Week 12
Big riser: Minnesota Timberwolves
Big drop: Phoenix Suns

1. Boston Celtics (36-9) (up 2) - Back to normal now. Unbelievable lately.

2. Orlando Magic (33-9) (up 2) - Were on a collision course with #1 until they lost to Boston. Still the season's big story though.

3. Los Angeles Lakers (34-8) (down 2) - Bynum may have played the worst two interior defences in the league, but impressive numbers nonetheless

4. Cleveland Cavaliers (33-8) (down 2) - Injuries have hurt their swagger a bit. As long as they have Lebron they're ok though.

5. San Antonio Spurs (29-13) (=)- They might hold this spot the entire season. Maybe the only team outside the big 4 who has a chance to win, barring a Gasol like trade.

6. Denver Nuggets (28-15) (=) - Very hard to seperate them from the two teams below, as all have are in the same boat of having major injuries but impressively surviving, and I considered a tie, but the Nugs finally get the nod for not having a 'bad' loss lately.

7. Utah Jazz (28-15) (up 2) - Deron Williams is finally healthy. If they can get everyone healthy they're going to be deep as shit. They're definitely the joker in the pack because nobody has seen anything close to their full lineup yet this year.

8. Houston Rockets (27-17) (up 3) - They haven't missed TMac much. Yao's having one of his best and most healthy seasons. Or he was until his injury tonight, which appears minor. Hopefully he can keep at it.

9. Portland Trailblazers (25-17) (up 1) - Coastin'. Oddly under the radar lately, for such a media friendly young team.

10. Atlanta Hawks (26-16) (up 5) - Nice to see they're not letting up. When Horford comes back they could challenge 50 wins, surprisingly.

11. New Orleans Hornets (26-14) (down 3) - Yeah, looks like they're just not that good. They've somehow gone from one of the most exciting teams to pure zzzz.

12. Dallas Mavericks (25-18) (up 2) - Good but meh. Will likely be big trade players. Dirk probably has 3-4 more years of prime in him, so if they play their cards right with an asset like Howard and an expiring like Kidd, they MIGHT be able to rebuild on the fly to contendership. Or at least appear to. At this point the chances of the Diggler's mental fragility coming together and lasting through a playoff run looks very small. Wade/his refs and Baron Davis stole his lunchmoney.

13. Miami Heat (22-19) (down 1) - Can the Jermaine O'Neal trade just get done already? I feel like I've been reading reports of it being imminent and medical swaps occuring for weeks on end. Anyways with him they might give a scare to one of the big East teams in the 2nd round (maybe beat Orlando), but they won't contend until post 2010.

14. Minnesota Timberwolves (14-27) (up 9) - They get their place in the sun. Playing great lately. Coach McHale ftw!

15. Charlotte Bobcats (18-25) (up 5) - Wow look at that Diaw and Bell for Richardson deal now, Larry Brown knew what he was doing all right. My pick for #8 in the East.

16. Detroit Pistons (24-18) (down 2) - Looks like moving Hamilton to the bench didn't help them much, though it's not as big a disaster as playing him at SF. IMO the best move would've been Iverson off the bench, as he can just score all he wants on his own. Regardless this team just doesn't look good.

17. Phoenix Suns (23-18) (down 10) - Is Terry Porter the worst coach in the NBA? Brutal. Amare is an overrated baby.

18. Philadelphia 76ers (20-21) (down 2) - Brand's entry should be a defining point for the 76er's season. If they can incorporate him into the uptempo game, watch out.

19. Milwaukee Bucks (21-25) (down 1) - Inconsistency incarnate. For everyone waiting in the wings in the East, having the Bucks as the team to beat is a very comforting thought.

20. Indiana Pacers (16-27) (down 1) - Do they have more wins against elite teams than they do crummy ones? The giant killers.

21. New York Knicks (18-24) (up 3) - Everytime it feels like they're about to slip into the abyss, Mike D. pulls out a nice little streak. Gallinari looks sharp so far.

22. Toronto Raptors (17-28) (up 3) - Damn it feels nice to have a PG. Somehow 3.5 games back. Somehow. I don't know how but Bargnani has solved our rebounding problems! He takes your center out to the perimeter and boxes out like Zeus bitches!!!

23. Chicago Bulls (18-26) (down 6) - Now they're showing their true "royal mess" colors. I was shocked to ever see them hanging above .500. And Larry Hughes isn't even playing! Rose's shine has worn off. He's let their stink get to them.

24. Golden State Warriors (13-31) (up 4) - With Ellis coming back they might be decent. I wish they resigned Baron... that team was so fun and could probably make the playoffs this year : (

25. New Jersey Nets (19-24) (down 6) - Devin Harris is a primadonna already.

26. Oklahoma City Thunder (9-35) (down 4) - Well they had to have a letdown game eventually. KD is a monster though.

27. LA Clippers (10-32) (up 3) - How about Eric Gordon... 20ppg in January and 41 tonight. Best draft ever?

28. Washington Wizards (9-33) (up 1) - They suck... but they beat the Kings!

29. Sacramento Kings (10-33) (down 3) - I'm really at a loss for words. Not because they're so bad I can't describe them, but because there's literally nothing to say about them this week. Most irrelevant team... ever?

