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Power rankings are irrelevant at the start of the season. It's refreshing to see the Spurs back in the top spot, however.
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Monday, Nov. 29
Two longtime Texas rivals, maybe harder than ever to separate, have taken over the upper crust of ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings.
The San Antonio Spurs couldn't avoid a loss at home Friday night to their old friends from Dallas, but the Spurs' hugely impressive wins to start and end the week -- over Orlando at home and Sunday's comeback in New Orleans to deal the Hornets their first home loss -- narrowly placed Team (CQ) Duncan ahead of the resurgent Mavs.
Dallas made its own strong claim for the top spot, sweeping four games in five nights for just the third time in the franchise's 108 attempts, highlighted by road wins in Oklahoma City and San Antonio before inflicting a defeat on Miami on Saturday that sent the Heat straight into a players-only meeting for more than 40 minutes. The streakbusting Mavs, after knocking New Orleans from the ranks of the unbeaten of Nov. 15, halted the Spurs' run of 12 consecutive victories and also rank as the only team this season to win in Denver.
Other notable movers this week -- and there were several -- include the rising Utah Jazz (No. 9 to No. 6), Indiana Pacers (No. 20 to No. 11) and New York Knicks (No. 21 to No. 16) … as well as the falling Hornets (No. 1 to No. 7), Los Angeles Lakers (No. 3 to No. 5) and tension-ridden Heat (No. 10 to No. 13).
Click here to rank the teams yourself or click here to comment on this week's fully non-automated pulse check of the league's 30 teams.
Also, check out John Hollinger's daily Power Rankings.
1 (2) Spurs 14-2 Stealing this edgy-but-effective comment concept from friend o' the committee Jemele Hill: How many Hollywood actresses does Tony Parker have to split up with to get the new high-octane Spurs some media spotlight?
2 (6) Mavericks 12-4 Historic week in Big D: Mavs sweep four games in five nights for just the third time in team history ... and The Sports Guy launches a passionate Dirk4MVP campaign on his podcast that sees us trying to calm him down.
3 (4) Celtics 12-4 Delonte's injury is an undeniable blow, but Rondo's return puts our focus back on dimeage, with RR (14.2 apg) attempting to join John Stockton as the only other player in history to average 14 dimes for an entire season.
4 (5) Magic 12-4 Time to start considering the possibility that those offseason tutorials from Hakeem Olajuwon did make some impact? Dwight has scored at least 20 points in six straight games, two games shy of his best-ever scoring run.
5 (3) Lakers 13-4 Wondering why the Lakers can't crack the top two? Must have escaped you that the champs are in the midst of their second losing streak and have feasted on teams with a combined record of 83-131 in their 13 wins.
6 (9) Jazz 13-5 Make that eight winning comebacks already this season after facing a double-digit deficit before Sunday's rally vs. the Clippers ... although the repeated need for comebacks still strikes us as equal parts worrisome and awesome.
7 (1) Hornets 12-4 Apologies to the Hornets, who are suddenly 4-4 since that 8-0 start and bookended the week with a loss to the Clips and a fall-from-ahead L to the Spurs for their first home defeat. Looks like the rankings' jinx still has some juice.
8 (7) Bulls 9-6 Not much more you have to say beyond running the final tab on the havoc D-Rose wreaked on the first winning Circus Trip (4-3) since MJ's last season running with the Bulls in 1997-98: 30.5 ppg, 6.5 apg and 5.7 rpg.
9 (8) Thunder 11-6 We're down to two players averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists: LeBron and Westbrook. Which means Durant, amazingly, wouldn't even be voted the first-month MVP on his own team. Right?
10 (12) Nuggets 10-6 Four straight wins. Four more to 1,000 lifetime for George Karl. A buzzer-beating dagger against Chicago -- and an attempt to play through illness -- from the allegedly detached Melo. Life's as tranquil as it ever gets in Denver.
11 (20) Pacers 8-7 Road wins over the Heat and Lakers? Sandwiched around a gut-wrenching OT loss to OKC? Throw in the recent narrow L to Orlando and you get one the finest 3-2 stretches in the nine-season existence of this committee.
12 (11) Trail Blazers 8-8 Not the best start to Portland's four-game swing through the East: Nate McMillan announces that B-Roy is restricted to 30-to-35 mpg ... and a players-only meeting ensues after losing in New Jersey on the first stop.
13 (10) Heat 9-8 The number of Cavs questions lobbed at LeBron this week in advance of his first game back in Cleveland just got slashed. A 9-8 start, rumblings of player dismay with Spoelstra and Bumpgate surely took care of that.
14 (13) Suns 8-9 You don't have to have your own rankings formula like Professor Hollinger to know that allowing 138 points to the Nuggets -- when Melo plays only two minutes -- sounds about as good to Alvin Gentry as trading Nash.
15 (14) Hawks 11-7We indefinitely suspend all "Highlight Factory" references. The Hawks boast all of two wins over teams with records of .500 or better (New York and Indy) and have five losses at home after seven all of last season.
16 (21) Knicks 9-9 The Knicks' victims in this 6-1 run indeed have a combined record of just 44-75. But five of those wins came on the road ... and Landry Fields is one of only four rookies scoring in double figures. Let e Lee enjoy the moment.
17 (15) Grizzlies 7-10 You can safely assume Mayo isn't thrilled with new sixth-man role, just as you can safely assume that the new job description will only increase outside trade interest in him. The Grizz, though, are 3-1 since the switch.
