Let's say you've got a great Christopher Walken impression. You do it once during a work Zoom meeting, get a good laugh. Do it a couple times at a holiday party -- hey, all in fun. But if you break that thing out too often, suddenly you've gone past a cool little quirk and you've full-on become "the guy with the Christopher Walken impression." Next time you're at a function, you've got 12 different people dragging you around asking you to do it for their friends. There's just no going back.
The same is true for losing. Some is expected and tolerable but, if you consider yourself a contender, you have to be careful how much you allow it to creep in. Otherwise, sooner or later, you just become a loser.
The Philadelphia 76ers are going through this battle right now. As they've waited for health and a return to form for their stars, they find themselves at 2-12 -- the WORST record in the NBA -- and land in the penultimate spot in this week's Power Rankings. How far is too far gone? The Sixers are on perilous, shaky ground, particularly with the news that Paul George re-injured the same leg he hurt in the preseason. On paper, should they be at the bottom of the NBA ledger? Of course not. But here they are, and things have to turn around fast.
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Speaking of losing, the Cleveland Cavaliers finally got a taste of what that feels like, dropping their first game of the season to the Boston Celtics after tying for the second-best start in NBA history. Our memory isn't that short, however, so they maintain their No. 1 ranking despite the loss. But Boston certainly sent a message, and is breathing down Cleveland's neck for the top spot.
Enough about losing -- how about some winners? The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks find themselves just outside the top five after winning streaks of six and four games, respectively. They're right behind the Houston Rockets, who have been one of the most impressive and surprising (OK, not to Rockets fans who absolutely lambasted me for ranking them 12th in the West in the preseason Power Rankings) teams in the NBA.
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As I cut myself a nice, juicy slice of humble pie, here are this week's NBA Power Rankings.
Biggest Movers
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| Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -- | 16-1 | |
Well, 82-0 is off the table, but the Cavs are still a juggernaut. Even without a couple of key contributors, they fought back in Boston to make it a game late, then picked up right where they left off by beating the pants off the injury-plagued Pelicans the next night. Cleveland has the best offensive rating, net rating and clutch rating in the NBA. There's no question that they've been the league's best team to this point, even if they did lose that one game.
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| 2 | 2 | 12-3 | |
The champs are here. After Jayson Tatum hit a game-winner to hold off the Raptors, the Celtics handled business to put an end to the Cavs' 15-game winning streak to open the season. Boston isn't exactly where Joe Mazzulla wants them to be right now, especially in terms of defense and clutch execution, but they still have the league's second-best record -- plus Kristaps Porzingis is practicing again. They know what's necessary to win another title, and they're playing the long game.
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| 3 | 1 | 11-3 | |
Steve Kerr had finally settled on a starting lineup, and then De'Anthony Melton went down for the year with an ACL injury. Absolutely brutal. If any team is going to sustain that kind of blow, however, it's the Warriors, who have perhaps the deepest roster in the league. As a team, however, they need to practice their freebies -- Golden State is last in the NBA at 69.5% from the free-throw line, and going 9 for 19 basically cost them Monday's game against the Clippers.
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| 4 | 1 | 12-4 | |
So playing zero centers for 48 minutes wasn't, like, the easiest thing in the world. After two straight losses, however, OKC received the ray of sunshine known as Isaiah Hartenstein, who put up 13 points, 14 rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes and was a team-best plus-16 in Wednesday's win over the Blazers, his first game of the season. Expect him to be in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.
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| 5 | 1 | 11-5 | |
If the refs had correctly called that Giannis Antetokounmpo stepped out of bounds in the final seconds of Monday's game, the Rockets would likely be on a seven-game winning streak. Even with the loss, they're breathing down the necks of the Western Conference leaders. We knew the defense would be really good, but the offense is pushing top-10 status after finishing in the bottom 10 last season. The talent on this team just comes at you in waves.
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| 6 | 2 | 10-4 | |
LeBron is off social media and the Lakers have won six in a row -- someone must be close to filling out their L.A. bingo card. Rookie Dalton Knecht has been the story of late, putting up increasingly massive point totals on smoldering shooting. He's averaging 24 points while going 21-for-31 from deep in his last four games.
