20. Portland Trail Blazers (6-7): The Trail Blazers have adequate scoring in the starting lineup with five players averaging double-digits, and four players averaging over 17 points per game, but their bench appears to be lacking in the scoring area. Not helping either is the fact that they’re giving up 101.9 points on average to the opposition. (Last Week: 14)
19. Chicago Bulls (6-6): The Bulls have played just two games since our last Power Rankings, and are still at .500 and finding their way without Derrick Rose due to injury and key role players that weren’t retained from last season. (Last Week: 15)
18. Houston Rockets (6-7): The James Harden led Rockets are continuing to get acclimated and are making some noise around the league. Harden has continued his prolific scoring and overall team game, and the Rockets appear to be relatively deep as well. They recently followed up a three game losing streak with victories over the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks (Last Week: 20)
17. Utah Jazz (7-7): The Jazz look like the Jazz usually look: Great at home (5-0) but not so great on the road (2-7). (Last Week: 19)
16. Dallas Mavericks (7-7): The Mavs beat the blazing-hot Knicks on Wednesday, but were absolutely clobbered by the Lakers on Saturday. (Last Week: 10)
15. Milwaukee Bucks (6-5):The Bucks, led by Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings, have lost three games in a row. (Last Week: 8)
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14. Philadelphia 76ers (8-6): The Sixers are averaging the lowest amount of points in the league (86.8), but are also holding their opponents to the lowest average points as well (86.7). The bad news for the Sixers has been Andrew Bynum’s injuries from the start of the season; the news hasn’t gotten any better as the January timetable has officially been changed to “out indefinitely.” (Last Week: 9)
13. Los Angeles Lakers (7-7): I might get killed by Lakers Nation for this, but I’m just trying to keep the team and the fans honest. The Lakers put together a terrible effort against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, looked lost for most of the game against Memphis on Friday, but finally put together a convincing victory against Dallas on Saturday.
The Lakers are still adjusting to newly hired head coach Mike D’Antoni’s system. The potential is there, now it’s just up to the Lakers to become more consistent and play as a cohesive unit–especially on the road where they’re currently 1-4. I don’t expect the Lakers to drop below this mark for the remainder of the season. (Last Week: 11)
12. Boston Celtics (8-6): As much as it pains me to do this, the Boston Celtics are playing decently well this season. A big victory over the Oklahoma Thunder gives the Celtics the edge here. (Last Week: 12)
11. Charlotte Bobcats (7-5): The Bobcats are actually doing alright so far. Don’t worry though everyone, it’s still early. (Last Week: 18)
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