Parity Week; NBA Power Rankings

This may have been the most interesting seven days of the season so far. We didn’t have the marquee matchups that we had last week on Christmas, but we had the first 15-game night in NBA history and plenty of late-game drama.

We also had plenty of upsets, capped off by a bloody Sunday, when three of last week’s top five lost to three of last week’s bottom ten. That typified the last seven days though.

Only three teams, the Pistons, Lakers and Suns, went without a loss this week, and the Lakers played just two games. Only one team, the Clippers, went without a win. The other 26 teams had at least one of each.

In a season where the Cavs, Celtics and Lakers have clearly been head and shoulders above the rest of the league, and where seven or eight teams can only seem to beat each other, this was a change of pace for sure.

What does it mean in the long run? Probably not much. The Raptors, Wizards and Knicks still need to show us more before we’re ready to call them playoff teams. But it’s good to see some fight in those squads that have shown little until now.

• Last Week: A Banner Year
• This Time Last Year: Channeling Carnac — The Celtics returned to the top spot, Manu Ginobili returned from injury, Andrew Bynum was blossoming, the Suns couldn’t beat good teams, and the Cavs and Rockets were both at .500.

Hero Team of the Week: Detroit (4-0)
Zero Team of the Week: Chicago (1-3)

High jumps of the week: New York (+8), Detroit (+4), Toronto (+4)
Free falls of the week: Golden State (-7), Chicago (-3), Houston (-3), L.A. Clippers (-3), Philadelphia (-3)

East vs. West: The East leads 100-80 (.556) in inter-conference games, and was 9-9 this week.

Off: Points scored per 100 possessions (League Rank)
Def: Points allowed per 100 possessions (League Rank)
The league averages through Sunday are 90.3 possessions (per team) per game and 108.1 points scored per 100 possessions.

As always, the stats don’t determine the rankings, but they help evaluate each team and provide a picture of where they stand on both sides of the ball.

