It's officially Warriors-Cavs week. Or as the rest of the world calls it: Christmas week.
The Cavs enter the big marquee matchup as what we expected, a dominant Eastern Conference team led by LeBron James. Even their losses and warts -- like a defensive rating in the back half of the league -- are excused because of how dynamic their offense is and what happened in June. They are the team we thought they were.
The Warriors also enter as exactly what we thought they'd be. They may have a few more losses than we expected, but they for the most part look dominant in a way we've never seen, as Kevin Durant pushes this team to a whole other level. They are top-10 in offense and defense, and are the easy answer to "Who's the best team in the NBA?" -- despite not being No. 1 in our rankings.
(After all, we have a neat rankings system for who's the best team, it's called the standings. Power Rankings evaluates how well a team is playing at this given moment in time, their "power.")
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And we know that no matter what happens on Sunday, we'll expect to see the Warriors and Cavs in June. A Warriors win will be met with talk of what happened last year in the Warriors' collapse, and a Cavaliers victory will be met with talk of how the Warriors are still figuring things out and there's plenty of time until June.
There's very little actually on the line on Christmas, but that doesn't stop it from being the most anticipated game of the year.
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Here are this week's power rankings.
Biggest Movers
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| Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -- | 4-3 | |
Last week's top team has kept the good times rolling, now racking up 10 in a row. Houston is now 5-0 on back-to-backs this season after pulling a rabbit out of its hat Saturday against Minnesota. An MVP candidate, the league's longest winning streak and the ability to find ways to win ... that's the formula for a really good team.
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| 2 | -- | 6-1 | |
The Warriors are the best team in the league, even if they don't have the most "power" in our rankings. What they're doing offensively is just absurd and they're defense has rounded into form. They get to see their old friends from Cleveland this Sunday for the first time since June.
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| 3 | -- | 8-0 | |
The Cavs' defense is ranked 16th. J.R. Smith is shooting 32 percent from deep. Their schedule has been East-heavy and weak. But still, this team rolls on, because LeBron James is a super-beast.
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| 4 | -- | 3-4 | |
The Spurs won 16 of their last 18. They don't give off the vibe of a team that's as good as their record, but it's still the second-best record in the NBA that they own. They face the Rockets, Clippers, Blazers and Bulls this week as the schedule finally toughens up.
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| 5 | -- | 2-6 | |
I'm going to let the loss to Atlanta slide because it was so out of character for the Raptors. Now they've got a four-game road trip with games against the Blazers, Jazz and Warriors, so it's time for a check-up on just how good this team is.
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| 6 | 2 | 1-6 | |
Utah's suddenly won 10 of 12 and gutted out a tough win against a surprisingly pesky Mavericks team Friday. With games against. Memphis and Golden State this week, however, the Jazz face some tougher challenges before their schedule finally abates in January.
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| 7 | 7 | 1-6 | |
Beating the Bulls, who are in a bit of a tailspin, once was fine. Beating them twice in consecutive games is a whole other deal. The Bucks are now 11th in offense and eighth in defense. They're a little higher than expected after a three-game losing streak last week on account of how the other teams have played.
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| 8 | 2 | 7-0 | |
OKC's lost 3 of 5, including a drop to the Blazers. The Thunder are a wildly inconsistent team, which usually I tend to be harsher on. But they have Russell Westbrook. The offense (20th in rating) is bad ... but they have Russell Westbrook. It's a pattern.
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| 9 | 2 | 3-4 | |
Blake Griffin's injury is bad, to put it mildly, but it's important to remember that Griffin went down last year and the Clippers went on a huge run. Also, their schedule is tissue-paper soft outside of a handful of games in the time Griffin's expected to miss. Now if he can just avoid punching anyone ...
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| 10 | 3 | 7-1 | |
The win over the Hornets Friday was tremendous. Finally had Al Horford, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas, and beat a playoff team to secure a 2-0 advantage in tiebreaker. Boston might finally be ready to make the run we've been waiting on.
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| 11 | 5 | 4-4 | |
The Cavs rested against them, Mike Conley came back early, everything was looking up. But just as the Grizzlies spit in the face of adversity so too do they reject the advances of good fortune. The loss to the Kings showed just how dependent they are on maximum effort, night in and night out.