18 (16) Bucks 6-10 Probably not hugely surprising given the Bucks' standing as the NBA's least efficient team offensively, but they've lost all three games decided by three points or less. (Miami and Philly are also 0-3 in one-possession games.)
19 (24) Cavaliers 7-9 Think back to July -- or even October -- and tell me you would have dared to predict that the jilted Cavs would be starting the week of LeBron's return to the Q with the East's eighth seed and only two Ws fewer than Miami?
20 (23) Rockets 5-11 Durant's buzzer miss Sunday might have been Houston's first fortuitous bounce of the season. The Yao-less/Aaron Brooks-less Rockets took a perfectly blemished record of 0-7 into that game when held under 100 points.
21 (19) Warriors 8-9 Surprising: Golden State is a heady 7-1 with D-Lee in uniform (1-8 without him). Stunning: Heat castoff Dorell Wright is tied with Jason Richardson for the league lead in most games with at least six 3-pointers (three).
22 (17) Bobcats 6-11 The next team they beat with a record of .500 or better will be the first. The Bobs are 0-8 against that group -- including last week's consecutive momentum-crushing losses to the Knicks -- and 6-3 against sub-.500 teams.
23 (18) Raptors 6-11 Losing the Rodmanesque rebounding of Reggie Evans also robs the Raps of their biggest post-Bosh personality ... but we'll get by on more of the brief flurries of 3s (and resultant ovations) Peja has delivered so far.
24 (26) Nets 6-11 If the rumors are true about Kris "Career Year" Humphries and Kim Kardashian, maybe Prokhorov wins that ring sooner than anyone thinks. As the Saints (Kim and Reggie Bush) and Lakers (Khloe and Lamar) could tell you.
25 (22) Pistons 6-11 No matter what you think of what's left of his own game at this point, T-Mac's views on the "terrible" compatability of the LeBron/D-Wade tag team in Miami are relevant, candid and irresistible comment fodder.
26 (27) 76ers 4-13 Funny thing about Philly: The same team beaten twice in overtime by the Wiz has cruised by double-digits in all four of its rare victories. Must be why Hollinger's rankings treat the Jrue Holiday Sixers kinder than we do.
27 (29) Wizards 5-10 J-Wall is averaging 18.0 points, 9.1 assists and 2.6 steals ... numbers no rook has managed for an entire season. What we didn't expect: Wall missing five of his first 15 games while his ROY co-favorite in L.A. has missed none.
28 (30) Clippers 3-15 When Vinny Del Negro said he didn't regret taking the Clippers' job after a 1-13 start, it didn't take too many guesses to pinpoint why: If you have to leave Derrick Rose's side, Blake Griffin ain't a bad rebound rook.
29 (28) Timberwolves 4-13 The committee (of one) gets its first live look later this week at 'Sota's eclectic front-line triumvirate of K-Love, Beasley and Darko. We're probably more excited than we should be saying out loud but Ã& oops. Too late.
30 (25) Kings 4-11 Cousins, like the Knicks' Fields, is also on the four-man short list of rookies scoring in double figures along with Griffin and Wall. The defenseless Kings, though, can't enjoy it amid all the losing and Tyreke's soph slump.
Power rankings are irrelevant at the start of the season. It's refreshing to see the Spurs back in the top spot, however.
peaking in November
The top spot is the kiss of death. It usually represents a near future losing streak.
If you'd have told me the Cavaliers would be 7-9 at the end of November and that Mo Williams (of all people) would have a GW buzzer-beater, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat.
Please just beat the Heat Thursday. I can't wait to hear the crowd erupt in "BOOS" everytime he touches the ball.
The goods
Your not even from Cleveland and your that butthurt?
Losing games you're supposed to win in November.
Calf tats & Power Rankings.
tee, hee.
it feels good to see the spurs back on top.
Beats the snot outta The Skunker, eh?
tee, hee.
top spot means u got a target on ur back when every team is playin against you
time for the spurs to go down the peckin order
Pretty sure theyve had the target on their back when they won 13 straight.
The Spurs have had a target on their back for a while . . . tbh.
Lol Hornets wanting to shoot some bull shots
You wet ends always did get saucy over this pablum.
Give the Mavs credit though. They've been playing great ball lately even with a 38 year old point guard that everyone thought was done when Chris Paul took a shat against him in the 2008 playoffs.
No matter what the rankings though, the Lakers and Celtics will be the most dangerous teams come playoff time.
And the Spurs will still be lucky to get out of the 1st/2nd round.
Based on what has happened the past several years, I am inclined to believe that to be true. But we'll see. If this team starts peaking and is healthy toward the end of the season, good things may happen. Just ask the 2006 Heat or the 2008 Giants.
You already peaked, silly billy.
True we have. Duncan is steadily declining and Manu isn't getting any younger. But the 1968 Celtics were thought to be too old too. This could be the very last year we can compete with Duncan at our side, and the way this team is playing now....our hopes for Duncan getting ring #5 have never been higher. Cheers to the Spurs continuing a great season and Duncan riding off in the sunset the right way
Yeah, it's not like Splitter, Blair, Neal, Hill, or Anderson could get any better.
Say! How's your young Center doing lately?
Looking quicker his first day back than Tim Duncan on a peaking Spurs teamYeah, it's not like Splitter, Blair, Neal, Hill, or Anderson could get any better.
Say! How's your young Center doing lately?
Tell Timmy to stop limping around It's awkward.
Yeah, it's not like Splitter, Blair, Neal, Hill, or Anderson could get any better.
Say! How's your young Center doing lately?Is CIA Pop hiding them until the playoffs start? lmao
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