Week 18 rankings are here, and even though it will be a delayed week with all basketball activity resuming on the very dawn of this upcoming Thursday, it is finally that time of the year where the dead sprint for the last remaining playoff spots starts up. It’s hard to believe that there are literally under 29 games left for all 30 teams to compile their 2019 campaigns, so for the teams that are on the bubble of achieving that sixth, seventh or eighth seed, there is little to no margin for error, for it could be detrimental and destructive to the build-up that got teams like Memphis, Oklahoma City, Indiana, and Brooklyn in this position.

Since the remaining residue of All-Star Weekend is to last until later this week, the two best teams in the NBA were led by the team captains of last night’s surprisingly intense All-Star Game, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Los Angeles’ LeBron James. the Lakers and Bucks are more than likely secure enough to hang onto their spots atop the league’s food chain, but as for the rest of the 28 others, teams like the Heat, Clippers, Celtics, and Nuggets will certainly ascertain themselves into the final say of who gets into the top four spots in their respective conferences.

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1. Milwaukee Bucks (46-8, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)

At this point in the season, it’s up to head coach Mike Budelholzer if he wants his Bucks to challenge for that on-pace-for-70-wins mark or have them rest in time for the playoffs with their 6 1/2 game lead over 2nd-place Toronto. And as mentioned in a previous power ranking article, it took the last team to win over 70 games (the 2016 Warriors that went 73-9) 58 games to clinch a playoff spot. These Bucks, however, already clinched a playoff spot in 49 games, and are still unlikely but somehow on track to achieve that coveted 74-8 with the exceptionally put-together team GM Jon Horst was instrumental in crafting.

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2. Los Angeles Lakers (41-12, Last Week’s Ranking: 2)

The Lakers enter the second half of the season with a four-game lead over the climbing 2nd-place Nuggets. Landing the top seed would be extremely valuable for LeBron James and the Lakers, who will be able to rest their key pieces in time for the grueling schedule of the postseason. And, It is also within the realm of possibility that a certain DeMarcus Cousins could be healthy in time for the playoffs, as his ACL rehabilitation is nearly complete. But a persistent problem for the Lakers is that if the Clippers just so happen to land the fourth seed, the Conference finals that many predicted in May could come a little earlier in the conference semifinals.

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3. Toronto Raptors (40-15, Last Week’s Ranking: 3)

Toronto’s dreams of entering the All-Star Break with a 16-game winning streak was ultimately crushed by the Brooklyn Nets, but to the chagrin of Raptors skeptics, this team is getting healthy at the right time, and are currently second in the East and are only three games out of having the second-best record in the NBA behind the 41-win Lakers. and the craziest stat of all: Their .727 win percentage and plus-6.3 scoring margin this year are better last season’s championship-caliber Raptors. (.707 win percentage, plus-5.8 scoring margin) from last season. So yes, no Kawhi, no problem.

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4. Boston Celtics (38-16, Last Week’s Ranking: 4)

The third-best team in the East was fortunate to pass on two Celtics into Sunday’s All-Star Game as both Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker contributed a total of 29 points to Sunday’s festivities. On the floor together, it’s imperative that both All-Stars, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and others work out any kinks and tighten up any insufficiencies in their last 28 games. Playoff positioning is imperative for everybody, and especially a Celtics team that is still the third-best defensive team in basketball.

Barring a losing streak — their longest is three games — the Celtics, who currently own the No. 3 seed in the East, will likely have home-court advantage throughout the first round. Boston has the capability to take over the Raptors in the East, and it’s probably a priority for them since they’re only 2½ games back of the 2nd-seed Raptors, and there is a distinct advantage to being the No. 2 seed rather than No. 4 as a date with the Bucks in the conference semis is less likely favored by them.

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5. Denver Nuggets (38-17, Last Week’s Ranking: 5)

Just like everyone else in the tedious West, eventual duels with the Lakers, Clippers or Rockets seems practically unavoidable, so for the last six weeks of the season, Mike Malone will be tasked at finding the top-tier of talent on his squad to compile what will look like a playoff-ready rotation. And seeing as how Denver is still the second-best team in the West with arguably one of the more solid and deep rosters in the entire league, that decision may be made sooner rather than later.

