Chuddy's NBA Power Rankings: Week of March 11th

Welcome to the sixteenth installment of King Chuddy’s weekly NBA power rankings and the fourth post-all-star edition! We’re officially in the home stretch of the regular season. As always, these rankings will fluctuate based on the team's performance during the previous week and any changes in personnel, health, schematics, or overall quality of play. These rankings are NOT predicting for the future, or used to determine the odds of ultimately winning the title, they are just based on what the team has done recently and what is their immediate outlook. For example, most people would likely think the Lakers or Warriors have a much better chance of actually winning a title than teams like the Magic or Pelicans, but they simply have not played better this season so the rankings reflect that. Think of these rankings as something more like the top 25 rankings in college basketball/football and they should make more sense. Feel free to leave your comments/opinions and tell me why I’m wrong, or why I am a genius. Without further ado…

1. Denver Nuggets (44-20, Last week: 2) - Big Honey and the Nugs made a statement by beating the Celtics again on Thursday. They’ve won eight of nine since the all-star break, and seem to be rounding back into championship form. The road still goes through Denver.
2. Boston Celtics (49-14, Last week: 1) - A couple of close road losses to the Cavs and Nugs had people speaking rashly, but they righted the ship with a solid road win over the Suns. They still have a very healthy lead on the rest of the field for home-court advantage.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder (45-19, Last week: 4) - Speaking of home-court advantage, the Thunder are now alone atop the Western Conference standings with just 18 games to play. Remarkable stuff from one of the youngest teams in the entire league.
4. Milwaukee Bucks (42-23, Last week: 3) - The Bucks suffered a couple of tough road losses out west, but the team has pretty clearly established itself as second-best in the East and Middleton should be back any day now.
5. New Orleans Pelicans (39-25, Last week: 9) - Hello top 5! The Pels have ripped off four straight in fairly dominant fashion. Point Zion has quietly been very effective lately, and they’re suddenly just 2.5 games back of the Clippers for fourth in the West. Home court in round one isn’t out of the question at all.
6. Los Angeles Clippers (41-22, Last week: 5) - Sunday’s loss to the Bucks marked the first time all season that PG and Kawhi have both sat out the same game - and they played just 22 hours earlier. They’ve had their healthiest season in ages, and look primed to actually be a threat in the playoffs for a change.
7. Minnesota Timberwolves (44-21, Last week: 6) - The Wolves had a couple of ugly losses to the Cavs and Lakers, with a Rudy Gobert fine mixed in. The offense will be grim without KAT and Ant will have to raise his game to another level for them to hold their ground near the top of the West.
8. Cleveland Cavaliers (41-23, Last week: 10) - The Cavs had impressive wins over the Celtics and T-Wolves and they should get Mitchell back any day. Meanwhile, the teams behind them are mostly floundering. A top 3 seed feels like a near certainty.
9. Phoenix Suns (37-27, Last week: 16) - They rolled into Denver and outdueled the Nuggets and held their own against the Celtics. Booker is returning to the lineup Monday night. They look to be in decent shape to avoid the play-in and make some noise.
10. Orlando Magic (37-28, Last week: 8) - The Magic looked predictably flat in a couple of games without Jalen Suggs, but they should be at full strength soon and they just keep climbing up the East standings.
11. Los Angeles Lakers (36-30, Last week: 12) - It’s still not extremely consistent, but when the fully healthy Lakers play, they’ve been looking pretty good. D-Lo is playing the best basketball of his career and Anthony Davis is coming off the first 25+ points, 25+ rebounds, 5+ assists, and 5+ steal game in NBA history.
12. New York Knicks (37-27, Last week: 17) - Their games have been as ugly as ever, but Jalen Brunson somehow avoided a major injury and OG Anunoby is set to return on Tuesday. They’ve basically held their ground in the standings and may have another run in them.
13. Dallas Mavericks (36-28, Last week: 15) - Luka has been on an absolute bender lately, ripping off 30+ point triple-doubles without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately for him, the Mavs have needed all of that production and more. They’ve been struggling but have won two straight and are clinging to a top 8 spot for now.