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| 7 | 6 | 9-6 | |
The Knicks have won four straight games and all is well and good -- start printing up the banner. Well, maybe not so fast. Once again they've relied on their otherworldly offense to get these wins (132 points per 100 possessions!), but the defense still leaves something to be desired. They'll get plenty of blowouts simply by outscoring teams, but Tom Thibodeau knows that guarding like this isn't a formula for postseason success.
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| 8 | 1 | 8-5 | |
Any voter considering picking a player other than Nikola Jokic for MVP this season should be forced to watch the games he misses. With the big man out for personal reasons the last three games, the Nuggets put up a paltry 101 points per 100 possessions -- and that's with a 122-point effort in Tuesday's win over the Grizzlies. Slightly concerning is that Jamal Murray didn't take the opportunity to go on a scoring binge, averaging 19 points over the three games on 43% shooting.
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| 9 | 3 | 8-7 | |
So turns out losing to the Jazz might have been rock bottom for Dallas, who rattled off three straight wins after the setback. Most impressive was a shocking win in OKC without Luka Doncic in which Kyrie Irving only scored 23 points. Much to Jason Kidd's delight, they've allowed just 101 points per 100 possessions over the three-game streak.
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| 10 | 1 | 9-7 | |
Still without Ja Morant, this week the Grizzlies welcomed back the bulging biceps of Desmond Bane, who averaged 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists in four games while still trying to find his normally lethal jump shot. Even with all their absences, the Grizzlies are in the top 10 in offense and defense this season. Taylor Jenkins knows what he's doing.
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| 11 | 1 | 9-7 | |
Raise your hand if you saw a six-game Magic winning streak without Paolo Banchero in the cards. Yeah, me neither. Franz Wagner has been that dude with Banchero out, doing everything on offense while locking down on the other end. The bubble finally burst on Wednesday in L.A., but a streak like that will make the record look that much better when their All-Star returns.
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| 12 | 2 | 8-6 | |
All Julius Randle does it hit buzzer-beaters, knocking down a one-legged 3-pointer just before halftime in Sunday's win over the Suns before finishing them off with the game-winner in the fourth. He and Anthony Edwards have each averaged 30 points during Minnesota's modest two-game winning streak.
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| 13 | 2 | 8-7 | |
Injuries to DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis led to a historic scoring explosion from De'Aaron Fox, who put up 109 total points on back-to-back nights. The only other players to do that are Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain, so ... yeah ... decent. Unfortunately he ran out of gas in Monday's loss to the Hawks and ONLY put up 28.
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| 14 | 1 | 9-7 | |
Say what you will about James Harden, but the man can win you some regular-season basketball games -- including the Clippers' last three. Even while shooting 37% from the field The Beard is plus-23 over the winning streak, thanks largely to the nearly 11 assists per game. Ivica Zubac is quietly putting up a fantastic season as one of five NBA players averaging at least 15 points and 12 rebounds. The other four are Nikola Jokic, Karl-Anthony Towns, Domantas Sabonis and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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| 15 | 10 | 9-7 | |
In the last five games without Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, the Suns have a net rating of minus-19 with Devin Booker on the court. No wonder they've lost all five. Just as troubling is the defense, which has allowed 123.5 points per 100 possessions during the skid.
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| 16 | 3 | 6-7 | |
Jimmy Butler played for the first time in 10 days in Miami's win over the 76ers, and boy did they miss him. The vet put up a crisp 30 points on 8-for-12 shooting and went 13 for 13 from the free-throw line. That kind of efficient scoring has been hard to come by for the Heat this season.
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| 17 | 1 | 7-8 | |
Just when things were looking bleak -- no Wemby, no Vassell -- San Antonio came through with a huge win over the Thunder on Tuesday. Zach Collins and Charles Bassey have filled in for the Alien at center, while Keldon Johnson put up 22 points off the bench in the win.
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| 18 | -- | 7-9 | |
The Pistons proved their definitely a cut above the league's bottom-dwellers by beating the Raptors and Wizards, and they find themselves in the thick of the Play-In Tournament race early on. Malik Beasley was brought in to space the floor and he's been doing his job of late, averaging 22 points on 44% 3-point shooting over his last seven games.