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6. Los Angeles Clippers (37-18, Last Week’s Ranking: 6)

So, here are some positives and negatives: the Clippers are plus-9.6 points per 100 possessions when both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard share the court. But they rarely get a chance to do so, playing a combined 572 minutes in the Clippers’ 2,655 minutes this year. One of them cannot stay healthy, and it doesn’t help that Paul George re-aggravated his left hamstring last Thursday in LA’s 2OT loss to the Celtics, further keeping him out of future contests after the All-Star Break ends. For their next six weeks of regular-season competition, it’s of utmost importance that they remain healthy as possible with their chemistry intact, or it could spell trouble come postseason time if things unravel as we enter April.

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7. Utah Jazz (36-18, Last Week’s Ranking: 8)

Now a full game out of 3rd in the West, the Jazz are still a top-10 defensive team in the league and are still getting their bearings with one another, as Mike Conley’s assimilation into Quin Snyder’s guard rotation is paying off handily. 20.3 points, 5 rebounds and 4.8 assists were averaged by the former Memphis Grizzlies guard in his return earlier this month.

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8. Miami Heat (35-19, Last Week’s Ranking: 7)

Dwyane Wade’s jersey retirement is taking place this Saturday, as Mickey Arison, Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra and the rest of the Heat organization will celebrate the Heat’s greatest player in franchise history. Not bad for a way to kick off the second half of the season for Miami, who start the next six weeks of play against two beatable opponents in Atlanta and Cleveland in this short week. Additionally, the new acquisition of Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder should be helpful in their pursuit of the East’s No. 2 seed.

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9. Houston Rockets (34-20, Last Week’s Ranking: 9)

So here’s where the newly-integrated small ball game plan reaches a head. The usage rate of 6’5 center P.J. Tucker is high, considering that he (34.9 mpg.) and James Harden (37.1 mpg.) have logged the most minutes of anyone on the roster. That’s dangerously problematic for a variety of reasons, but mainly because it’s yet to be seen if they are to have enough in the tank for the playoffs in April. With the fifth seed in the West, only 3 1/2 games in front of the OKC Thunder, playoff positioning starts to become a thing of importance now, and this resurgent Thunder team is beginning to step foot on their trail.

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10. Philadelphia 76ers (34-21, Last Week’s Ranking: 11)

For the last 14 home games in Philadelphia on their schedule, the Sixers have a good chance to finish the season with only two losses inside the Wells Fargo Center, now 25-2 at home. But there’s still a considerable concern for a team that has the worst road record of any team over .500 this year. 9-19 is an ugly blemish on a team that is perceived as nearly unbeatable on home soil but lottery pick-esque away from it. And to add to the polarization to make matters worse, Philly has to travel to Milwaukee again this Saturday night and then head west to play both the Lakers and Clippers in the Staples Center. We’re now talking about Philly now completely falling out of the fifth spot in the East and to get out of this road rut, they’ll have to configure some way to replicate their efforts from their Dec. 12 win over Boston — the last team over .500 they beat on the road all season.

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11. Oklahoma City Thunder (33-22, Last Week’s Ranking: 10)

OKC is juggling with the sixth seed in the Western standings and is in the midst of a dead heat with the equally 33-22 Dallas Mavericks, who are getting healthy at the most opportune time. Seeding is debatable for this Thunder team, but what isn’t anymore are their heightened chances to get to the dance in April. This team, supposedly on schedule to coast this year on the path to acquiring more draft capital and free agents onto their roster, is now on the cusp of making it to the playoffs, entering the All-Star break with the league’s highest winning streak at eight games.

This week, two tough games both at home against San Antonio and Denver await the Thunder, and with six weeks to go, more experience for the young pieces in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Hamidou Diallo await in this already miraculous year.

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12. Dallas Mavericks (33-22, Last Week’s Ranking: 12)

Keep in mind: this is still the first season that Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis are teammates, and they’ve only played together in 10 of their last 31 games. So for what it’s worth, they’ve done a pretty spectacular job in maintaining their Mavs’ spot within the pack of the Western marathon. These next couple of weeks will likely determine if the two are really prepared for a postseason berth and if the supporting cast around them is prepared as well. They entered the break on a high note, beating the Kings in a dominant showing by both Doncic and Porzingis and have both struggling teams in Atlanta and Orlando in this short week.

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13. Indiana Pacers (32-23, Last Week’s Ranking: 13)

The Pacers’ six-game winning streak was luckily abrupted with an upset win over the Pacers before the All-Star break happened this past week, but that doesn’t admonish the fact that this team is still in the early stage of easing Victor Oladipo back into Nate McMillan’s guard rotation, and is having quite the difficulty in doing so. But when they’re healthy, they have the potential to flip the East on its head and play any of the top 3 seeds in the conference tightly, regardless of who they may see in the first round of the playoffs.

