Western Conference Power Rankings: Early May Edition

1. