The Phoenix Suns finally showed signs of life on their home floor winning back to back games against the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards. Despite the two wins they are still 7-8 at home on the season and 14-9 overall. Lot's of work left to be done to get back into the playoff picture, but with only one game left till the All Star break against the Golden State Warriors the first half of the season could end on a positive note. Now onto the Power Rankings...
- Miami Heat 25-7: The Heat have won six straight games by an average of 16 points. They're like a college team going through the cup cakes in the non conference schedule except three of the six teams are currently slotted to make the NBA playoffs.
- Chicago Bulls 26-8: Derrick Rose returned to line-up on Monday and reminded us he's pretty good at doing stuff on a basketball court. In his return from a back injury Rose poured in 23 points with six assists and five rebounds. Bulls have won eight of their last 10 games and lead the league in point differential by a gigantic .1 over the Miami Heat.
- Oklahoma City Thunder 25-7: Now begins a nice run of Western Conference teams. In the Thunder's last two games Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have combined to score 153 out of 225 points. My math skills are pretty weak, but I think that ratio is freaking insane.
- San Antonio Spurs 23-9: The Spurs are the hottest team in the NBA winning 11 straight games. They are currently in the middle of their rodeo trip where instead of staying in San Antonio and working on their mounts, they bound as a team and crush everything in their path.
- Dallas Mavericks 21-9: The Mavericks have won seven of their last eight games. The seven wins came against Denver, Minnesota, Portland, Clippers, Denver, Philly and Boston. Bow down to Rick Carlisle immediately. The one loss came against the Knicks and Jason Terry said Jeremy Lin is 95% a product of Mike D'Antoni's system. He deserves to be booed more than Kris Humphries.
- Los Angeles Clippers 19-11: Lob city has lost two straight and are only one game ahead of the Lakers in Pacific Division. I need to be honest for a second. I understand why everyone loves Blake Griffin, he is a highlight waiting to happen at any moment, but he is my least favorite player in the league. I can't stand him; his mannerisms on the court bother me to no end. Rant over moving along.
- Los Angeles Lakers 19-13: Read this column from Ken Berger about the Lakers disaster of a front office and all of the sudden being #7 is in my power rankings probably doesn't matter as much to Kobe Bryant.
- Philadelphia 76ers 20-12: The 76ers have lost three straight games and six of their last eight. They haven't scored 100 points since January 23rd against the Wizards, a span of 14 games. Not that big of a deal considering they play at a slow pace, but the fact that their TS% is only 19th best in the NBA is a little worrisome.
- Houston Rockets 19-14: Rockets picked up two huge wins over the Jazz and Grizzlies in a Sunday/Monday back to back. They have a favorable schedule coming out of the All Star break and a chance to firmly entrench themselves into the Western Conference playoff picture.
- Orlando Magic 21-12: Good news for Magic fans you're less than a month away from finding out whether you get Brook Lopez or lose Dwight Howard for nothing. Are you excited?????