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| 19 | 2 | 6-9 | |
Were it not for a foul against LaMelo Ball that the refs later admitted they got wrong, the Bucks could be on a five-game winning streak right now. They're fifth in the league in defensive rating over that stretch -- an area that was clearly plaguing them during their early struggles. It helps that Brook Lopez has turned back the clock a bit of late, averaging 19 points, seven rebounds and three blocks over the five games on 42% 3-point shooting.
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| 20 | -- | 6-9 | |
Does the duo of Cam Thomas and Cam Johnson have a nickname yet? If not, let's get on that. They've combined to average 45 points over the team's last four games on sizzling 23-for-48 3-point shooting. SteadyCams? Cam(p)Fires? OK, enough.
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| 21 | 4 | 6-9 | |
Injuries to Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith have worsened the Pacers' already porous defense. Add in that last season's No. 2 offensive rating seems miles away (16th this year so far), and it's not difficult to see why they're 6-9.
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| 22 | 1 | 7-9 | |
The Hawks took another step toward becoming whole, as Bogdan Bogdanovic and Kobe Bufkin rejoined the active roster, following the reinsertion of De'Andre Hunter last week. They're going to need the guard help if Trae Young is going to play like this -- 22 points per game (down from 26 last season) on 34% 3-pointers and, get this, 38% from the field.
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| 23 | 1 | 6-9 | |
It didn't take long for Shaedon Sharpe to get his legs back under him, as the third-year wing has averaged 29 points over his last three games on 48/38/72 splits. Also, can we all just take a step back and appreciate the fact that Rob "Time Lord" Williams is back playing NBA basketball? Eleven points, seven rebounds and 1.2 blocks in under 21 minutes per game *eyes emoji*
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| 24 | 2 | 6-10 | |
Chicago now has the fifth-worst net rating in the NBA, and the eye test certainly backs that up. They're bad offensively and even worse defensively, something that Lonzo Ball won't be able to fix single-handedly when he makes his return to the court.
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| 25 | -- | 5-9 | |
Not a great week for LaMelo Ball, who was fined for saying something offensive on live TV and was then benched in the fourth quarter of the team's loss to the Nets on Tuesday. Head coach Charles Lee gave the old riding-the-hot-hand excuse, but he definitely suggested that sitting the league's top fourth-quarter scorer for the final three minutes and change was defense-related.
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| 26 | 1 | 4-12 | |
I mean, it's just ridiculous at this point. When you're forced to sign Elfrid Payton in 2024 and he's STARTING for you that night, you know you're in dire straits. There's still hope that the Pelicans can be a good team with all their horses back, but they need to keep this thing under control in the meantime before it's too late.
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| 27 | 1 | 3-12 | |
After failing to crack 100 points in their previous two games, the Raptors exploded for 123 in an overtime loss to the Celtics and 130 in Monday's win over the Pacers. Jakob Poeltl and RJ Barrett have been maniacs, each averaging 32 points in the two games. Barrett dished out a career-high 15 assists against Boston, while Poeltl went 29 for 37 from the field in the two games.
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| 28 | 2 | 3-11 | |
Hey, let's focus on the win. Six players scored in double-figures, led by John Collins' 28 points, in a pretty shocking win over the Mavericks at home. Lauri Markkanen is starting to get going as well, averaging 20 points and six rebounds on 51/46/84 splits over his last six games.
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| 29 | 3 | 2-12 | |
Hoo boy. What was supposed to be a celebratory night in Memphis with Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey making their debut as a trio quickly turned sour when George hyperextended the same knee that forced him to miss the first six games of the regular season. The silver lining was that Embiid scored a season-high 35 points, but this team now has the worst record in the NBA. Wild.
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| 30 | 1 | 2-11 | |
Maybe you thought Kyle Kuzma's triumphant return would get the Wizards back on the right track? Yeah, not so much. Washington is 1-7 with Kuzma in the lineup, as the 29-year-old wing is shooting 29% from 3-point range with more turnovers than assists.
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