Carmelo Anthony’s Knicks on top of the PBT Power Rankings? Well, that’s it, you need to stock up on canned goods, bottles of water and flashlight batteries because the end is neigh. But no denying, they have earned it the past two weeks.
1. Knicks (4-0, last week ranked No. 3). Through a couple weeks, they are playing some of the best defense in the NBA. They have the second best offense. They are finding different ways to win. They are sharing the ball and Carmelo Anthony is defending. This is a legitimate start, but it will be put to the test this week against the Spurs and Grizzlies.
2. Spurs (6-1, LW 2). They are playing like the Spurs do every regular season. What did you expect? The one thing of note is that Tim Duncan (18.9 points and 9.7 rebounds a game) is off to a monster start this season.
3. Grizzlies (5-1, LW 7). They were 4-0 last week including knocking off the Heat — Memphis’ front line is particularly suited to be a bad matchup for Miami. People are looking past Memphis right now, a team playing very good defense and getting solid offense. Tough week ahead with the Thunder and Knicks on the radar.
4. Heat (5-2, LW 1). The Heat aren’t going to be that worried about the loss to Memphis — when Wayne Ellington hits 7 threes the basketball gods have conspired against you. But the Heat’s defense has not been very good this season against anyone. That tightened up last season as things went along, but it’s something to watch.
5. Thunder (5-2, LW 6). Kevin Martin is working out just fine as a shooter, thank you very much, hitting 50.7 percent overall and 53.1 percent from three. You get a lot of open looks on the Thunder.
6. Clippers (5-2, LW 4). The question with the Clippers has been can they play consistent defense — and they have been pretty good so far this season. But the next two weeks includes games against the Heat, Spurs, Thunder and Nets. That defense will get tested now.
7. Bulls (4-2, LW 9). The Bulls are what we expected — as good a defensive team as there is in the NBA. It’s winning them a lot of games. The offense has been good enough, we’ll see if they can keep it up.
8. 76ers (4-2, LW 12). No Andrew Bynum until mid to late December. At best. So this combination of athletic defense with just enough offense will have to be it for a while.
9. Nuggets (4-3, LW 19). After a slow start they went 4-0 last week, with good defense leading to them getting out on the fast break. Where they are very tough to stop. We will see which team, Jekyll or Hyde, shows up this week.
10. Celtics (3-3, LW 8). You can see the foundation is there — Rajon Rondo is leading the offense, Kevin Garnett the defense — but so far the building looks shaky. It’s a long season, but this is not what you hope for with a veteran core.
11. Lakers (3-4, LW 14). Mike D’Antoni. This is going to be interesting. It was against a couple of weak teams, but the Lakers have won two in a row once Bernie Bickerstaff let them freelance and just have fun within the offense. Which is kind of what D’Antoni would do.
12. Mavericks (4-3, LW 13). Not a good loss to the Bobcats Saturday (are there any good losses to the Bobcats?). Blame the Mavs defense, which has been awful.
13. Timberwolves (4-2, LW 18). What did we say going into the season — if they can keep their head above water until they get Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio back they are in great shape. So far, the head is well above water, even if they have yet to beat a team playing very well.
14. Nets (3-2, LW 10). Joe Johnson is shooting 36 percent so far this season, and if one thing should be worrying Nets fans this season that might be it. At some point his game is going to regress, but this would be earlier than expected. Also, winning both games of a home-and-home against the Magic impresses nobody.
15. Bucks (3-2, LW 11). Mike Dunleavy has been playing very well off the bench — 12.2 points per game on 53.7 percent shooting. So has Larry Sanders (12 PPG on 65.8 percent shooting). We all saw that coming, right?
16. Pacers (3-4, LW 5). No Danny Granger for a while now, so where is the offense going to come from? We’re looking at you, Roy Hibbert and Paul George.
17. Hawks (2-3, LW 22). Larry Drew’s seat could start to get warm in Atlanta after a slow start. And GM Danny Ferry doesn’t hesitate to make moves. And Ferry’s old coach in Cleveland Mike Brown is suddenly available. Not saying anything, just listing some coincidences.
18. Rockets (3-3, LW 17). Harden has to adjust now and so far he hasn’t — after a fast start the defenses have started to target him (he shot 31 percent last week) and he has to create for others now. Of course, it’s easier when you create then dish the rock to Kevin Durant.
19. Jazz (3-4, LW 20). Undefeated at home, winless on the road — ladies and gentlemen, your 2011-12… er, 2012-13 Utah Jazz.
20. Hornets (3-2, LW 23). How much does Anthony Davis mean to this team? He missed two games and came back to drop 23 points, 11 boards and five blocks on the Bobcats. Lots of road games the next two weeks for the young Hornets, that’s a big test.
21. Warriors (3-4, LW 15). They were 1-3 last week and will be without Andrew Bogut for a little while. Not ideal. The offense has to pick up the slack but so far it has been brick city for Golden State.
22. Blazers (2-4 LW 16). They were 0-3 last week and you can blame a porous defense more than LaMarcus Aldridge shooting too many jump shots (even though he is).
23. Suns (3-4, LW 27). They had a nice gutty comeback against Cleveland, which you can do against their bench. But this week they get the Nuggets, Bulls, Lakers and Heat. Ouch.
24. Bobcats (2-3, LW 26). Is anyone noticing just how good Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is? Well, they are in Dallas, he just dropped 25 points and 12 rebounds on them Saturday. And the Bobcats won. They are not the worst team in the NBA this season.
25. Cavaliers (2-5, LW 24). It’s about finding pieces to build around long term — we know Kyrie Irving is that, and Dion Waiters is showing something this young season. We knew Anderson Varejao was solid and could play. The bench, however, is a disaster.
26. Kings (2-4, LW 28). The NBA suspended their entire front line — DeMarcus Cousins for going after a Spurs announcer and Thomas Robinson for elbowing Jonas Jerebko in the throat — and both were about against the massive Lakers front line. Well done, Kings.
27. Magic (2-4, LW 21). After a fast 2-0 start they have been a mess. Watch a game and you see new coach Jacque Vaughn looking for anything that works, experimenting with all kinds of lineups.
28. Raptors (1-5, LW 25). Last week they were 0-3 and now Kyle Lowry is injured. More frustrating is the fact they played hard on defense last season, where this season not so much.
29. Wizards (0-5, LW 30). Their defense is the worst in the NBA and it’s not getting better anytime soon with the news Nene’s foot bothered him when he tried to increase his workload.
30. Pistons (0-7, LW 29). With a likely loss to Oklahoma City Monday night the Pistons will be off to the worst start in franchise history. They play Orlando this week, so there is a chance they could finally get a win.