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14. Memphis Grizzlies (28-26, Last Week’s Ranking: 14)

The Grizzlies have the capability to secure the eighth seed, and now with a comfortable four-game lead in the West over Portland, but here’s the catch: Memphis has the most difficult remaining schedule in the NBA with a combined opponents’ winning percentage of .554. That’s not easy, but that’s still more opportunities for Memphis’ development of their youthful core of Brandon Clarke and Rookie of the Year favorite Ja Morant. And for the first time in what feels like five years, meaningful basketball is to be played in the last three months of the regular season in the Grindhouse.

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15. Brooklyn Nets (25-28, Last Week’s Ranking: 16)

Are these Nets better off without Kyrie Irving? Let the tabloids speculate and post whatever they may, but the fact of the matter is that the Nets, during the stretches that Kyrie Irving was inactive, have exceeded win limitations all year, and they did it again going 4-1 without Irving in the past couple of weeks. Their 101-91 win on Toronto was huge and with the developing game of Caris Levert playing such an integral part in the Nets’ boosted win percentage, Irving’s return to a lineup that has proven they can perform well without him certainly helps, considering that Brooklyn will enter the final 29 games with 16 of them on the road, including three separate road trips of four games.

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16. Portland Trail Blazers (25-31, Last Week’s Ranking: 15)

Either this season is cursed, or the Basketball Gods must not be a fan of Dame D.O.L.L.A’s music. Every peak the climbing Blazers happen to reach, going on multiple winning streaks with Damian Lillard turning on the burners in the months of January and February and them finally seeing some improvement in getting their guys healthy just reached another drop and valley due to Damian Lillard suffering an untimely groin injury right before the All-Star break in a loss to the Pelicans.

He’ll be out for a week or so, which isn’t too injurious but they’re four games back of the final playoff spot. Time is running out and it’s felt like its been “four/five games out” for the whole season, so can things turn around?

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17. New Orleans Pelicans (23-32, Last Week’s Ranking: 18)

Just imagine if Zion Williamson was healthy enough to play for the entire season and until this point. My, oh my, how things would have tectonically shifted in the West, and that doesn’t just apply to the ROY contest. Zion has electrified and has taken the league by storm, to put it briefly. He’s off to a historically good start to his career while averaging 22.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.4 blocks per contest. Though it’s unlikely that this young team, now 13 games out of the playoff seeding, has any chance of making it to the April tournament, the rest of the season is a means of development and chemistry building for the likes of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Jaxson Hayes, and Williamson.

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18. San Antonio Spurs (23-31, Last Week’s Ranking: 17)

It’s still startling to keep a team that hasn’t missed the playoffs since I’ve been born this low on the list every week, but let’s face it: these Spurs just don’t have what it takes to keep the streak alive. For the first time since 1997, the San Antonio Spurs have yet to tread out of the dangerous territory that involves missing out on a postseason berth and don’t look as if they’re to improve that mark anytime soon with six weeks to go. A road trip out West to Utah and OKC is certainly a challenge for this Spurs team that is coming off this All-Star break only winning three of their last eight.

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 19. Orlando Magic (24-31, Last Week’s Ranking: 19)

In an ironic twist, the Orlando Magic are in a tug o’ war to keep their playoff spot as the eighth seed but are hugging it tightly with a slim, 3-game lead over the ninth seed Washington Wizards. Furthermore, they’re two games away from obtaining the seventh seed and will fight until April to keep their positioning and secure their second straight playoff visit. But, a singular truth remains: they can’t beat good teams. Out of 29 contests, they’ve only won 5 games against teams scheduled to make the playoffs all season. But for a plus, they have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the NBA, and that could help them reach over the seasonal finish line with their postseason berth intact.

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20. Phoenix Suns (22-33, Last Week’s Ranking: 21)

Phoenix hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2010, when Steve Nash was their starting point guard. And in 2020, it looks as if there will be more of the same, regardless of first-time All-Star Devin Booker giving his all to get the Suns in a respectful spot to challenge for the eighth seed. Phoenix is now 6 1/2 games out of catching up to Memphis, and after opening this year with promise and playoff potential, are probably looking at the Draft Lottery for more answers on how to get into the top eight seeds in future seasons.

