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1- Miami Heat (18-6) Heat is back at a very familiar spot. This past week featured another Heat victory over the ‘Sixers. The Heat still has issues trying to figure out the Milwaukee Bucks riddle. Thankfully, they only play them one more time this season.
2- Chicago Bulls (20-6) The road warrior Bulls dropped one game this week to a good ‘Sixers team. Apparently Coach Thibodeau is the only person who is not worried about playing his guys too many minutes in meaningless games. Derrick Rose missed another free throw late in the game. Looks like teams know who to foul on the Bulls late in the game.
3- Philadelphia 76ers (17-7) The ‘Sixers kept a bad team losing (Magic) and beat a really good team at home (Bulls) then finished the week beating another good team (Hawks) on the road. The ‘Sixers have yet to slay their white whale though (Heat).
4- Oklahoma Thunder (18-5) We get our first appearance from a Western Conference team here. The Thunder defense is leaving a lot, A LOT, to be desired right now. And now they need to replace their best post defender since Blake Griffin ended Kendrick Perkins’ life. Thunder need to figure out their defense in a hurry because the other teams in the West are closing in fast.
5- San Antonio Spurs (16-9) One of those teams closing in on the top spot in the West are the Spurs. They were 4-0 this week with one of those wins coming against the Thunder.
6- Los Angeles Clippers (14-7) Clippers are starting to shape up to a dangerous post-season team. They are more than just dunks by Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. You can spend an hour talking about the impact of Chris Paul on this team and you would still not do enough justice to how well CP3 has played.
7- Indiana Pacers (16-7) Pacers have played the Magic three times in two weeks and are 1-2 against them. But they had a win over defending champion Mavericks and one over the tricky T-Wolves.
8- Denver Nuggets (15-9) I was ready to jump all over the Nuggets bandwagon, then they go 1-3 this week. They were very impressive in the win over the Clippers but then lost the next two games of the back-to-back-to-back set.
9- Boston Celtics (13-10) Celtics are a hot team right now. Granted, their last four games were against Cleveland, Toronto, New York, and Memphis. But beggars can’t be choosers right?
10- Utah Jazz (13-9) Jazz beat out the Hawks for the last spot on the rankings simply because they beat better teams this week. Jazz have issues at the point guard position and that could come back to bite them.
Player of the Week:
LeBron James SF, Heat
This award is getting ready to be renamed the LeBron James Player of the Week Award. Averaged 27.75 pts, 10 reb, 5.75 ast. Just another week in the life of LBJ.
Best Game of the Week:
Jazz at Pacers (Tuesday 6:00 pm CST):
Two teams trying to prove they have staying power in their respective conference.
Worst Game of the Week:
This one has "Only if you really love Tyreke Evans" written all over it.