With no games yesterday, the power rankings have a happy natural stopping point at the All-Star Break. As always the methodology is here:
| Rank | Team | W | L | Off | Def | Road | SOS | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat | 41 | 15 | 103.51 (3) | 95.397 (5) | 1.938 | 1.195 (29) | 11.246 |
| 2 | Spurs | 46 | 10 | 103.846 (2) | 96.252 (7) | 1.813 | 1.746 (17) | 11.153 |
| 3 | Celtics | 40 | 14 | 100.076 (13) | 93.074 (2) | 1.556 | 1.657 (22) | 10.214 |
| 4 | Lakers | 38 | 19 | 103.43 (4) | 97.249 (9) | 1.842 | 1.349 (28) | 9.372 |
| 5 | Bulls | 38 | 16 | 99.057 (16) | 93.019 (1) | 1.62 | 1.519 (26) | 9.177 |
| 6 | Magic | 36 | 21 | 100.985 (10) | 95.265 (4) | 1.719 | 1.641 (23) | 9.08 |
| 7 | Mavericks | 40 | 16 | 102.063 (8) | 98.196 (13) | 1.688 | 2.136 (4) | 7.691 |
| 8 | Hornets | 33 | 25 | 98.542 (18) | 95.984 (6) | 1.81 | 2.17 (2) | 6.54 |
| 9 | Thunder | 35 | 19 | 102.906 (5) | 100.472 (18) | 1.75 | 1.998 (9) | 6.182 |
| 10 | Nuggets | 32 | 25 | 104.449 (1) | 102.337 (25) | 1.719 | 1.755 (16) | 5.586 |
| 11 | Sixers | 27 | 29 | 98.996 (17) | 97.182 (8) | 1.875 | 1.666 (21) | 5.355 |
| 12 | Knicks | 28 | 26 | 102.546 (7) | 101.206 (19) | 1.75 | 1.738 (18) | 4.828 |
| 13 | Rockets | 26 | 31 | 101.847 (9) | 101.791 (22) | 1.781 | 2.193 (1) | 4.029 |
| 14 | Grizzlies | 31 | 26 | 98.086 (19) | 97.538 (10) | 1.842 | 1.59 (24) | 3.98 |
| 15 | Hawks | 34 | 21 | 99.495 (15) | 98.128 (11) | 1.845 | 0.677 (30) | 3.89 |
| 16 | Blazers | 32 | 24 | 99.788 (14) | 99.312 (15) | 1.875 | 1.51 (27) | 3.861 |
| 17 | Suns | 27 | 27 | 102.581 (6) | 102.323 (24) | 1.62 | 1.878 (13) | 3.756 |
| 18 | Jazz | 31 | 26 | 100.207 (12) | 100.452 (17) | 1.658 | 1.672 (20) | 3.085 |
| 19 | Pacers | 24 | 30 | 97.284 (23) | 98.146 (12) | 1.75 | 1.757 (15) | 2.645 |
| 20 | Bucks | 21 | 34 | 93.659 (30) | 95.044 (3) | 1.845 | 1.963 (11) | 2.423 |
| 21 | Warriors | 26 | 29 | 100.572 (11) | 102.791 (28) | 1.591 | 2.13 (5) | 1.502 |
| 22 | Bobcats | 24 | 32 | 96.127 (25) | 98.26 (14) | 1.75 | 1.726 (19) | 1.343 |
| 23 | Clippers | 21 | 35 | 97.753 (22) | 101.554 (21) | 1.625 | 1.997 (10) | -0.179 |
| 24 | Pistons | 21 | 36 | 97.91 (20) | 102.614 (27) | 1.719 | 2.028 (8) | -0.956 |
| 25 | Kings | 13 | 40 | 95.255 (26) | 100.38 (16) | 1.585 | 1.588 (25) | -1.951 |
| 26 | Timberwolves | 13 | 43 | 96.733 (24) | 102.393 (26) | 1.75 | 1.806 (14) | -2.104 |
| 27 | Raptors | 15 | 41 | 97.792 (21) | 103.869 (29) | 1.75 | 2.052 (7) | -2.275 |
| 28 | Nets | 17 | 40 | 94.672 (28) | 101.353 (20) | 1.781 | 1.916 (12) | -2.984 |
| 29 | Wizards | 15 | 39 | 94.938 (27) | 101.966 (23) | 1.75 | 2.169 (3) | -3.108 |
| 30 | Cavaliers | 10 | 46 | 93.914 (29) | 104.752 (30) | 1.875 | 2.116 (6) | -6.847 |
Of course though, the big stories of the week are really All-Star centered – and far be it for me to not offer some opinions on one of the best All-Star weekends in quite some time:
- The Rookies winning the Rookie-Sophomore game was a real surprise considering how awful this class has been outside of Blake Griffin. That said, DeMarcus Cousins showing his upside was welcome as well as John Wall’s astonishing … well, THIS:
- The Skills challenge and Stars shootout really should be mothballed (in favor of maybe expanding HORSE?). I don’t see the entertainment of watching folks fire half court shots. There seems to be as little skill with the pros as there is with you and me. Taj Gibson coming up short repeatedly was embarassing. The Skills challenge seemed like a good idea, but the juice wasn’t there.
- The 3 point contest was excellent as always. It is a perfect skill contest – because it’s hard to do and the scoring is objective. James Jones was a worthy winner, and as a Celtics fan, if the Heat want to beat the Celtics, best it be done in this forum.
- Really though, the story of the weekend was the Slam Dunk Contest – the best one in years, harkening back to the contest’s 80s heyday. Granted, the penalty for missed dunks is gone, but finally some creativity. Blake Griffin was an undeserving winner – but it’s an exhibition, it was in LA, and Griffin was still damn good. The car dunk will live in the memory. That said DeMar DeRozan produced the best dunk of the whole deal while Javale McGee’s sequence of dunks was awesome (until the end where he knew he wasn’t going to win).