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21. Washington Wizards (20-33, Last Week’s Ranking: 22)

The Wizards aren’t as far away from challenging for the eighth seed as you might think. Sure, Scotty Brooks could take the time of the next six weeks to provide more confidence to the Wiz’s young pieces, thus waving the white flag to their playoff hopes and especially since John Wall is to return next year. But, Rui Hachimura is playing well, Bradley Beal can play like one of the best shooting guards in basketball, Davis Bertans is still shooting at a proficient 42 percent clip from deep, and this Wizards team is still one of the most efficient offenses in the league. So yes, there’s a chance.

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22. Sacramento Kings (21-33, Last Week’s Ranking: 20)

This season is already a lost cause, but hey, at least Buddy Hield was able to win the Three-Point Contest during All-Star Weekend. The health of this Kings team has been a sore spot all season, and losing De’Aaron Fox again for an extended time because of an ankle tightness issue that finds a way to bother Fox when he sits for an extended period of time.

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23. Chicago Bulls (19-36, Last Week’s Ranking: 23)

After a fun weekend of basketball festivities in the United Center and beyond, it’s time to snap back into the reality that the Bulls are more than likely going to struggle in attracting Zach Lavine to stick around for the Bulls’ plan of getting additional and better talent around their franchise cornerpiece. He’s still averaging 25.3 points per contest and was definitely in the conversation of being an All-Star, but his Bulls keep losing, now stuck at the 10th spot in the East.

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24. Detroit Pistons (19-38, Last Week’s Ranking: 24)

Detroit is now free of Andre Drummond’s contract, while they acquired some second-round picks in the process of letting their franchise’s 2nd all-time rebounder go to the Cavaliers. Which, in a sense, makes the rest of the season a tryout for the non-household names on the Pistons roster.

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25. Charlotte Hornets (18-36, Last Week’s Ranking: 27)

Despite their chances of getting to the postseason now at zero, the remaining 28 games for Charlotte still have meaning. The Hornets have 10 players under the age of 25 to evaluate through the end of the season, inlcluding Malik Monk, Caleb Martin, and Devonte Graham can look at the next 28 games as a reason for motivation to improve their games even more, starting with the Bulls and Nets on their schedule in this short week.

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26. New York Knicks (17-38, Last Week’s Ranking: 25)

Interim Head Coach Mike Miller has gotten this talent-deficient Knicks team to a solid 13-20 record in the short time that he’s been appointed as the lead playcaller for the Knicks’ organization. And in that short time, he’s made it known that the development of his young guys in Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina and the importance of emphasizing that experience is the best teacher has rallied this Knicks team around him to play hard every single night. So, for the rest of the year, just like all growing teams near the bottom of the league, development is key to the organization’s growth into a contender someday.

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27. Minnesota Timberwolves (16-37, Last Week’s Ranking: 26)

The Timberwolves will spend the rest of this season seeing what they have with their new core of Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, and what they can do in the season’s final three months. The two best buds, both members from the 2015 NBA Draft, are very young, as Towns is 24 and Russell is 23. The deal for Russell and Towns’ conjoining is for at least the next three seasons, and for a young roster that’s likely to have another lottery pick added to it in the upcoming draft, the rest of this season is all about evaluation of the pieces, how they play with one another, and the future.

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28. Atlanta Hawks (15-41, Last Week’s Ranking: 28)

DeWayne Dedmon’s reunion with the Hawks isn’t necessarily coordinated with the league’s love affair with small ball, as the Atlanta Hawks also got Clint Capela from Houston in a trade in the sense that size will hopefully create more floor space for Trae Young and a growing roster.

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29. Cleveland Cavaliers (14-40, Last Week’s Ranking: 29)

A bunch of news coming out of Cleveland in the past two weeks: They acquired Andre Drummond via a trade, John Beilein is thinking of stepping down from head coaching responsibilities, the model of regression for both Collin Sexton and rookie Darius Garland is an unavoidable red flag, and they currently own the worst record in the East. If there’s any consolation, the Cavaliers are primed to get a decent pick via the draft lottery.

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30. Golden State Warriors (12-43, Last Week’s Ranking: 30)

It might not make much sense for Stephen Curry to play upon his March 1 approval date to return, but it could possibly be a prelude to next year’s healthier Warriors that, with Klay Thompson and a high draft pick, should get the Dubs back into the position to win back the West. Plus, who wouldn’t enjoy watching the former two-time league MVP hoist up 30-foot shots at the enjoyment of league supporters everywhere, regardless if it results in the Warriors winning?