In foxsports.com's latest NBA Power Rankings, the Miami Heat are ranked 30th out of 30 teams. The Los Angeles Lakers are ranked 1st out of 30 teams. How's that for a 'flip the script' kinda moment?
| NBA Power Rankings Week Of 01/15/2008 | |||||
| Rk | Team | Last Wk | Rise/Fall | High/Low | Comment |
| 1 |  Lakers | 7 | (+6) | 1/15 | (26-11) Will Kwame Brown pick up the slack during Andrew Bynum’s absence? Don’t count on it. Count on Kobe to start scoring 35 per night – or more, like the 48 he dropped Monday on Seattle. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 2 |  Hornets | 5 | (+3) | 2/19 | (25-11) They’ve won seven straight on the road. Imagine how good they'd be if they enjoyed an actual home-court advantage. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 3 |  Celtics | 1 | (-2) | 1/4 | (30-6) Their defense has remained excellent, but offense is becoming a serious problem. They averaged 82.5 points in going 1-3 last week Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 4 |  Suns | 3 | (-1) | 1/9 | (26-11) Grant Hill's appendectomy means Boris Diaw needs to play a much larger role. Can he handle it? Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 5 |  Pistons | 2 | (-3) | 1/9 | (28-10) They must have been wasted by the end of that five-day, four-game road trip. Nothing else explains scoring 65 vs. the defenseless Knicks. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 6 |  Mavericks | 4 | (-2) | 1/8 | (23-12) They might be No. 1 if they’d knocked off the Kings on Monday. But if you can’t beat the Kings, you can’t be the king. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 7 |  Trail Blazers | 8 | (+1) | 7/22 | (23-14) Of all the improbable success stories on this team, the most improbable may be James Jones, a career sub-40% shooter who can’t seem to miss this season. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 8 |  Spurs | 6 | (-2) | 1/8 | (25-11) The Tony-Timmy-Manu triumvirate is finally intact. So why do the Spurs still look so average? Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 9 |  Warriors | 10 | (+1) | 9/28 | (22-16) Monta Ellis is a perfect fit for Nellie’s offense. He just needs to become more consistent and improve his shooting range, but he’s only 22. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 10 |  Jazz | 14 | (+4) | 5/16 | (22-17) Utah protected its home court with four straight wins. The Jazz are now 16-3 at home, 6-14 away. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 11 |  Nuggets | 11 | - | 7/11 | (21-14) Other than Marcus Camby, no one on this team seems particularly interested in playing defense. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 12 |  Wizards | 15 | (+3) | 11/27 | (17-15) The consecutive wins over the Celtics were especially surprising when you consider that Washington hadn’t beaten a team with a winning record since Dec. 1. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 13 |  Cavaliers | 13 | - | 10/20 | (19-18) It’s a good thing LeBron is putting up the numbers of two normal players. Because Sasha Pavlovic has provided next to nothing. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 14 |  Rockets | 16 | (+2) | 5/19 | (20-18) Houston's offense has gone through Yao during Tracy McGrady’s absence. It should do the same when T-Mac returns. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 15 |  Raptors | 17 | (+2) | 10/17 | (20-17) Chris Bosh’s commercial is cute, but his play will determine whether he makes the All-Star team. Totaling 78 points and 25 boards in back-to-back wins helps his cause. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 16 |  Magic | 9 | (-7) | 2/16 | (23-16) They’ve now gone 7-12 since their 16-4 start. The main culprit? Arguably the NBA’s worst backcourt. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 17 |  Nets | 12 | (-5) | 12/20 | (18-19) For a while, it looked like New Jersey was going to make a move in the Eastern Conference. But it’s looking more and more like this is a .500 team – nothing more, nothing less. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 18 |  Hawks | 18 | - | 8/21 | (16-17) No wonder the Hawks are so good at home. Their stat crew uses fuzzy math in counting opponents’ fouls. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 19 |  Bobcats | 26 | (+7) | 13/27 | (11-21) In a span of seven days, they beat the Nets, Celtics and Nuggets – and nearly beat the Cavaliers and Pistons. That would be a good week for an elite team, much less a mediocre one. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 20 |  Kings | 23 | (+3) | 15/30 | (15-21) Aft er sitting more than a month w ith a groin injury, Kevin Martin picked up where he left off. The man is a scoring machine. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 21 |  Bulls | 20 | (-1) | 8/30 | (14-21) Andres Nocioni is starting to get untracked for Chicago. Will Kirk Hinrich join him? Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 22 |  Pacers | 19 | (-3) | 11/28 | (16-19) That Western swing was predictably brutal. Indy allowed at least 105 points in all five games and lost four of them. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 23 |  76ers | 21 | (-2) | 21/27 | (14-24) Consecutive 20-rebound efforts by Samuel Dalembert haven’t kept the Sixers from freefalling. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 24 |  Bucks | 22 | (-2) | 9/25 | (15-23) That road trip against the Lakers, Suns and Jazz went about the way you’d expect – three L’s. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 25 |  Grizzlies | 24 | (-1) | 23/27 | (10-27) Pau Gasol’s role in the Memphis offense is increasing. So is his trade value. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 26 |  SuperSonics | 25 | (-1) | 23/29 | (9-28) Nick Collison is playing like a legit NBA power forward. As this franchise looks toward the future, that’s a positive sign. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 27 |  Clippers | 27 | - | 13/27 | (10-23) Sam Cassell's not making shots and the Clippers backcourt has no keepers, unless you count Shaun Livingston. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 28 |  Knicks | 29 | (+1) | 18/29 | (10-26) Rumor has it Stephon Marbury will opt for ankle surgery to hasten the end of his season. Other Knicks might be wise to follow suit. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 29 |  Timberwolves | 30 | (+1) | 28/30 | (4-29) Beating the Heat gives Minny a reprieve from the cellar, at least for one week. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 30 |  Heat | 28 | (-2) | 17/30 | (8-28) Miami had a loss stricken from its record (temporarily) based on an error by the Hawks stats crew. Pat Riley is now protesting the other 28 losses on the basis of human error by his players. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |  advertisement |
No comments:
Post a Comment