It’s here, the last week of the regular season. There’s still a lot up for grabs in terms of homecourt advantage, seeding, and avoiding and making the play-in tournament. Let’s take a look at the current top 10 teams in the NBA power rankings a week before the play-in tournament tips-off.
NBA Power Rankings: Top 10 For the Last Week of the Regular Season
Teams 10 – 7
10. Miami Heat
Miami looks like their true self right now. Jimmy Butler is balling, Bam Adebayo is playing tough defense, and Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson are draining threes. Add in the rest of the supporting cast, and Trevor Ariza doing well, the Heat are a darkhorse and could finish as a four or five seed.
9. New York Knicks
Defense is the name of the game, and the Knicks are using that to their advantage. Their defense is absolutely stifling, Julius Randle is a legitimate star, and the re-emergence of Derrick Rose is a story all NBA fans can get behind. Randle will likely make an All-NBA team and Tom Thibodeau will get serious Coach of the Year consideration.
8. Dallas Mavericks
Dallas has been missing Kristaps Porzingis for most of the last month, but that hasn’t slowed them down. Luka Doncic leads the team nightly in almost all statistical categories, but the role players are really stepping up. Tim Hardaway Jr. is dropping over 20 points per game over the last two weeks, Dwight Powell looks like his pre-Achilles injury self, and Jalen Brunson is emerging as one of the league’s top bench players.
7. Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers are the NBA’s top three-point shooting team but have been a tad sloppy lately. With Kawhi Leonard back, that will all start to change very soon. They’re battling with the Denver Nuggets for the third spot, and that will go down to the wire this week. Expect the Clippers to be even stronger once Serge Ibaka returns.
Teams Six to Four
6. Denver Nuggets
Denver has been very resilient since Jamal Murray went down with a season-ending injury. Much of this, of course, is due to Nikola Jokic and his MVP-caliber season. Michael Porter is emerging as a stud second-option, while much of the team’s role players are stepping up. The Nuggets, even without Murray, will be dangerous as Monte Morris, Will Barton, and Aaron Gordon return to the court.
5. Brooklyn Nets
Brooklyn faced a slide during the last week but recovered with a big win over Jokic and the Nuggets. What’s most important is that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are consistently playing together on the court. That, of course, is more than enough to be elite. It’s only a matter of time until James Harden returns, then the league will truly get a look at the real Nets.
4. Phoenix Suns
The Suns are coming off a loss versus a LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers team, but slip-ups are bound to happen. They’re still second in the Western Conference and an elite two-way team. Chris Paul will surely have some MVP votes come his way, while Devin Booker maintains a starring role and the rest of the supporting cast fulfills all their duties.
Top Three in the NBA Power Rankings
3. Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee, somehow, has flown under the radar for much of the regular season. This is mostly due to the majority of attention in the Eastern Conference being placed on the Nets, but the Bucks finished 2-0 in their mini-series versus Brooklyn last week. There’s not much more to add on Giannis Antetokounmpo as he’s his usual dominant self, but Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are firing off right now.
2. Utah Jazz
Utah maintains the best record in the league, even though they were dealing with Donovan Mitchell‘s injury. In the meantime, Rudy Gobert kept his Defensive Player of the Year run in line, while players such as Jordan Clarkson and Bojan Bogdanovic performed admirably. Utah has been great and flopped in the playoffs before, but this year seems different.
1. Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia responded to a four-game losing streak by starting an eight-game winning streak. This streak is still alive, and the 76ers will finish their season with three very winnable games out of four. The only one in question is versus Miami.
In any other year, Joel Embiid would walk away with the MVP award. Jokic complicates things. With that being said, Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Doc Rivers look to have finally solved Philadelphia’s problems and they may finally make the jump as a legitimate championship contender in the playoffs.
Main Image: Embed from Getty Images
