NBA Power Rankings Week 22: Heat Continue Dominance, Lakers Slip

Suki Thind
6 Min Read

20. Milwaukee Bucks (34-35): The Bucks have lost three in a row, and lost six of their last eight.

19. Philadelphia 76ers (27-42): The Sixers have improved a bit as of late, having gone 3-2 over their last five games.

18. Washington Wizards (25-44): Including an impressive 18-point comeback against the Lakers on Friday, the Wizards have won five of their last seven games.

17. Portland Trail Blazers (33-37): The Trail Blazers had a modest 2-2 week last week.

16. Boston Celtics (36-33): The Celtics have lost four in a row, and six of their last eight; as the loss of Rajon Rondo earlier this season has seemingly caught up with them.

15. Dallas Mavericks (34-36): The Mavs went 3-1 last week. Dirk Nowitzki has been shooting an a high percentage as of late, as well.

14. Chicago Bulls (38-31): The Bulls won’t be a legitimate contender this season unless they get former MVP, Derrick Rose, back. However, Rose has not set a date for return, and could very well miss the entire season.

13. Atlanta Hawks (39-31): The Hawks have won five of their last seven games.

12. Los Angeles Lakers (36-34): The Lakers had been playing extremely well before giving up an 18-point lead and eventually losing to the Washington Wizards on Friday night. They finally got Pau Gasol back, and Kobe Bryant returned as well, which should help them going forward if they can all lock in on defense for 48 minutes.

11. Golden State Warriors (40-31): Stephen Curry has averaged 29.5 points over the Warriors’ last four games, in which they went 3-1.

Next Page: Nuggets, Heat Continue Dominance

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Suki is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona and an unsigned contributing writer for Lakers Nation. Follow Suki on Twitter @TheRealSuki and Facebook. You can check out the rest of his work here.