ESPN Power Rankings 12/19/05

Rockets stay the same at #16, Lakers move up

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2006&week=7

Power Rankings: Heat, Hornets are this week's movers and shakers

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By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Shaquille O'Neal came back first. Mere hours later, Pat Riley was next.




It was a double shot that, combined with road victories in Riley's first three games in charge, has promptly returned the Miami Heat to the top five of my weekly NBA power rankings.

This season, the Heat dropped from the upper reaches of the rankings almost immediately. Since O'Neal's ankle injury in the second game, Miami hadn't been higher than ninth and slipped as low as No. 16.

Read on to see how your team ranks and click here to send feedback. You can also click here for my latest around-the-league notebook edition of the Daily Dime.



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2005-06 Power Rankings: Week 7
RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT
1 (1) Pistons 18-3 The near-perfect start just got a little closer to perfect: To go with its sparkly record, Detroit gets to watch its two main East rivals deal with drama earlier than expected.
2 (2) Mavericks 18-6 Avery's first 41 regular-season games in charge produced a 33-8 start -- and this season's launch, on its own, ain't bad, either. Dallas, remember, hasn't played a single game yet with its full squad.
3 (3) Spurs 19-5 Hard to imagine a better Manu insurance policy than Finley. But a string of tight games with Manu out suggests Spurs lack an edge no matter how hot his stand-in is.
4 (4) Clippers 15-8 Perhaps the honeymoon isn't all the way over. Clips just beat hot Houston, welcomed Livingston back from injury and still -- still! -- cling to first place in the Pacific.
5 (10) Heat 14-11 If nothing else, Riles has a division title in his future. Heat's effort was so much better in his first four games that the Southeast is pretty much clinched already.
6 (5) Grizzlies 14-8 During the recent three-game skid, with Pau in a funk, Grizz averaged only 76 ppg. Even with their stingy defense, you've got to score at least 86.
7 (8) Bucks 13-9 Bucks would be more inclined to celebrate the fact that they've already matched last season's seven road wins if they hadn't lost both home games last week with some uncharacteristically frigid 3-point shooting (6 for 36).
8 (9) Pacers 14-8 Before you totally dismiss Indy's contender status, don't forget that playing without Artest is not exactly new ground. Pacers have won without him before and still have top-five talent, no matter what they get in a trade.
9 (6) Suns 14-9 The plan to counter Joe Johnson's departure was amassing depth. But when you add a few new injuries to the Amare situation, Suns don't have depth anymore, either.
10 (11) Warriors 14-10 As ugly as their Jersey stop was, Warriors can remember far uglier times. Like last season, for instance, when win No. 15 didn't come until Feb. 16.
11 (12) Cavaliers 13-9 Eight (wins in a row) was definitely not enough. Cavs are 4-7 since and looked so jittery Saturday that they nearly let weary Miami back into a game that was over.
12 (7) Timberwolves 12-10 Nothing can halt momentum like a few narrow losses. And Wolves have more than a few, sitting at 3-7 in games decided by five points or less.
13 (15) Lakers 13-11 They don't call him Zenmeister (OK, I don't) for nothing. But even Phil would tell you that he never expected these Lakers, this soon, to reel off a 7-2 run.
14 (14) Bulls 12-11 Six players average in double figures. None of them scores more than 15 ppg. Add it all up and you see that Bulls aren't just small, they're unique.
15 (22) Hornets 11-13 Remember when we said J.R. Smith, as a shooting guard, doesn't quite shoot it well enough for our taste? Fact is, Hornets seem almost unbeatable when Smith scores at least 16 ... but it's happened only six times (5-1).
16 (16) Rockets 10-13 Apparently that detour to Vegas changed Rockets' luck only to a degree. Yao going down indefinitely means their injury luck hasn't changed a whole lot.
17 (17) 76ers 13-12 Yes, you read right. In the surprise development no one's talking about, board-hungry Sixers got 12 and 10 in consecutive games from one Shavlik Randolph.
18 (13) Nuggets 12-13 Come to think of it, with K-Mart hobbling and 'Melo's scoring unable to prevent a sub-.500 record, Nugs actually aren't far away from desperate. Which only further explains their Artest interest.
19 (25) Jazz 11-13 Kirilenko is back and rounding into some rhythm, but is the key to success actually Okur? When Memo leads Jazz in scoring and rebounding, they're 5-2.
20 (23) Magic 9-12 Even with a half-speed Grant Hill, Orlando looks like more of a team than forecasted. There's certainly nothing wrong, durability aside, with a Hill-and-Howard front line.
21 (20) Kings 10-14 Over the past four seasons, Kings haven't won fewer than 30 games at home. Sacto can still get there this term, but it'll take a 23-4 run from here.
22 (19) Nets 11-12 Maybe, just maybe, wins over Nuggets and Warriors suggest Nets finally realize that the season has started. Of course, just before those victories, Jersey lost at home to Charlotte and by 20 to Arenas-less Wiz.
23 (27) Hawks 6-17 If they'd have known widespread talk of Woodson's demise would lead to a win over SA and a 4-1 run, Hawks probably would have spread the rumors themselves.
24 (18) SuperSonics 10-12 Rolling up a 33-point lead on Nate's Blazers was fun. Hitting the 20-game mark at 9-11? Not so joyous for those who can remember last season's 17-3 start.
25 (24) Celtics 9-14 Five roadies follow these next two at home. In other words, the only team out there that hasn't won two in a row yet might have to wait until 2006 to break through.
26 (21) Wizards 9-13 Halting this slump is more than a one-step process, but forbidding Arenas from scoring fewer than 20 is a good place to start. When that happens, Wiz are 0-6.
27 (29) Trail Blazers 7-16 The first of many questions McMillan has to be asking himself by now: Will we ever score 100 points? Six times so far, Blazers haven't even reached 80.
28 (30) Bobcats 6-18 Okafor's numbers are down a bit as a sophomore, true, but the news isn't all bleak. Bobcats did just go to Jersey and win a road game, after all.
29 (26) Knicks 6-17 No team in the United States is worse at home these days. So playing the next three at MSG might not be such great news for our pal Larry.
30 (28) Raptors 4-20 Maybe Raps should have stayed on the road. Seriously. Last four roadies: Toronto went 3-1, only losing an OT game. This month's four home games: Toronto is 0-4, losing by an average of nearly 15.