14. Sacramento Kings (36-27, Last week: 13) - Speaking of clinging, that’s what it feels like the Kings are doing. They suffered a gruesome home loss to the Rockets after barely squeaking by the Wemby-less Spurs. After an amazing start, De’Aaron Fox has come back to earth recently. They need to steady the ship, and quickly.
15. Miami Heat (35-29, Last week: 7) - The Heat have lost three straight, including Sunday at home to the Wizards. By all accounts, there’s an argument for them to be outside the top 20. But the team is mostly healthy and they are still the Heat. I’m not dumb and I have PTSD.
16. Philadelphia 76ers (36-28, Last week: 14) - Good for Philly winning a couple of games against the Mavs and Knicks. That, after somehow dropping to the Nets and Grizzlies. Maxey should at least be back from his concussion and they’re still just above the play-in.
17. Indiana Pacers (36-29, Last week: 18) - The Pacers have been super disappointing to me, as I think they’d take a huge step forward after acquiring Siakam, but they’ve kind of gone the other way. Haliburton hasn’t really looked like his old self since coming back from injury and they just haven’t had the same free-flowing up-and-down offense.
18. Golden State Warriors (33-30, Last week: 11) - Losing Steph Curry to an ankle injury will drop a team down the rankings pretty quickly. Steph shouldn’t be out too much longer, but every missed game at this point is a brutal blow. They are looking at a very uphill battle just to avoid the 9/10 play-in matchup.
19. Chicago Bulls (31-33, Last week: 19) - The Bulls continue to be one of the best clutch teams in the league, winning close games routinely. They’re almost certainly locked into the 9 seed, but they could pose a threat in the do-or-die format of the play-in.
20. Atlanta Hawks (29-35, Last week: 24) - The Hawks have done just enough to just about wrap up the 10 seed. That’s the most positive thing I can really say about this team that seems to be lifelessly slogging towards the finish line.
21. Houston Rockets (29-35, Last week: 23) - I wanted to bump the Rockets up after a couple of impressive wins and even seeing Jalen Green play better. But the ugly ankle injury suffered by Alperen Sengun is just brutal for a team that already struggles on offense.
22. Brooklyn Nets (26-39, Last week: 22) - They swept the Hawks in a back to back and it looked like they might actually challenge for the 10 seed, but they just can’t string wins together, as evidenced by losing a wire to wire affair with a tired Hornets team.
23. Utah Jazz (28-36, Last week: 21) - It’s a pity what has happened to the Jazz this season, but at this point, they’re trotting out a skeleton crew of young players and career backups. Tank mode has been fully activated.
24. San Antonio Spurs (14-50, Last week: 20) - Wemby missing a few games has taken a bit of the shine off of the Spurs’ recent solid play. But they managed a win without him and they’re not playing as badly as the teams below them!
25. Charlotte Hornets (16-48, Last week: 26) - At least with this version of the Hornets you know they are going to show up and try on defense. Which, at this point of the season, is enough to catch some teams on an off night.
26. Memphis Grizzlies (22-43, Last week: 27) - Speaking of teams that try hard on defense… ‘Grit and grind’ has never been more alive. Their record being as good as it is is honestly pretty remarkable, and a testament to their work ethic and attitude.
27. Washington Wizards (11-53, Last week: 30) - Break up the Wizards! After losing 16 straight and appearing destined to match Detroit’s 28-game skid, they pulled out back-to-back wins over the Hornets and Heat.
28. Toronto Raptors (23-41, Last week: 25) - The Raptors keep losing games and players. They may have finally embraced the tank and decided their best path forward is to fall into the bottom 6 and try to keep their pick (they traded a top-6 protected pick to the Spurs for Jakob Poeltl last year for some reason).
29. Portland Trail Blazers (18-45, Last week: 29) - At least Scoot is back and can get some more reps. Dalano Banton has looked really good since coming over via trade. I still like Simons. There’s not much else going on here.
30. Detroit Pistons (10-53, Last week: 28) - The Pistons look like they’ll avoid being historically bad. They’ll just be regular-bad. Which is good, actually.