NBA Power Rankings: Celtics dominating, Nuggets secret weapon, 76ers a major threat? | Hoops Tonight

NBA Power Rankings: Celtics dominating, Nuggets secret weapon, 76ers a major threat? | Hoops Tonight

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So you guys don’t miss any of our content over the course of this season all right let’s talk some basketball all right moving on to our power rankings so we had one team drop out this week the Orlando Magic both pal banero and fron Vagner have cooled off considerably uh

Which has caused their offense to Crater and as a result they’ve lost six of their last nine gam so the magic are out of the rankings for this week but at number 10 we have a a new team a team that hasn’t made the list yet this year

I they may have made it once earlier in the year but the Miami Heat they are 6-2 in their last eight games and their offense is cooking they’re scoring 120 points per 100 possessions Tyler harrold has been on fire since returning from his injury 26 points six rebounds and

Four assists per game 48 points or excuse me 48% from the field 46% from three 85% from the line so really really high level offic scoring from Tyler Harrow bam metab bio is back and has looked great uh two other guys I want to shout out Duncan Robinson I I every time

I watch the Heat I’m Blown Away by how him fixing a simple flaw has made his greatest strength even better always was an outstanding shooter and a guy that could shoot on the move but the ability to chase him off the line and some of his limitations defensively causes

Impact to Crater struggled in the rotation for a while learned how to dribble and make plays and and by the way before we go any further that’s not like a oh I went to I called up Hakeem alanan and learned how to be a post player in one weekend no that’s not what

This kind of stuff is when it comes to ball handling and shooting footwork is well for whatever that’s worth which is what makes the Hakeem Camp always so funny but that kind of stuff does not get developed in a month doesn’t get developed in two months this like you

Can go do ball handling drills every single day 100 straight days and you’re only going to see a marginal Improvement same goes for uh uh every sort of shooting drill same goes for footwork stuff like I know cuz I’ve done this myself like you know what I mean like I

It just it’s it’s very incremental progress and like so when I see stuff like Duncan Robinson going from a guy who couldn’t dribble to two years later being a guy who like does a pretty decent job of it it’s just a testament to the Relentless amount of work that

Duncan Robinson has put in to turn himself into a viable off the- dribble threat when you combine that with people having to panic chase him on the perimeter to chase him behind dribble handoffs and screens and and and to uh to basically put them in a trail position constantly now you’ve got

Duncan Robinson going downhill and making decisions which is putting the defense in rotation and getting Miami good shots and then he’s also just made a lot of leaps as a off ball Defender he’s got good size and length and so just by being a player with good

Instincts that can read plays out on the weak side which a lot of times those plays on the weak side like we talked about earlier uh with Kevin Durant with uh it’s it’s a lot or Luca donic I should say a lot of it has to do with

Like splitting the difference and like making it feel like you’re guarding both guys when you’re not closing out to passing Lanes like stunting and recovering all of these things are are important elements of helps side defense that Duncan’s gotten considerably better at and then Hae Hawk has Junior he’s

Just he’s bigger and stronger than a lot of NBA perimeter uh Defenders and he’s weaponizing that to get quality shots despite you know not being the type of prospect that were a custom to seeing in the lottery and it’s he can bully his way to the rim in transition when he

Slap ing he’s been an excellent postup player this year it’s and so getting essentially when you put it all together their core guys have been playing well and they’re getting key contributions from role players and as a result they’re winning games 6-2 in their last eight Miami Heat at number 10 number

Nine the Dallas Mavericks uh utterly decimated by injuries but a Bonafide MVP season from LCA Don has kept them afloat in the standings help is on the way uh we talked a lot about the Mavs earlier today so if you’re just watching this power rankings video uh uh hit the first

Clip that we released from this particular episode we did a deep dive in the Mavs in on Luca’s MVP case number eight the Oklahoma City Thunder they beat the Grizzlies without jaw and the Clippers without kawhai then they got manhandled by the Lakers and that continues to be their biggest weakness

They’re small and that’s a death sentence in the Western Conference in my opinion I don’t think they’re capable of beating the nuggets the wolves or the Lakers four times out of seven as currently constructed and so I’d like to see them get aggressive at the deadline

To try to get someone like a pass kelse aimer Jeremy Grant Lori Markin is a guy that I think actually fits them best because of how good their perimeter Defenders are a guy that could really help them in helps side defense and rebounding and as an outstanding play

Finisher that’ll just push their offense up another level uh uh I’d like to see them get aggressive because this is a really good team with a fatal flaw and I I you want to give yourself as many opportunities to try to push over the top as you can number seven Sacramento

Kings they beat the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns this week but then they got crushed at home by the Celtics and the wolves and this is a theme that we’ve been talking about all year what have I been saying about the Kings specifically against teams that have outstanding perimeter Defenders that can

