Official /r/nba Power Rankings #11 (3.20.2023)

24/30 rankers reporting this week. /R/NBA's Power Rankings are published every two weeks which is a bit different from most rankings. Other than that we rank the teams the same way as our competition. If write ups are left blank the team rep decided not to submit. We encourage any user to fill in the blanks in the comment section.

#	Team	Δ	Record	Comment
1	Bucks	--	51-20	The Bucks are rolling. As winter fades away in Milwaukee, they have emerged as the clear-cut favorites to win the East -- and maybe the whole thing. They have a 2.5-game cushion over the second-place Celtics and Sixers with only 11 games left, and Vegas has finally given them their due respect as the title frontrunners. Giannis is the best player in the sport even if nobody wants to give him the MVP, Brook Lopez might be playing the best basketball of his All-Star career at 34, and Khris Middle is basically back to normal. Watching this team the last few months has been a treat as a fan, it certainly feels like the best Bucks team I'll see in my lifetime.
2	76ers	+2	48-22	The Sixers are rolling and Joel Embiid might finally lock up a legacy defining piece of hardware. It's hard to argue against the Sixers being one of the hottest teams in the league right now, especially as some of the teams in front of them are having some stumbles down the stretch. A big reason why The Sixers are succeeding? Tyrese Maxey. He's once again found his aggression and his shot from deep. They'll need him and Harden to play at this level to finally break the second round curse.
3	Celtics	--	49-23	The Celtics are 7-6 since the All-Star break and have continuously floundered to find any sort of stable footing. The fanbase is fighting over whether to place the blame on Joe Mazzulla or Jayson Tatum, or a combination of the two. Tatum has been hot and cold all season, and recently has played awful. At the same time, Joe Mazzulla has had multiple questionable to outright malpractice coaching decisions, especially when it comes to in-game play calling down the stretch. To make matters worse, the 76ers finally caught up and overtook the Celtics for the 2 seed in the East. It's time to nut up or shut up for the Celtics, and the final 10 games of the season will determine how the fanbase and the team as a whole feels going into the postseason. They've got matchups @Kings, Pacers, Spurs, @Wizards, @Bucks, Jazz, @76ers, Raptors twice at home, and then the Hawks at home to close out the season. The fight for the 2 seed could very well come down to April 4th when the Celtics go into Philly, but before that you have to take care of business and win the games you're supposed to win, or else the Celtics won't even be in a position to fight for 2nd.
4	Nuggets	-2	48-24	Despite remaining on top of the West, the Nuggets have struggled as of late, only winning 2 of their last 7 games. Defense and rebounding have disappeared and allowing second chance points has been a common theme. Despite this, the team is still at full strength and they still have time to adjust and refocus in time for the playoffs.
5	Cavaliers	+2	45-28	The Cavs went 5-2 since the previous power rankings and will need to have a 5-4 or better record over the last 9 games to get their first 50 win season without LeBron in 30 years. With 7 of those matchups being against Brooklyn(2x), Houston, Charlotte, Indiana, and Orlando(2x), it would be a massive disappointment for them to go under .500 in this final stretch. Evan Mobley has been special over the last two months, averaging 18.8 ppg on 58.6% ts%, 9.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.4 stocks a game, while cementing himself as a DPOY candidate as the anchor of the Cavs #1 rated defense. On the season, he’s leading the league in defensive win shares, he has the most 3s contested in the league, and is in the 99th percentile rim protection. Cavs fans would take to the streets for anything less than 1st team all-defense for the 21 year old Mobley.
6	Kings	+2	43-27	The playoffs are well within the grasps of the Kings.. showing they can beat some of the best teams in the league Fox continues to show he’s the 4th quarter assassin. Sabonis has been on fire throughout this tough stretch putting up triple doubles and making sure this team gets open look with his passing and screens.. Keegan “Keegan Murray” Murray continues to showcase his three point game as he is 22 away from breaking the rookie 3pt record held by Donovan Mitchell. This team continues to their mission to not only stay within the top 6 but have their eyes set on the 1 and 2 seed in the west.
