The NBA All-Star break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Cleveland Cavaliers with some mounting injury concerns. Kevin Love is sidelined with a knee injury while LeBron James could definitely be dealing with fatigue after leading the NBA in minutes through 55 games. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors have the top spot in our power rankings on lock while the newest entry on this list is now perhaps Cleveland’s biggest challenger in the Eastern Conference this season. Here is a look at the NBA top five power rankings for this week.
1. Golden State Warriors (47-9)
Last Week: 1
NBA Championship Odds: -135
Golden State solidified its spot atop this list with another impressive week that included wins in Memphis, Oklahoma City and at home against Sacramento. The Warriors’ win over the Grizzlies set an NBA record with 237 wins in a span of 300 regular season games, which topped the mark set by the Showtime Lakers in the 1980’s and matched by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls back in 1990’s. Golden State has produced eight victories by at least 30 points this season, which is the NBA’s highest total since 1987-88. The Warriors are consistently getting strong performances across the board and right now they stand alone atop the NBA’s power pyramid.
2. San Antonio Spurs (43-13)
Last Week: 2
NBA Championship Odds: +850
Gregg Popovich set an NBA record for the most wins with one franchise at 1,128 this past week and will continue to add to that total the rest of the season. San Antonio is guaranteed to finish .500 or better for the 20th consecutive season and the only question now is whether they can keep pace with Golden State for the best record in the association. A 2-2 start to the annual Rodeo Road Trip isn’t excellent but the Spurs will have a chance to regroup at the All-Star break and refocus before the final stretch.
3. Cleveland Cavaliers (39-16)
Last Week: 3
NBA Championship Odds: +300
Cleveland’s lead atop the Eastern Conference is down to 2.5 games but as much as they want to clinch home court advantage isn’t it more important to stay healthy? The Cavaliers should be more than capable of winning a seven-game playoff series against the Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards or Toronto Raptors without home field advantage but they will need to avoid injuries in order for it to happen. Kevin Love is dealing with a nagging knee injury and will be temporarily shut down and considering he leads the NBA in minutes played maybe it’s time to scale down LeBron James’ workload. Cleveland has followed up a 7-8 record in January with a 7-1 record in February but with some injury issues creeping to the surface there is suddenly reason for concern.
4. Houston Rockets (40-18)
Last Week: 4
NBA Championship Odds: +2500
Houston is coming off its first loss of the season without leading at any point in the game but as much as the experts want to blow it up they had strung together four straight wins before that loss. The Rockets rank second in the NBA in points per game and assists per game and it’s clear that when they are healthy they can keep up with any opponent in terms of pure scoring totals. Houston could bolster its lineup with at least one more pure scorer at the NBA trade deadline and it will be interesting to see if they make a move. The Rockets will head in to the All-Star weekend following a tough loss but that should only add to their motivation coming out of the break.
5. Boston Celtics (37-19)
Last Week: –
NBA Championship Odds: +2500
The Celtics are the only new entry on the list for this week as they have won four straight and nine of their last 10 to climb to within 2.5 games of Cleveland for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The biggest question is what will they do now? Boston could be in position to add Jimmy Butler from the Bulls or Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks but do they want to give up assets for either of those two? Meanwhile, there have been reports the Celtics would consider adding Jahlil Okafor from the Philadelphia 76ers and that could be a fit. Boston is in an excellent position heading in to the All-Star break and it will be very interesting to see whether they make the necessary moves to put them over the top as they try to catch the Cavaliers for top spot in the Eastern Conference down the final stretch.
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