30. Memphis Grizzlies (11-31) (down 3) - Bye bye Marc Iavaorini. That's what happens when you bring in an "offensive coach" in the hopeful mold of D'Antoni and he rolls out the most stale and uncreative offense in the league mostly consisting of "Gay and Mayo stand around and jack shots"

Bulls – After listening to the Bulls announcers and watching the game last night it is painfully obvious that the Bulls are lacking confidence and that is affecting Rose. I feel bad for Rose, but as they were talking they questioned whether D. Wade would go to Chicago since it’s a big market (in 2010 of course). I doubt there’s any chance that Wade goes there, but it makes you wonder what type of team the Heat would be with Rose and Wade in the backcourt. Chalmers is good, but he’s not on the level or potential of Rose.

Warriors – Ellis looked really good last night. Maybe he can provide them a lift. Though it won’t be a lift into the playoffs.

Week 20something

1. Cleveland Cavaliers (49-13) - Now that they're healthy (well without Big Ben's corpse), they look back to unstoppable levels. Delonte West is so underrated!

2. Los Angeles Lakers (50-12) - They didn't lose much step after Bynum's injury. But we'll see how they hold up in the playoffs if he doesn't come back in time

3. Boston Celtics (49-15) - Good win against Cleveland. Rather ew everywhere else since KG's injury. I <3 Starbury

4. Orlando Magic (46-16) - Looks like the Raferness is starting to click in Orlando. Classy move by Dwight and Van Gundy for not responding to Shaq's WTF mid life crisis jabs.

5. Utah Jazz (40-23) - Took them long enough, but they're finally healthy and are eating teams. Deron's annual post All-Star Game snub run has worked the trick again. 11 in a row gets them this spot.

6. San Antonio Spurs (42-20) - Uhhhhhh, they're the Spurs

7. Houston Rockets (41-23) - They look so much better without TMac it's ridiculous... this improvement was so obvious that the Ewing Theory doesn't even apply. With Battier/Artest playing at once they're a tough matchup for LA/San Antonio and are my playoff darkhorse. Just try to avoid Utah.

8. New Orleans Hornets (39-22) - The backed out Chandler deal has sent them on a FU run and they're starting to look like last year's Hornets. Though there's been a lot of close games and easy opponents.

9. Portland Trailblazers (39-23) - Looking very likely that Oden's first two seasons will go 0, 46 GP. Oops, they did it again.

10. Dallas Mavericks (38-25) - Looking steady aside from the Oklahoma City without Durant and Green games. What the heck Dallas?

11. Denver Nuggets (40-24) - annnnnnd just like that they're down to 7th. That's probably a more accurate spot for them though

12. Detroit Pistons (31-30) - Need a few more games to confirm they're back to being fairly legit with Iverson out, but they're looking quite a bit better lately.

13. Miami Heat (33-29) - The JO trade has been pretty lateral, but as long as Wade is there they'll stay decent. We are not worthy Dwyane. We are not worthy.

14. Atlanta Hawks (35-28) - Fairly mediocore since the New Year but nobody else deserves this spot so hey

15. Phoenix Suns (34-29) - Done like dinner. Nov. 25th:



not bad Shack-Fu

GAP OF DOOM

16. Charlotte Bobcats (28-35) - They're not quite in the playoffs yet but they deserve this spot anyways. All the trades have worked out perfectly and after the Diaw move they've played identical to Phoenix (21-19). Larry Brown is awesome. As long as they stay healthy I like them for 8th and I've love to see them play Boston

17. Chicago Bulls (29-34) - Bulls looking sharp lately, they look better without Lol Dang's lazy ass on the court. John Salmons was so undervalued at the deadline!

18. Philadelphia 76ers (30-31) - They should be careful... their spot's not locked up. They've been pretty eh lately.

19. New Jersey Nets (28-35) - fuck the Nets

20. Milwaukee Bucks (30-36) - Slipping slipping... they need to pick things up now or the Bulls and Cats will leave them behind

21. Indiana Pacers (28-37) - Somehow doing pretty good without Granger and Dunleavy. Jarret Jack and Troy Murphy have been owning souls

22. New York Knicks (25-37) - Knicks are always entertaining, at least this year it was from their play and not offcourt antics

23. Oklahoma City Thunder (17-46) - Where a lineup of Russell Westbrook, Kyle Weaver, Thabo Sefolosha, Nick Collision, Nenad Krstic with a bench of Earl Watson, Damien Wilkins, Malik Rose winning 3 of 4 and killing Dallas and Philly happens. Rofl

24. Golden State Warriors (21-42) - Don Nelson's new strategy down the stretch, to rest a different starter game to game. Would be a masterful tanking move if resting Jamal Crawford and Corey Maggette didn't create undoubtably positive effects

25. Sacramento Kings (14-49) - Look much better with the lockerroom cleared out and Thompson/Hawes getting big minutes.

26. Minnesota Timberwolves (18-44) - Ok they're really sad without Al Jefferson but considering how well they were playing before he went out I couldn't put them in the bottom 4. The rest don't have the injury excuse.

27. Toronto Raptors (23-41) - I wanted to put them last... But I just couldn't do it. The others are equally irredeemable. Oh well go Beastnani go : ( Marion looked good for two weeks then caught a mix of the flu and who-gives-a-shit-this-team-sucks-anyways-itis. Can't blame him.

28. Memphis Grizzlies (16-46) - Who cares, not I

29. LA Clippers (15-48) - It took until 58 games into the season to do it, but Baron Davis finally shot over 50% in a game. With last season included his streak was at about 65 games before breaking it. That's incredible.

30. Washington Wizards (14-49) - teh suck