7	Knicks	-2	42-30	GO NEW YORK GO NEW YORK GO
8	Grizzlies	+1	43-27	The team has responded nicely to the absence of Ja while he was on his healing retreat; and frankly there's a ton of praise to be passed around. Tyus Jones getting his first triple double, Dillon Brooks being generally a menace to society, David "Big Body" Roddy jumping up the rookie charts, but ultimately the love has to be centered around Jaren Jackson Jr. His last three games have him averaging 28/6/2 as well as keeping his blocks average close at 3. The version of JJJ we saw against Golden State is a guy that could be an MVP caliber player; an elite offensive rim protector and an elite post threat. His fouling has been much better all season, and the race for DPOY between him and Brook Lopez looks to be a photo finish. Ja comes back from his suspension on Monday, with a potential to make his first appearance on Wednesday against the Rockets; just in time to prime up for what looks to be a promising playoff run.
9	Suns	-3	38-33	KD slipped during warm ups. Luckily he looks alright and I think he's just out as a precaution, but we gave up two important pieces to get him and it shows given the recent stretch of games while he's been out.
10	Clippers	+4	38-34	Westbrook is starting to settle into his role, and Ty Lue is searching for the best rotations. Already Westbrook has been an amazing facilitator, and even when his shots aren't falling the way he wants to, he is still able to rebound, find open shooters, or just organize the offense in ways we haven't seen since CP3. With only 0.5 games behind the suns, the Clippers could regain the 4th seed for some home field advantage, likely against the Suns.
11	Heat	+2	39-34	Things have gone better as of late but they're going to hopefully get better. We went .500 against teams in similar places as us as well as blowing the Grizzlies out of the water. Now we're headed into a couple difficult games mixed in with some games that we have no business losing. The tentative hope would be for us to sneak out of the play-in, although we're probably not getting passed our first match up. If we do avoid having to play the play-in tournament, then best match up to see us in the 2nd round would be the Cavaliers. However, a Celtics - Heat match up would be very exciting to watch. Or maybe a throwback of Knicks vs Heat from forever ago. First thing's first is making sure we are actually involved in the postseason this year.
12	Nets	+4	39-32	The Nets are looking better defensively as the players get more familiar with one another. While the offense depends on good shooting from the three point line, defense is something that the Nets can control every night. High powered offense will give this Nets team trouble as they will have to scramble to match the offensive output some teams can put forth. It's a developmental season for this unit, they will look to hold onto the 6th seed and try to put upa fight in the playoffs as they move forward to the draft with 2 picks to work with
13	Mavericks	-2	36-35	The Mavs may have saved their season off of Maxi Kleber's heroic 3 against the Lakers and Dwight Powell's 22 & 8 on 100% shooting vs the Spurs. The common factor in those games is that Christian Wood played 28+ minutes in both games, which has become a rarity. If the Mavs can finally play their three best players (Luka, Kyrie, Wood) for 30+ minutes each, they should be able to close their weak end of schedule out with dominance.
14	Warriors	-4	36-36	The road Warriors strike again. The last time the Warriors lost at home was Feb 11th (8 game win streak) The last time they won on the road was January 30th (11 game losing streak). Nothing like sleeping in your own bed. With his wrist injury Iguodala is essentially retired. The once cornerstone roll player quintessential to the 2015 championship run will be forever a Warrior and fan favorite.
15	Thunder	+6	35-36	The Thunder are still somehow alive for a play in spot. This week we play the Clipper twice and Lakers once and will likely determine the feasibility of whether or not we can pull this off. Every game has been super intense because the stakes have been so high (for us). Each win feels more and more important, and all I can really say is: the vibes are immaculate.
16	Lakers	+2	35-37	The team built great momentum and really looked poised to get into the top 6, until they dropped two inexcusable losses to the Rockets and Mavericks, specially the Mavericks loss was a gut punch for the team and fan base. The Western standings are so fluid that the Lakers were a Kleber buzzer-beater away from being the 6th seed and now instead are the 10th. They bounced back on Sunday vs. the Magic led by AR’s career-high 35 and the hope is to keep fighting through till the King’s anticipated return within the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, AD has struggled with his offense as of late and the team needs the big man to tune himself back in for the final push.
17	Raptors	-1	35-37	Toronto looks like a team slightly better than .500. For some fans, this gives them hope, while some other fans are worried the Raptors will be stuck in the no man's land for years to come.
18	Hawks	-1	35-36	There's a lot of "Is Quin Snyder actually better than Nate McMillan" discourse going on right now. Mostly because the Hawks with Quin have also been terrible, but most people seem to be missing the point of why we brought Quin in the for the final 20 games. It wasn't for him to come in and turn our season around and win us a championship. There was never going to be enough time for Quin to make tangible changes. These last 20 games are for Quin to evaluate the roster and figure out who he does and doesn't want around next year. This team was always going to end up the play-in, but that doesn't matter because this season (and last season) was a wash the day they signed Nate to an extension. I don't really know if the future is bright or bleak, but it's the only thing worth focusing on.