Contain the easy dribble penetration that dearen fox and Malik monk uh bring to the table it causes their offense to stagnate and then they’re not good enough defensively to make up for it once again Boston and Minnesota are two of the very best perimeter defense teams

In the league they’re not uh really uh in a trouble in a Troublesome position in terms of Sacramento’s foot speed it’s an interesting example and that’s another team of uh that’s another team that I think should be looking to upgrade the four for that reason they need to find another way to break

Defenses down when their dribble penetration gets contained number six the Los Angeles Clippers their winning streak ended with back-to-back losses to the Thunder and Celtics but Kawhi Leonard has been out for both of those and his MVP play has been a huge driving force for this team

So I wouldn’t read too much into it other than it’s just a bummer that we didn’t get to see the Clippers like it would have been great to see them play OKC and Boston at full strength with how well the Clippers were playing because it would have helped us learn more about

Them but that’s just kind of the nature of the NBA regular season at this point number five the Philadelphia 76ers same thing embiid’s ankle injury kind of stopped us from getting to see another measuring stick uh game against the the heat on Christmas but I thought the Minnesota win was super impressive that

That was the best defense in the league uh still is the best defense in the league and they had no answer for Joel embiid and like we can talk about officiating all we want but as I’ve said that has nothing to do with Joel that is

That’s a take I have the league I’ve had Sixers fans ripping me new ones and mentions and YouTube comments for like a week and a half now and it’s funny because it’s literally an opinion that has nothing to do with Joel or the Sixers it’s 100% focused on the NBA and

The officiating I don’t think Joel embiid is the only foul grifter in the league I’ve been calling it out League wide for everybody so Sixers fans it’s not an anti Sixers take he’s my front runner for MVP right now the Sixers are fifth in my power rankings just you know

What what what he did to Minnesota obliterating the best defense in the league was super impressive it was probably the single single most impressive game I’ve seen uh from a superstar player this season number four the Denver Nuggets how about a 5-0 week they’re up to seventh in defensive

Rating for the season now I happen to catch three of those five wins and late game execution just continues to be their biggest advantage over other teams when they get into a close game late I just feel like they’re going to win the vast majority of the time because of

Their ability to consistently generate quality shots number three the Milwaukee Bucks lots of things are falling into place for them their overall defensive effort is improving in terms of just execution within what their personnel is capable of the Dame Giannis pick and roll is getting used more often and more

Effectively they’re running it on an empty side more frequently Dame’s making higher level reads out of it Chris Middleton after going for 20 plus points zero times in his first 17 games this year he’s done so four times in the last eight games so that’s super encouraging

But in a weekend split against the New York Knicks they got absolutely cut to Pieces by Jaylen Brunson who averaged 37 points per game against them and had three total turnovers in two games that continues to be their biggest flaw they are not capable of making opposing ball

Handlers uncomfortable we saw this in the Pacers game as well and in my opinion especially with a team like Boston waiting for them at the top of the Eastern Conference I don’t think they’re capable of beating Boston I shouldn’t say capable they’re just a significant Underdog in my opinion

Against Boston unless they can upgrade at the two at this point which we’ll see what they can do at the deadline number two the Minnesota Timberwolves they beat the Miami Heat the Lakers and the Sacramento Kings then they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the in the embiid

Game that we talked about I want to shout out Rudy goar here for a second I think he’s having the best defensive season that he’s had since 2019 he’s been incredibly active on a night a night in Night Out basis and has anchored that defense that has created a

Lot of more achievable roles for the other players on that team he also has 36 offensive rebound putbacks this year which is tied for Nicole yic with the third most in the NBA combined that with his active screening and him rolling hard to the rim and his vertical spacing

He’s been a really really impactful player and has been one of the primary driving forces between Minnesota or behind Minnesota in their breakout season this year number one the Boston Celtics obviously a disappointing loss on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors but then they kicked the

out of the Kings on the road kick the out of the Clippers on the road then go into the uh Los Angeles against a Lakers team that really wanted to win that game and won comfortably they are clearly the best team in basketball right now at least within the context of

The regular season christops porzingis fundamentally changes the geometry of that team and I think could end up buying them the margin for error to overcome some of their late game offensive execution issues right now I have them at number one in the power Rankings

Jason Timpf drops his weekly NBA Power Rankings where Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics remain at the top as they have been dominant throughout the entire season so far. Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers, and Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets have both jumped into the top 5 due to MVP stretches from their teams’ superstars.

Timeline:
00:00 – Whos’ out?
00:34 – #10: Miami Heat
03:45 – #9: Dallas Mavericks
04:06 – #8: Oklahoma City Thunder
04:52 – #7: Sacramento Kings
05:39 – #6: Los Angeles Clippers
06:06 – #5: Philadelphia 76ers
07:07 – #4: Denver Nuggets
07:30 – #3: Milwaukee Bucks
08:30 – #2: Minnesota Timberwolves
09:16 – #1: Boston Celtics

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