This week has seen the slaying of a number of streaks: The winning streaks of the Bucks and Lakers. The losing streak of the Pelicans. The sucking streak of the Knicks. But with death, comes new life.
20. Charlotte Hornets (Up 2)
(13-18) Last week: 2-2
Nice wins over the Kings and Bulls for Charlotte this week. Their loss to Indiana is understandable, but losing to the Cavs? Oh dear. The Hornets were just not at the races in this one. Even when they made big plays, like Terry Rozier getting a steal to start the 4th quarter, with the team in need of a boost, they botched it, like Terry Rozier blowing a fast break dunk after getting a steal to start the 4th quarter, with the team in need of a boost.
19. Minnesota Timberwolves (Down 3)
(10-16) Last week: 0-2
The Wolves continue to plummet down the standings. Now the proud owners of a league 'best' 8 game losing streak, the Wolves have fallen into familiar habits: no defense, no rebounding and poor shot selection.
We've all marvelled at the borderline MVP numbers Karl Anthony Towns puts up on a night to night basis. We've been delighted with the apparent progress in Andrew Wiggins' decision making. But that only focuses on one of the floor. Minnesota are 23rd in the league in Defensive Rating, but they've been 28th in that measure through the losing streak.
18. Portland Trailblazers (Up 1)
(12-16) 2-1 Last week
The Blazers have benefited from a weak schedule in the past 7 days, losing to the Nuggets, but chalking up victories over the Knicks, Warriors and Suns.
This team still can't play defense. They're undersized on the perimeter and undisciplined inside. Name the standout defender on this team. Is is Kent Bazemore? Jeez.
Portland are in the bottom 4 of every opponent turnover metric you can think of – they just don't create turnovers. The also allow the most opposition free throws in the league. They're giving their opposition easy points and not creating any for themselves. That's not a recipe for winning basketball games.
17. Phoenix Suns (Up 1)
(11-16) Last week: 0-3
The Suns are still just about hanging on to the coat tales of the playoff race. They've almost got their team back on the floor as well, with Aron Baynes back from injury and De'Andre Ayton returning from his suspension with 18 points and 12 rebounds in a loss to the Clippers. Unfortunately, Devin Booker is sitting with a forearm injury. Getting Booker – putting up 25 a night with 50/40/90 splits – back will tell us a lot about the Suns playoff chances. That's assuming there's not another injury around the corner for this somewhat snake bit squad.
16. Orlando Magic (Up 1)
(12-16) Last week: 1-3
That tough stretch of games we spoke about in last week's Power Rankings? It didn't go well for Orlando. They got blown out by the Rockets, before beating the struggling Pelicans. They've since lost to Utah and Denver.
Nikola Vucevic returned from injury in the Pels game and has looked solid so far. He's putting up 21.3 points, 9 boards and 3.7 assists since his return.
15. Sacramento Kings (Down 1)
(12-15) Last week: 1-2
The Kings are whole again. De'Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley both returned from injury this week, giving the Kings enviable depth. With those two out, coach Luke Walton slowed the Kings from their breakneck pace to the NBA's slowest side. To his credit, he's righted the ship after the disastrous 0-5 start. It will be fascinating to see if Walton loosens the reigns with his whole team available again.
14. Oklahoma City Thunder (Up 1)
(13-14) Last week: 2-1
Winners of 5 of their last 7, the Thunder are back in the playoff hunt, currently sitting 7th in the Western Conference. This ads a serious level of intrigue to those keeping an eye on Sam Presti. He was expected to fire sale all of his veteran assets as the Thunder look to rebuild from the bottom. But Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari, Steven Adams and youngster Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are starting to click. It's still likely that Presti takes a good offer should it come up, and the possibility of a playoff push can only help his leverage in any trade negotiations.
13. Brooklyn Nets (Steady)
(15-12) Last week: 2-1
Brooklyn continue their strong recent form, with their only loss being to the Raptors in a game where their collective shooting touch deserted them. They bounced back with a 20 point thumping of the 76ers, led – again – by that man Spencer Dinwiddie. He's averaging 23.9 points with 7.4 assists since being thrust into the starting lineup an month ago, when Kyrie Irving went down.
That Sixers game was over so quickly that Nets Coach Kenny Atkinson even dusted off former Sixer Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot for a season high 23 minutes. Hands up who'd forgotten he was still in the NBA?
12. Utah Jazz (Steady)
(16-11) Last week: 2-0
A steadying week for Utah. With Mike Conley back (although he left their match with Orlando early) the Jazz have kept Joe Ingles with the starters at Royce O'Neal's expense. It's kept Joe jinglin' and his chemistry with Rudy Gobert has helped the Frenchman get easier buckets. The 5 man unit of Conley-Donovan Mitchell-Ingles-Bojan Bogdanovic-Gobert has struggled through the season, but looked stronger in recent games.
The Jazz's depth – a perceived strength at the start of the season - remains a concern. Ed Davis is fine defensively, but hasn't nearly began to cover what Derrick Favors brought offensively. Emmanuel Mudiay is average at best, and Dante Exum, unfortunately, looks terrible in his limited minutes.
11. Indiana Pacers (Steady)
(19-9) Last week: 3-0
A perfect week as the Pacers got back in the groove, including an attention grabbing win against the all conquering Lakers. The work GM Kevin Pritchard has put in rebuilding his team is tremendous. Of the Pacers starters, only Myles Turner was drafted by the Pacers. Of their nine man rotation, rookie Goga Bitadze and 2nd year man Aaron Holiday were draft picks. The rest of the roster were either distressed or underappreciated assets that Pritchard saw something in. He deservedly took heat for his time in Portland, but Pritchard's work with the Pacers has been outstanding.
