David Aldridge reveals which teams, to him, are the Top 15 squads in the NBA at this moment.
(last week’s record in parenthesis; previous ranking in brackets)
1) Golden State Warriors (3-0) [1]: Averaging a cool 114.4 per game so far in the playoffs.
2) Cleveland Cavaliers (4-0) [2]: Now 32-4 in last two-plus years of Eastern Conference playoff games, with this year’s conference finals next — after another week of rest.
3) San Antonio Spurs (2-2) [3]: The Spurs will go as far as Cousin LaMarcus can take them. There’s no one else who can give Kawhi Leonard the kind of help he’ll need to beat either the Rockets in this round or the Warriors in the conference finals.
4) Houston Rockets (2-2) [4]: Respect and prayers to Pat Beverley and his family.
5) Boston Celtics (1-2) [5]: Marcus Smart struggling: 7 of 23 from the floor the last three games.
6) Washington Wizards(2-1) [9]: When the Wizards feel like playing defense, and John Wall is in space in transition … Lord, that man is a problem.
7) Utah Jazz (0-3) [7]: Will be very curious to see what George Hill gets in free agency: he’s incredibly talented, but has been injury-prone this season.
8) Toronto Raptors [6] (0-4): Season over, questions coming.
9) LA Clippers [8]: Season over.
10) Oklahoma City Thunder [10]: Season over.
11) Atlanta Hawks [11]: Season over.
12) Memphis Grizzlies [12]: Season over.
13) Milwaukee Bucks [13]: Season over.
14) Indiana Pacers [13]: Seaaon over.
15) Portland Trail Blazers [15]: Season over.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Cleveland (4-0): Playoff Tristan Thompson (10.9 rebounds per game in the postseason so far) showing up at just the right time for the Cavs.
TEAM OF THE WEAK
Toronto (0-4): Whatever the Raptors do this offseason, they have to make a call on Jonas Valanciunas once and for all: either they’re going to play through him, the way Memphis plays through Marc Gasol, or they should move him. Something has to give.
Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