	TEAM (LAST WEEK)	REC.	BREAKDOWN
1	L.A. Lakers (2)	27-5	Off: 114.5 (1), Def: 103.9 (4) Thanks to some upsets in the East and an impressive win over the Blazers, the Lakers are back to having the best record in the league. They’re also the most efficient offense for the first time this season. As much as the Pau Gasol trade helped the Lakers last season, the deal they made for Trevor Ariza last November is looking pretty good too.
2	Boston (3)	29-6	Off: 111.4 (5), Def: 100.4 (1) The Celtics’ 19-game winning streak has been followed by four losses in six games, including a 12-point defeat in New York on Sunday. Even against bad defenses like Golden State, Portland and New York, Boston’s offense has been ugly for extended stretches. Stephon to the rescue!
3	Cleveland (1)	27-6	Off: 114.2 (2), Def: 100.9 (2) When Anderson Varejao scored a career-high 26 points against the Bulls on Friday, it didn’t look like the Cavs were going to miss Zydrunas Ilgauskas (out for a month) much. Varejao isn’t the offensive liability that he used to be. But then Cleveland went and had their worst offensive game of the season Sunday in Washington … and LeBron got called for a travel.
4	San Antonio (5)	22-11	Off: 109.9 (10), Def: 106.2 (7) Tony Parker hit the buzzer-beater against the Sixers on Saturday, but Tim Duncan shot an incredible 19-for-24 in the Spurs’ two wins this weekend. Sometimes, we need a reminder of how good he is. San Antonio lost to the Bucks (again) this week, but they’ve won seven of their last eight.
5	Orlando (4)	26-8	Off: 110.1 (9), Def: 102.4 (3) Dwight Howard scored a season-high 39 points, but Sunday’s loss in Toronto was one of the Magic’s worst defensive games of the season. You you could probably chalk that up to the early start, because their defense has been excellent of late otherwise.
6	Atlanta (6)	22-11	Off: 111.3 (6), Def: 107.6 (15) Vince Carter’s 30-foot buzzer-beater ended the Hawks’ six-game winning streak, but Mike Bibby drilled a game-winner the next night against Houston. A home-and-home with Orlando this week could go a long way in the standings, Power Rankings and for the Hawks’ confidence.
7	Denver (8)	23-12	Off: 111.1 (7), Def: 107.7 (16) The Nuggets began a seven-game homestand by blowing a 26-point lead to the Hornets on Saturday, but escaping with a win. On the same night, NBA TV celebrated Linas Kleiza’s 24th birthday with “24 seconds of Linas,” which was mostly footage of Kleiza watching from the bench during the game highlights.
8	New Orleans (7)	20-10	Off: 110.8 (8), Def: 106.3 (8) The Hornets are a better team when Tyson Chandler is on the floor, but he’s played just 52 percent of his team’s minutes this season thanks to injuries, foul trouble, the birth of his child and a one-game suspension for a forearm to Joel Przybilla this week. Last season, Chandler played 70 percent of his team’s minutes.
9	Phoenix (12)	19-12	Off: 112.6 (4), Def: 111.2 (24) Someone woke up The Diesel. Shaq is averaging 21.9 points, 10.4 boards and 1.86 blocks over his last seven games. More important, the Suns are 5-2 and have been more efficient on both ends of the floor during that stretch.
10	Detroit (14)	21-11	Off: 107.9 (16), Def: 106.8 (12) Detroit has won seven straight and got its first Sunday win in seven tries with a narrow victory over the Clippers in L.A. With a defensive rating of 99.0 during the streak, they’re starting to look like the Pistons again. Visits to Portland, Denver and Utah this week make for a challenging trip.
	TEAM (LAST WEEK)	REC.	BREAKDOWN
11	Dallas (9)	20-13	Off: 109.4 (11), Def: 106.7 (10) The Mavs came back from 29 down to beat Minnesota on Tuesday, came back from 12 down to beat Philly on Friday, but couldn’t come back in Memphis on Sunday. When you play with fire…
12	Portland (11)	20-14	Off: 114.1 (3), Def: 110.8 (21) The Blazers were able to beat the Celtics without Brandon Roy, but not the Hornets and Lakers. The Boston win was huge, but they should have saved that six-men-on-the-floor trick for the playoffs. Portland has some extended time off this week, but Roy is out at least one more game with his sore hamstring.
13	Houston (10)	21-14	Off: 108.2 (14), Def: 105.1 (6) With Tracy McGrady playing injured and/or poorly, the Rockets offense has been pretty bad of late. Friday’s 21-point loss in Toronto was rock bottom. But with McGrady, Ron Artest and Shane Battier out, it was their defense that stunk in Atlanta on Saturday. Houston has now lost five of their last seven.
14	Utah (13)	19-15	Off: 109.4 (13), Def: 106.4 (9) Carlos Boozer will have surgery to clean out his left knee on Friday and is expected to miss another month. The Jazz are currently a game behind Portland for the eighth spot in the West, but they’re 13-4 (only the Lakers are better) within the conference. A four-game homestand could help keep them afloat.
