Behind The Basket Power Rankings 1.5

Sixers centers Spencer Hawes (left, in suit) and Nikola Vucevic (8) are together again, but this time both are healthy. Could they possibly take the top spot from the Heat if they win out the week (LAL, SA, LAC, Clv)?The NBA’s Profits>Product season has quickly devolved into endless injuries and some complete nonsense results. To change things up a little bit due to the impossible mission of making meaningful Power Rankings in this busted season (thanks Stern), I’ll take a look at some of the highs and lows for each team over the last two weeks.

Looking Great 

1. Miami Heat (18-6): Highs: Stomped the Sixers twice with second-half runs, beat the Bulls. Lows: lost to the Bucks twice within 10 days
2. Philadelphia 76ers (17-7): Highs: just got Hawes and Vucevic back, crushed Chicago and Atlanta this past week. Lows: Got spanked by the Heat twice, lost to NJ in OT
3. San Antonio Spurs (16-9): Highs: blew up the Thunder, the back-ups nearly beat the Mavericks on the road, Duncan is way underrated and he likes it that way. Lows: lost to the Timberwolves down the stretch

Looking Good

4. Oklahoma City Thunder (18-5): High: won in Dallas (10 blocks for Ibaka). Low: surrendered the West to SanAn in a blowout loss
5. Chicago Bulls (20-6): Highs: gutted out the NY win on the road, nearly caught the Heat in Miami. Lows: Philly absolutely killed them, haven’t beaten a winning team since Jan. 6 (next chance is Feb. 20 vs Atl)
6. Portland Trail Blazers (14-10): High: ran the Nuggets right out of the gym 117-97. Lows: continue to lose games that make no sense (Sac, GS, Det)
7. Atlanta Hawks (16-8): Highs: 8-4 without Horford, good second half and overtime in Detroit. Low: got annihilated by really good teams (and Memphis)
8. Indiana Pacers (16-7): Highs: good defense pulled out wins vs Chicago, Dallas, Orlando, and LAL. Lows: bad offense caused losses to Boston and Orlando (twice)
9. Los Angeles Clippers (14-7): Highs: won 4 consecutive games vs winning teams (Mem, Denv, OKC, Utah), Griffin over Perkins.  Lows: have you seen their defense?, gave up 12 fourth-quarter FT’s to the Lakers in a game they should have won
10. Utah Jazz (13-9): Highs: payback against the Lakers, held on vs. Portland. Lows: shot their way out of a win over Toronto (lost in 2OT), gave up 71 second-half points in a big loss at Golden State
11. Los Angeles Lakers (14-10): Highs: gutted out wins against Denver and LAC, Bynum looking great in all facets of his game. Lows: lost to every other half-decent team they played, have to face Philly now that their centers are back
12. Minnesota Timberwolves (12-12): Highs: beat the Rockets twice to take the title of best over/under .500 team, topped Southwest’s Dallas and SanAn in consecutive games. Lows: couldn’t come through late against LAL or Indy
13. Orlando Magic (15-9): High: beat the Pacers twice. Lows: lost in all sorts of ways to pretty much every other team worth a damn, got killed 93-67 by the 4-20 Hornets, does Jameer Nelson have a concussion?
14. Dallas Mavericks (14-11): High: offense looked unstoppable in big wins over Utah and Phoenix (116 and 121 pts), Jason Terry’s clutch plays pushed them over division rivals San Antonio. Low: offense disappeared against OKC, Indy, and Clv
15. Boston Celtics (13-10): Highs: Rondo is back (C's went 6-2 without), won 8 of last 9, including 2 huge ones in a row over Orlando. Lows: let Cleveland end on a 12-0 run to beat them by 1
16. Denver Nuggets (15-9): High: got payback vs the Clippers, are done with this season’s most unnecessarily hard back-to-back-to-back (so should move up quickly). Lows: 4 L’s in a week to winning clubs
17. Houston Rockets (13-11): Highs: topped the Spurs and Wolves a little bit ago. Low: lost to T-Wolves twice this past week

Looking Bad 

18. Milwaukee Bucks (10-13): Highs: own the Heat, beat the Lakers without Bogut. Lows: Bogut broke his ankle and will be out 2-3 months, couldn’t hit shots vs the Pistons
19. Memphis Grizzlies (12-12): High: got contributions from everyone in OT win over Denver. Lows: lost 6 of last 8 with SA, Min, Ind, Uta, Hou on deck
20. Golden State Warriors (8-13): Highs: able to score in bunches to top Utah and Portland. Lows: able to give up points in bunches to lose to OKC and Sacramento
21. Phoenix Suns (9-14): High: topped the Grizz by holding them off down the stretch. Low: gave up 62 pts in the 2^nd and 3^rd to lose to Toronto
22. New York Knicks (9-15): High: Jeremy Lin looked like the real PG the Knicks need. Low: Lin will never look that good again
23. Cleveland Cavaliers (9-13): High: pulled out a miracle win vs Boston which included Irving’s biggest moment of the year. Low: too little offense too late against the Nets
24. Toronto Raptors (8-17): High: consecutive close wins when Bargnani returned. Low: Bargnani is out again (2-10 without him)
25. Sacramento Kings (8-15): Highs: won two squeakers in a row over Portland and Golden State, Jason Thompson has 4 recent double-doubles. Lows: lots of huge losses to good teams (including 128-95 in Memphis)

Looking Terrible

26. New Orleans Hornets (4-20): Highs: obliterated the Magic 93-67, hung with the Spurs. Lows: have lost 14 of their last 15 (although just about all of those teams have winning records)
27. New Jersey Nets (8-17): Highs: somehow beat Philly in OT, more people are starting to recognize what Anthony Morrow can do. Low: scored only 73 pts vs the Raptors
28. Detroit Pistons (6-20): High: played great D to beat the Blazers two weeks ago, have won 2 in a row with NJ (twice) and Washington coming up. Lows: recent setbacks in NY and NJ
29. Washington Wizards (4-20): Highs: beat the Bobcats twice. Low: everything else
30. Charlotte Bobcats (3-21): High: D.J. Augustin should return soon. Low: Lost 11 straight, including twice to the Wizards