19	TWolves	-7	35-37	Tough season for the Wolves got tougher over the weekend. A season compromised by the injury of Karl-Anthony Towns got worse with Anthony Edwards going down to an ankle injury. Combined with so-so play and tough losses the Wolves season is looking like a disaster.
20	Bulls	+4	33-37	Pat Bev was able to score 14 points in 2 and a half minutes, so I'm feeling better about this team. They have been playing better at both ends, and are actually making 3s now, shooting 42% since the last rankings. Whoever told Demar to start shooting 3s and Vucevic to stop shooting 3s was a genius. The next 2 games against the Sixers will show how this team can handle playoff talent in the East.
21	Jazz	+1	34-36	The Jazz face a choice, so dire, To compete and let the players aspire, Or tank and aim for a high draft pick, For a new franchise star and experience to stick. To give up now, and look ahead, Or fight for wins, and never dread, To a future, with a top prospect in tow, To fight for each win and go with the flow. Lauri Markkanen, a star on the rise, could he lead the team, to a new prize, And Walker Kessler, has blocks to spare, should the Jazz keep pushing, or choose to take care? A dilemma, that weighs heavily on the mind, But the answer, they will eventually find, For every player, coach, and fan, Utah need to hold firm and take a stand.
22	Pelicans	-3	34-37
23	Wizards	-3	32-39	Lizards are part of a group of animals known as reptiles. They are most closely related to snakes. In fact, some lizards, called sheltopusiks, look like snakes because they have no legs! Many lizards today resemble the ancient reptiles of the dinosaur era. Their ancestors appeared on Earth over 200 million years ago. That was also the last time the Washington Wizards looked like a competitive, cohesive basketball team. Corey Kispert has been incredible these past couple of weeks as he prepares to become a married man. Bradley Beal continues to be enemy number one for fans as nothing he does can appease critics of his large contract. And unfortunately, it looks like the Wes Unseld Jr era could be coming to a close after this season and he continues to have worse rotation management than a flat tire. Its a sad season.
24	Pacers	+1	32-39	The Pacers continue to tread water as the season winds down. Rookie sixth man Bennedict Mathurin and Tyrese Haliburton's injuries have put a damper on the final weeks, but Indiana still finds themselves just outside the play-in games. 8 of Indiana's last 11 games are against current playoff teams, so they'll probably need some assistance from the other playoff hopefuls if they want to sneak into one of the last spots.
25	Magic	+1	29-43	Probably stuck in the same spot in the standings regardless of what happens rest of the season. So time to just look forward to the lottery and the draft.
26	Trail Blazers	-3	31-40
27	Hornets	--	22-50
28	Spurs	+1	19-52	Jeez we gotta stop timing these with drinking weekends, I live in Boston and St. Patty's is always a mess. The Spurs have been on a bit of a heater recently by our standards (as have Houston, for that matter), while Detroit seems to be leaving the rest of the tanks in the dust at this stage. Keldon and Devin have been playing great (Keldon's averaging 22/7/4 while Vassell is averaging 17/4/4), and are showing the potential of being great supporting pieces on a future playoff team. Zach Collins has been a stud since Jakob was traded as well, averaging 16.6/8.1/3.8 on 46/44/91 splits over that time, and more recently has average 23/8/4/1/1.5 on 53/57/100 since getting choked out by MPJ in a game. We have NOP, MIL, WAS, @BOS, UTA, @GSW, @SAC coming up over the next two weeks, home stretch time!
29	Rockets	+1	18-53	Jabari Smith's surge mirrors what we saw from Jalen Green after the all star break last year, and it has brought newfound optimism to the Rockets fanbase, and KJ Martin seems to have stepped up in tandem. Make no mistake, the tank is still in effect, but we're seeing the first signs that the team could make the step up that is demanded next season.
30	Pistons	-1	16-56	James Wiseman is coming off of what was probably the best game of his career last night against Miami. I've still got mixed feelings about trying to develop both him and Duren, but they have looked nice together at times recently - particularly against Denver when they were throwing each other lobs. Otherwise Ivey's cooled off on his shooting recently but his ballhandling continues to, generally, be getting stronger as the season wears on. Eugene Omoruyi has been a surprisingly strong late season addition that much of our fanbase would rather retain over Marvin Bagley. That said, the tank rolls on as we look toward a draft that seems to have more question marks in it - not less - as we inch closer to it.