The past couple of weeks have solidified that we have three clear title contenders, and every other team near the top is just trying to prove they have a chance against that trio.
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1. Cleveland Cavaliers (55-10, Last Week No. 1). When the Cavaliers beat the Celtics, we saw at the end of the game something Kenny Atkinson has been experimenting with: Lineups with De’Andre Hunter at the four and Evan Mobley at center, while Jarrett Allen sits on the bench. Hunter can play the three next to Mobley and Allen (and those lineups have a +16.5 net rating but in just 21 minutes), but more than that, Hunter offers the possibility for versatility depending on the matchup. Lineups with Max Strus at the three, Hunter at the four and Mobley at the five have a +17.5 net rating, but in limited minutes. That versatility is one reason the Cavaliers have won 15 in a row and why they are a legitimate title contender — they can match up with anyone.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder (53-12, LW 2). It still looks just a little off and clunky to the naked eye, but the Thunder’s two-big lineup with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein have a +12.5 net rating so far (in non-garbage time, stats via Cleaning the Glass). It can be very effecive against certain lineups, for example on Sunday vs. Denver, it was a 57.9 net rating in 18 minutes. Small sample size, but this is working. Coach Mark Daigneault has to play the duo together more over the season’s final five weeks to let them build chemistry, but it’s already working. Also, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped make his MVP case last weekend.
3. Boston Celtics (47-18, LW 3). Jayson Tatum tends to be an afterthought in the MVP race — we take how well he plays for granted. In a game Sunday against the Lakers, LeBron James and Luka Doncic seemed to draw all the attention leading into the broadcast, and Jayson Tatum was the best player on the court. He dropped 40 points with eight rebounds, played high-level defense and helped lead his team to a win. Tatum isn’t going to win the MVP, but he needs to be more than the afterthought he has been in the race.
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4. Golden State Warriors (37-28, LW 5). Golden State gets an infusion of athleticism on Thursday with the return of Jonathan Kuminga to the lineup. He’s been out since Jan. 4 with a nasty sprained ankle. The challenge for Steve Kerr: Kuminga and Jimmy Butler have played more than half of their minutes this season at the four, and that’s Draymond Green’s natural position if we want to throw him in the mix. Kerr has a puzzle to figure out. The Warriors are 2-0 on their current homestand but things get tougher this week with the Knicks, Nuggets and Bucks coming to town.
5. Denver Nuggets (42-23, LW 6). Nikola Jokic is playing “the best basketball of my life” and just helped lead Denver to a split of games in Oklahoma City (helping his MVP case along the way), but he’s doing it while playing through a series of smaller injuries (elbow, ankle). If Denver is going to make a deep playoff run, they need to make sure he — plus Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon — are as healthy as possible for the postseason. There are tough tests this week against the Timberwolves, shorthanded Lakers, and Warriors.
6. Los Angeles Lakers (40-23, LW 4). Los Angeles is not the same team without the defense and glue to the offense that LeBron James brings — they lost to the tanking Nets without him — and this week face a tough schedule while shorthanded with the Bucks, Nuggets and resurgent Suns on the docket. LeBron is likely out a couple of weeks, and while he will push to get back the Lakers need to make sure that groin strain is fully healed because in a deep West it cannot linger into the postseason if they want to make a run.
PLAYOFFS OR BUST
7. New York Knicks (41-23, LW 7). In two games without Jalen Brunson, the Knicks offense struggled against a good Clippers defense but put up 130 against a mediocre Kings defense (16th in the NBA this season). Expect more of that up-and-down performance in the coming weeks while the Knicks work through a road-heavy portion of the schedule (they are 1-2 on this road trip so far with 4-of-5 ahead away from Manhattan). Like the two teams above them on this list, the Knicks need to wait out as long as it takes with Brunson’s ankle to make sure he is right with the playoffs, even if that means he’s out for most of the rest of the regular season.
8. Memphis Grizzlies (41-34, LW 10). Memphis has gone 3-1 since Ja Morant rejoined the lineup — he and Desmond Bane have started to find an offensive rhythm together. However (and continuing the health theme of this NBA Power Rankings), the Grizzlies need to get Jaren Jackson Jr. back healthy from his sprained ankle to make a serious postseason run. Good test Friday night against the Cavaliers.
9. Detroit Pistons (37-29, LW 9). Shaq may not be watching them — which speaks to a key issue with some of the biggest analysts/ambassadors of the NBA — but the Pistons are the best story in the NBA and now have a top-10 defense on the season, a defense that is No. 1 in the league over the past 15 games. J.B. Bickerstaff — he’s the coach in Detroit, Shaq — deserves a lot of credit for that and will get some Coach of the Year votes for it. Detroit is tied with the Bucks and Pacers for the 4/5/6 seeds in the East, but the Pistons have the toughest remaining schedule of those teams.
10. Indiana Pacers (36-28, LW 8). Tyrese Haliburton missed three games, the Pacers dropped all three. He comes back…
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