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| 12 | 3 | 2-5 | |
The Hornets snapped a four-game losing streak with a win against the Hawks. Their offense only has two modes: purring Ferrari and stone wagon with three wheels missing.
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| 13 | 7 | 2-4 | |
They have won six of eight, and are clicking. This stretch the next two weeks against Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls, including two against Milwaukee and two against Indiana, is crucial. Another slip could send them careening off a cliff. A strong surge could put them firmly back in the playoff picture.
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| 14 | 2 | 3-5 | |
They beat the Raptors, and lost to the Magic and Hornets. The Hawks are like a plane trying to find the horizon line without optics right now.
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| 15 | 8 | 3-4 | |
So the Bulls have lost six of their last eight, but one of their wins was against the Spurs. I don't know what to make of them but the overall trend is that of a team rapidly descending toward their expected mean. They have some softer games before the Spurs rematch Sunday this week.
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| 16 | 1 | 3-5 | |
They're coming off double-digit bad losses and holding players-only meetings. The metrics say Detroit is good, the eye test disagrees, and I'm still not sure what to make of them. They're like an aardvark. I get that they're a mammal, it just feels wrong.
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| 17 | 5 | 3-3 | |
There is some discord with the Knicks. Jeff Hornacek doesn't seem thrilled with all his personnel, and the players don't seem thrilled with all the rotations. Carmelo Anthony called a game against the sub-.500 Nuggets a "must win" and the Knicks got blown out. There are still positives, but it may be like this for New York this year, with great highs and low lows.
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| 18 | -- | 3-4 | |
The Pacers' last three victories were against current playoff teams and the Pistons, their last two losses were against lottery dregs. The problem at this point is that even when they play well, it's hard to take them seriously. There's time to change that, but their inability to build on progress is an issue.
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| 19 | -- | 4-3 | |
Every time you think they're in a terminal spiral, they respond. Every time you think they've turned a corner, they slam into a wall. I give up trying to figure this team out, but it should be noted that since getting Gary Harris back and changing the starting lineup, they are a whole new team.
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| 20 | 3 | 3-5 | |
Portland is in the dreaded "Talking about it is not going to fix anything" zone, which is where even though the players know their performance is a problem, they can't figure out how to do anything about it.
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| 21 | -- | 4-3 | |
The only team the Lakers have beaten in the month of December is the Sixers. Injuries have been tough, but the offense has dropped to 19th. They have to try and win shootouts and they're not bringing much to the O.K. Corral right now.
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| 22 | 3 | 3-3 | |
Miami plays hard, which is something. But being 10 games under .500 when you play hard is somehow worse.
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| 23 | -- | 3-5 | |
They trailed by four against the Raptors at the half, and ended up losing by 30. Here's a concern: They might be able to find a path through their schedule to wind up within range of the eighth seed, and maybe things fall their way. Will that do anything to really build momentum? Will it lead anywhere? The only way the Magic have actual, legit success this year is if they find smoke and mirrors.
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| 24 | 2 | 4-3 | |
Had a nice win against the Grizzlies so of course they felt compelled to get crushed by the Mavericks. What the Kings did not need is another local media feud -- no matter whose fault it is -- causing a distraction.
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| 25 | 1 | 4-3 | |
What you have to love with this team is how they keep finding mind-numbing, heart-breaking ways to lose games, like dropping a nine-point lead in under a minute to Houston Saturday. They deserve an award for "Best New Artist: Fan-Weekend-Destroying Game."
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| 26 | -- | 3-5 | |
The Pelicans need shakabuku, a Buddhist concept that means a spiritual kick to the head. They need a hard reset on their identity.
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| 27 | -- | 4-3 | |
They hung to the very end with the Jazz, and then smacked around the Kings. The Mavs aren't -- and won't be -- good, but they're also not fundamentally broken in terms of their talent and approach.
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| 28 | 2 | 1-5 | |
Philly's center situation is poisonous. The 76ers are trapped between an unfulfilled promise of the past and an unfulfilled promise of the future.
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| 29 | -- | 6-1 | |
The Suns' plus-minus with Brandon Knight on the floor is a statistical nightmare. They've been outscored by 224 points in under 630 minutes with Knight on the court this season, worst in the NBA by a wide margin.
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| 30 | 2 | 4-4 | |
Lose to the Sixers, find yourself last. Some rules of the universe you can't escape.
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