Hmmp.... Asik is mr. Double double last season and no love like this 8. Los Angeles Clippers (2-1; last week's ranking: 5): Center DeAndre Jordan is averaging a double-double of 11.3 points and 12 rebounds as well as two blocks and two steals. Dwight Howard will give him a great challenge Monday night at Staples Center.
Two things on the GARM that are guaranteed: > 1 Lin thread per day. Fans taking Power Rankings too literally.
lol @ taking stock into power rankings. Even Yahoo is doing it as a joke by putting the Sixers at #1 because it's kind of funny.
It's not a joke if NBA.com has them as #1. POWER RANKINGS #1 Philadelphia (3-0) Last week: 29 Pace: 103.2 (1), OffRtg: 106.6 (7), DefRtg: 102.1 (17), NetRtg: +4.5 (9) As crazy as this seems, maybe it's just the model for when you change your ratio of mid-range attempts to 3-point attempts from 1.7 (last season) to 0.8 (this year). Brett Brown is letting his team push the ball and shoot early in the clock. But ultimately, they're taking the right kinds of shots, getting to the basket a lot more than they did under Doug Collins too. And they're shooting pretty well at the basket. This week: vs. GSW, vs. WAS, vs. CLE, @ CLE #3 Houston (3-0) Last week: 6 Pace: 97.5 (17), OffRtg: 108.5 (5), DefRtg: 94.7 (4), NetRtg: +13.8 (1) It remains to be seen if the twin tower combination is ever going to work (Dwight Howard and Omer Asik are a minus-1 in 34 minutes together), but the Rockets' single-tower lineups are functioning just fine thanks to Francisco Garcia's hot shooting (10-for-20 from 3-point range) off the bench and that James Harden guy. Two games against the Clips this week could be telling for both teams. This week: @ LAC, @ POR, vs. LAL, vs. LAC
They deserve it. This is the first week of play. Last week's ranking of #30 was the joke. That was based on a lot of on-paper conjecture of how good the team might be. But when teams prove it out on the floor, that's when it becomes real. Right now, this is what's real: they are undefeated, they beat the champs and a great-looking Bulls team, and MCW looks great. Yeah, they'll fall again. The offseason conjecture wasn't complete make-believe. Next week, the realities of last week and the coming week will be comingled and they'll regress to their mean. But let those realities happen. The offseason roster analyses aren't tangible.
what kind of world am I living in where the four remaining undefeated teams in the NBA are listed #1-#4 in the power rankings?
MCW went video game mode, and Spencer Hawes has been lighting it up from deep, but it won't last they will fall back down to earth eventually.
If you're going to put Philly in the same category as the other 3-0 teams based on their record, you have to put the Heat and Bulls into the same category as all of the 1-2 teams.
