I found it interesting to remember how it looked last April. And I thought this was a good compliment to the NBA.coms First rankings for this season.
Let the debates begin!
http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/070420.html
Dallas Stands Alone At Season’s End
By Jeff Dengate
Posted Oct 20 2007
Power Rankings:
April 20, 2007 -- Welcome to NBA.com's final Power Rankings of 2006-07. Wondering how the teams are ranked? There's no scientific formula. The rankings are simply based on a combination of quality wins, disappointing losses, interesting stats and a healthy dose of my personal opinion.
Yes, folks, it's true. The Power Rankings are hitting the links, like 14 NBA clubs—although, we can be found at the municipal course. After all, you don't need me to tell you which team is better; that's what the Playoffs are for. But before we get the best-of-sevens tipped off, lets take one last look at how the teams stack up after everybody's played 82 games.
Agree or disagree with this week's rankings? I'm listening.
High jump of the week: Cleveland (+4)
Free fall of the week: Chicago, L.A. Clippers (-3)
TEAM (LAST WK) REC. BREAKDOWN
1 Dallas (1) 67-15 Is this Dallas' year? Only one team that's won at least 65 regular season games has failed to win the le. The other 10 all raised banners.
2 San Antonio (2) 58-24 Can we all now put the whole Joey Crawford situation to rest and put focus where it should be ... on Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby, etc.?
3 Phoenix (3) 61-21 I'm going to say it now: Don't expect the Lakers to get up 3-1 on this Suns team. Not going to happen.
4 Detroit (4) 53-29 I keep saying it: The Pistons won't sweep Orlando in the first round; It's not what they do. They'll lose focus and give up a game, as they did to the Bucks (twice) and Philly in each of the last three Playoffs.
5 Houston (5) 52-30 A key to the Houston-Utah series: The glass. The Rockets are 38-12 when outrebounding an opponent, while the Jazz are 41-15 in the same situation.
TEAM (LAST WK) REC. BREAKDOWN
6 Denver (7) 45-37 Says George Karl, of the Spurs, "I feel we really haven't played them. But they're the Green Bay Packers of basketball. They're not running anything much different than they ran two years ago when we played them in a series."
7 Cleveland (11) 50-32 Cleveland averaged 30.7 assists over its last three games. The Cavs are 15-1 this season when tallying 26 or more dimes.
8 Utah (9) 51-31 The Jazz surpassed the century mark 54 times in 2006-07 after doing so in only 21 games a year earlier. Utah is 41-13 in games it scores 100 or more points.
9 Chicago (6) 49-33 Sure, the Bulls gave Miami fits a year ago … but the road looked much easier before the team blew game No. 82 in New Jersey on Wednesday.
10 Toronto (8) 47-35 The headline here will be all about Vince and the Raptors, but a difference maker could be rookie Andrea Bargnani, who's back on the court after a month layoff because of an appendectomy.
11 Miami (10) 44-38 Miami has won nine straight home games in the first round, dating back to 2004 when it took all four vs. New Orleans.
12 New Jersey (15) 41-41 The Nets are hot at the right time of the year, capturing Player and Coach of the Month for April and drawing Atlantic foe Toronto in the first round. Don't be surprised to see New Jersey in the second round.
13 Golden State (12) 42-40 641. That's the number of career games Adonal Foyle has played without reaching the postseason. The streak ends Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET when the Warriors play Dallas.
14 L.A. Lakers (14) 42-40 The Lakers are 3-7 all-time in first-round series' they open on the road. When capturing Game 1 of the first round, home or away, the Lakers have a series record of 30-1.
15 Orlando (18) 40-42 Magic forward Grant Hill hasn't logged any playoff time since 2000, when he was a member of the Pistons. This year, his Magic open the first round on the road … in Detroit.
16 L.A. Clippers (13) 40-42 A much needed vacation greets Elton Brand, who was one of only three players (joining Carlos Boozer and Amare Stoudemire) to rank in the top 20 in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage.
17 NO/Okla City (16) 39-43 When the season closed Wednesday, the Hornets ended it on a high note. No, they won't be in the playoffs, but they added yet another W in their injury-riddled season.
18 Washington (20) 41-41 The early favorite to be swept in the first round: the Wizards, who will be meeting Cleveland without the services of Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler.
19 Philadelphia (17) 35-47 The season's over and the Sixers can now look to the Draft, when they'll have three first-round selections. Their own, Denver's at No. 21 and Dallas' at No. 30.
20 Indiana (19) 35-47 Found in my Webster's under the entry, 'heart': O'Neal, Jermaine. The Pacers' big man is set to undergo a long-overdue surgery on his knee, injured in early February.
21 New York (21) 33-49 One day after the Knicks closed a 33-win season, Isiah sounded content with his current crop. It's understandable, given youngsters like David Lee, who was the only reserve in the top 15 in rebounding.
22 Charlotte (22) 33-49 Charlotte has a way to go before becoming a playoff-caliber team, but at times it played like one. The Bobcats split with Miami (2-2), Cleveland (2-2), Detroit (2-2), Spurs (1-1) and Utah (1-1) and swept the Lakers (2-0).
23 Sacramento (26) 33-49 Despite finishing second in the league in steals this year, Ron Artest won't be named top defender, in my opinion, because his Kings gave up more than 103 points a night as a team.
24 Portland (25) 32-50 If I had an official vote for award winners, I'd give the nod to Roy for ROY. Sadly, I do not, which also means, sadly, I did not get one of these.
25 Seattle (23) 31-51 A number of questions surround the Sonics' offseason, but perhaps none are more pressing than whether Rashard Lewis will return to Seattle.
26 Minnesota (24) 32-50 With a(nother) loss on the final day of the season, Minnesota assured itself a first-round pick in this year's Draft.
27 Atlanta (27) 30-52 Slow and steady … Atlanta, despite recording only 30 wins, has improved its record from the previous season for a third consecutive year.
28 Milwaukee (28) 28-54 I repeat, there's no way Milwaukee finishes in the bottom three again next year. No way.
29 Boston (29) 24-58 Smart move on the part of Danny Ainge, being prepared to move any youngster save Al Jefferson.
30 Memphis (30) 22-60 A favorite line these days for NBA.com's Rob Peterson. "Memphis has a 25 percent chance of winning the lottery, but it also has a 75 percent chance of losing it."
Dallas has become the 2nd team in NBA history not to win championship after winning 65+ regular season games.. Indeed a very good achievement that Mark Cuban, AJ and Dirk can be proud of!!!...Not many teams done it AJ, MC and Dirk!!!! Congratulations!!!
Let's not give Dallas more reasons to come back strong this year.
It's a new season, and I still consider them the Spurs biggest challenge.
What's to debate? The Spurs' ranking seemed logical at the time, and still appears logical. I guess we can always make this a Dallas-bashing choke thread...
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