Let the media monkeys say whatever they want. We all have eyeballs and can see that this is an improved team as is. We are still 1-2 players away but we are better than last year. I was pretty bullish on the team going into the season but for the most part I see a lot of positive changes. Harden is the MVP at this point. He has been above average on defense IMO.
#2 rockets - "The Rockets' defense mostly held up OK without Dwight Howard on Saturday, though Patrick Beverley's ability to check Stephen Curry was missed. But Howard's screens and post-ups were clearly absent on offense, where the Rockets looked a lot like last year's post-Howard Lakers, shooting 3s (10-for-42) without first going inside"
2 Houston 6-1 7 Last Week: 9 Much has been made of Houston's soft schedule and James Harden's .395 shooting so far. The view here: Can't be so quick to dismiss a 6-0 record, with both Dwight Howard and Harden in the lineup, when the average margin of victory in those games is a robust 13.0 PPG. That's impressive against anyone.
1. warriors 2 Rockets - "The Rockets' defense mostly held up OK without Dwight Howard on Saturday, though Patrick Beverley's ability to check Stephen Curry was missed. But Howard's screens and post-ups were clearly absent on offense, where the Rockets looked a lot like last year's post-Howard Lakers, shooting 3s (10-for-42) without first going inside" 3. grizzlies 4. raptors 5. clippers 6. blazers 7. heat 8. kings 9. spurs 10.bulls http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/ __________________
ESPN is to sports, as MTV is to music. The sooner we recognize this, the sooner we'll get on with discussing real sports analyses from reputable sources. Just sayin'.
Wasn't referring to today's NBA.com rankings... was responding to the OP and those posters obsessing over BSPN rankings. Thanks for asking, though.
Warriors being #1 is alright, they have the best defense in the league so far and have beaten more impressive teams than us. Being #2 @ both NBA and ESPN is surprising, both seem to be quite reasonable. We're only team top 10 in defense in offense in the top 5!
For those who didn't catch this although it is implied--Dirk is 17 points from passing Hakeem on the all time scoring list.
Warriors earned #1. They may have beaten a depleted Rockets team, but they still won the game and by double figures. They were technically the last unbeaten team in the NBA before last night. Personally I think the Spurs were ranked too high by ESPN.
