NBA Power Rankings

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our readers. While you were opening presents and drinking eggnog there was NBA basketball being played. And while you were ringing in the New Year and watching the college football playoffs, guess what? NBA basketball was being played. So with so much NBA basketball going on we try to do our best to keep you updated on what teams are the real contenders to win it all in our NBA Power Rankings. But as 2018 has arrived we at SportsTake want to bring you further content in addition to the regular posts we publish. In addition to new podcasts being developed, we are now adding a ‘Contender and Pretender’ segment to our NBA Power Rankings. So here is our new and improved NBA Power Rankings…

1. Golden State Warriors (29-8)

The Warriors are the NBA’s best team by a mile. The Warriors defended their 2016-17 NBA Championship in a Christmas Day victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers while playing without Steph Curry. The Warriors are 8-2 in their last 10 games. To make matter worse for opposing teams, Stephen Curry returned to the court Saturday in a 141-128 victory over the Grizzlies as Curry scored 38 points and went 10-13 from three.

2. Boston Celtics (30-10)

The Celtics continue to impress after losing Gordon Hayward to injury in the team’s first regular season game. The Celtics currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings at 30-10 as Kyrie Irving has continued to make his case as a dark horse MVP candidate. Despite a Christmas Day loss to the Wizards, the Celtics have shown they are team that can make noise in the NBA with a signature win coming Thursday over the Houston Rockets in which the Celtics stormed back from a 26-point deficit.

3. Toronto Raptors (25-10)

Toronto has quietly made their way up the Eastern Conference standings while teams like the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers have dominated the headlines. But while Lebron and Kyrie have demanded the spotlight in the East, DeMar DeRozan has put up enormous numbers, scoring a franchise-high 52 points in the Raptor’s overtime win over the Bucks on Monday. Toronto has now won 12 in a row at home and is an NBA best 14-1 in Toronto.

4. Houston Rockets (26-9)

Houston’s 14-game winning streak came to a screeching halt as the Rockets lost 5 in a row before defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in double-overtime Sunday night. However the Rocket’s victory over LA was overshadowed by the news that Houston Superstar James Harden will miss at least two weeks due to a hamstring injury suffered late in the game against the Lakers. With the return of Chris Paul from injury should help cushion the blow, Harden’s injury will hurt the Rockets in the standings.

5. Cleveland Cavaliers (24-12)

Similar to the Rockets, the Cavaliers recent success came to end as the Cavs could not survive the Wild West, going 0-3 in the team’s 3-game road-trip against the Warriors, Kings and Jazz. The Cavs fell to Golden State in a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals but in a surprising game the Cavs fell to the 12-24 Sacramento Kings while allowing a 40 year-old Vince Carter to score a season-high 24 points. The Cavaliers went on to fall in Utah as Lebron James lost his seventh straight game to the Jazz. The Cavaliers will, however, have a chance to make up ground in the Eastern Conference as the Cavs will face off against the Boston Celtics Wednesday. The one bright spot in what was an otherwise bad week for the Cavs in the news that Isaiah Thomas will make his Cleveland debut tonight against the Trail Blazers.

Just missed: Minnesota Timberwolves (24-14)

The Timberwolves challenged the Rockets and the Cavaliers for the fourth and fifth spots in our NBA Power Rankings. The Timberwolves are currently fourth in the Western Conference and have won 8 of their last 10.

Contender: Boston Celtics

As described previously, the Celtics have made a case that they need to be taken seriously in the chase for the Larry O’Brien trophy. The Celtics own the NBA’s second best defense in terms of opponent’s points per game and are the league’s most efficient defense. Jayson Tatum looks like everything but a rookie, shooting 47% from three and averaging 14 points per game. Jaylen Brown and Al Horford continue to play key roles in Boston’s success and Kyrie Irving continues to be Kyrie, scoring 25 points per game to go along with 5 assists and 3 rebounds. The Celtics have certainly proved that they can play (and beat) the best, going 4-2 against teams currently in the top-3 of the standings in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.

Pretender: Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards made some news as they beat Boston in Boston on Christmas Day. To follow up their Christmas Day win, the Wizards lost to the Atlanta Hawks, owners of the worst record in the NBA. The Wizards have been wildly inconsistent throughout this season, with signature wins over the Celtics, Rockets, Nuggets, Raptors, and Timberwolves but also have losses to the Lakers, Suns, Hawks, Nets, Mavericks, the Blake Griffin-less Clippers and a 47-point loss to the Utah Jazz.