15	Miami (15)	18-14	Off: 107.2 (20), Def: 106.8 (13) With a more consistent defense, the Heat have won six of their last eight, including Tuesday’s big win over the Cavs. But here’s where their schedule gets really tough. They host the Spurs on Monday and then head out for a seven-game trip.
16	Milwaukee (17)	16-19	Off: 105.4 (22), Def: 105.0 (5) Splitting a back-to-back in Texas (with a win in San Antonio) is a good thing. Splitting a back-to-back with the Bobcats is not. Andrew Bogut’s absence had a lot to do with Saturday’s loss in Charlotte, where the Bucks played one of their worst defensive games of the season.
17	New Jersey (16)	16-18	Off: 109.4 (12), Def: 112.3 (27) The Nets’ defense showed some improvement this week, but Devin Harris (who missed Saturday’s loss in Miami) and Vince Carter combined to shoot just 39 percent and the offense took a step back over their four games. As a result, they were a Carter 30-footer against Atlanta from going 0-4.
18	Toronto (22)	14-20	Off: 107.8 (17), Def: 110.9 (23) Don’t look now, but the Raptors have won two straight, both against quality opponents. With Jose Calderon out, they got a big bucket from Roko Ukic and big stops (really) from their defense down the stretch against the Magic on Sunday.
19	Indiana (20)	12-21	Off: 107.5 (19), Def: 109.5 (18) The Pacers may be several spots out of the playoff picture in the East, but they’re getting plenty of late-game experience. Each of their last seven games has been decided by six points or less. That streak will likely end as they embark on a tough five-game trip out west this week.
20	New York (28)	13-19	Off: 107.6 (18), Def: 110.8 (22) Mike D’Antoni has made some lineup changes to get more defensive, and it has worked. The Knicks’ last three games, highlighted by Sunday’s shocking win over the Celtics, have been three of their best defensive games of the season.
	TEAM (LAST WEEK)	REC.	BREAKDOWN
21	Chicago (18)	14-20	Off: 106.0 (21), Def: 110.0 (19) Kirk Hinrich is ahead of schedule on his rehab, and that’s great news considering the Bulls began their five-game homestand by losing to the Timberwolves on Saturday. The return of Hinrich and Luol Deng could go a long way to shore up the Chicago defense.
22	Philadelphia (19)	13-20	Off: 104.7 (26), Def: 106.7 (11) Since Elton Brand went down with a dislocated shoulder, Andre Iguodala is averaging 22.3 points on 51 percent shooting. That’s probably not a coincidence, and neither is the Sixers’ 1-6 record in that time.
23	Charlotte (21)	12-22	Off: 104.0 (28), Def: 107.0 (14) The Bobcats split a home-and-home with the Bucks this weekend, but now have a rough stretch coming up: A four-game trip (they’re 3-10 on the road) sandwiched by home games against the Celtics, Blazers and Spurs. They need Raja Bell, and could have him back Tuesday.
24	Minnesota (27)	8-25	Off: 105.0 (25), Def: 111.5 (26) The Timberwolves ended 2008 by blowing a 29-point lead in Dallas on Tuesday. But they’ve begun 2009 with their first winning streak (two games) of the season. Mike Miller’s return and a soft schedule could help them keep it going.
25	Memphis (24)	11-23	Off: 105.1 (24), Def: 110.6 (20) Put your fists to your head for Darius Miles, who saw his first regular season action since April of 2006 in Sunday’s win over the Mavs. Miles is nine more garbage-time appearances from putting a serious hurt on the Blazers’ cap space.
26	Washington (26)	7-25	Off: 105.4 (23), Def: 112.7 (28) The Wizards got some revenge for their Christmas Day disappointment by holding off the Cavs on Sunday. They’ve got a tough trip to Orlando on Tuesday, but after that, they have a schedule that can allow them to build some momentum.
27	Sacramento (29)	8-26	Off: 104.1 (27), Def: 114.1 (29) Though he shot just 5-for-14, the Kings got a win in Kevin Martin’s return on Tuesday. He scored 45 Saturday in Indiana, but that wasn’t enough to overcome his team’s shoddy defense.
28	L.A. Clippers (25)	8-25	Off: 101.0 (30), Def: 107.7 (17) Eric Gordon’s performance against the Pistons (even though he missed the potential game-winner) was the bright spot in what was a dismal week for the Clippers. By the end of the game, they had just eight healthy bodies, and that includes guys like Brian Skinner, Mardy Collins and Paul Davis.
29	Oklahoma City (30)	4-30	Off: 102.3 (29), Def: 111.4 (25) The Thunder lost 14 games between wins one and two, lost eight between wins two and three, and lost just five between wins three and four. That’s progress, and if it wasn’t for Carmelo Anthony’s buzzer beater Friday, they would actually have a winning streak going.
30	Golden State (23)	10-25	Off: 108.1 (15), Def: 114.2 (30) Wednesday’s loss in Oklahoma City sends the Warriors straight to the bottom and Friday’s loss in Minnesota does nothing to help them move back up.