-116. Zach Collins had 18 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.

28. Charlotte Hornets (11-30) – last week: 29th

Despite all of Charlotte’s losing, they did have one bright spot with their big win over the Milwaukee Bucks. They made 20 threes as a team and Terry Rozier had 39 points.

29. Detroit Pistons (11-32) – last week: 30th

The Pistons went 1-3 this week. In their latest loss to the 76ers, Killian Hayes had 26 points.

30. Houston Rockets (10-30) – last week: 28th

Houston is the worst team in the NBA and they have now lost seven in a row. To make matters worse, their have been multiple reports coming out about the vibes not being so great either.