The Sports Truth

Dallas and Detroit are starting to return to form as they continue their climb in our rankings. Meanwhile, teams that got off to a surprising start (Atlanta, Portland and Philadelphia) are continuing to fall back where they belong. Utah is for real! The Jazz are young and have not missed a beat following the injury to AK-47.

The East, meanwhile, appears as wide open as ever with Miami struggling, Chicago off to a horrendous start, and New Jersey exhibiting poor play all around. Believe it or not, the best team over the last week may have been the Boston Celtics. We’ll see if that lasts. On to this week’s Sports Truth Power Rankings…

[Current ranking, followed by last week’s ranking in parentheses, followed by team record]

1. (2) Utah (10-1). Note to Doc Rivers: The youth movement can work. Jazz start Miles, Williams and Brewer with Millsap off the bench. The league should be scared.
2. (1) San Antonio (9-2). Only undefeated road team in the league.
3. (8) Dallas (7-4). Won seven straight, early struggles are over.
4. (4) Cleveland (8-3). Still cruising through the East.
5. (11) LA Lakers (8-3). Andrew Bynum (right) is scary-good.
6. (5) Houston (7-4). Rafer Alston isn’t a cancer yet.
7. (12) New Orleans/Oklahoma City (8-3). Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic keep rolling.
8. (6) Golden State (7-4). Another team that went young… Ellis, Biedrins and Pietrus can play.
9. (3) LA Clippers (6-3). 0-3 on the road… they’ll need at least a few road wins.
10. (21) Detroit (6-5). Defense is vastly improved over first two weeks.
11. (10) Orlando (7-4). Dwight Howard has three 20+ rebounding games already; loss to Memphis was disappointing.
12. (9) Denver (5-4). J.R. Smith has found a home… his 36 against Chicago was fun to watch.
13. (7) Sacramento (5-4). Next eight games all come against quality teams… let’s see what this team is made of.
14. (18) Phoenix (4-6). Still treading water. Good teams don’t give up 108.1 points per game.
15. (15) New Jersey (5-5). Inconsistent squad. Depending on Jason Kidd and Vince Carter every night is a crapshoot. Loss of Richard Jefferson does not make it easier, but Antoine Wright is stepping up.
16. (23) Philadelphia (4-6). 1-6 in their last seven. Willie Green and Kevin Ollie combined to play 68 minutes against Detroit — that is never good.
17. (28) Boston (4-6). Highest scoring team in the East might be starting to click. Rajon Rondo and Sebastian Telfair are getting better every night out.
18. (14) Indiana (6-5). I’m not sensing any real confidence out of this group of thugs.
19. (13) Atlanta (4-4). How many rainouts has this team had? Three straight losses are bringing the Hawks back down to Earth… or wherever the Knicks are currently located.
20. (16) Washington (4-6). 0-5 on the road. Gilbert Arenas (pictured) is this generation’s version of Bernard King: great scorer on a terrible team.
21. (20) Miami (4-6). Could they fall to the lottery and replace a retired Shaq with Greg Oden? A bit early for lottery talk, but this team does not have it.
22. (19) Portland (5-7). Another team that got off to a fast start and is now plummeting.
23. (17) Seattle (5-7). They beat the teams they should beat, but fall to the average and above average teams. They’ll need a few big wins if they want to make any ground in the West.
24. (22) Chicago (3-8). Ben Wallace has made a huge impact. Unfortunately, it’s on the offense. The Bulls are scoring just 95 points per game. In their defense, they have played eight of 11 games on the road (1-7) thus far.
25. (25) Minnesota (3-6). Only Miami and Charlotte score less than the Timberwolves.
26. (24) Milwaukee (3-8). Who would have thought the Charlie Villanueva for T.J. Ford trade would have hurt the Bucks so much.
27. (27) New York (4-8). This team has no direction or identity. Seven different players have led them in scoring this year.
28. (26) Toronto (2-8). I still think they had a good draft and they brought in the right players, but they are just playing out the season and hoping they can get a solid free agent to move North.
29. (30) Charlotte (2-8). Emeka Okafor and Adam Morrison have been brilliant, but Gerald Wallace has not been found.
30. (29) Memphis (2-9). 0-6 on the road, toughest division in the league, and they are not improving.

Posted in NBA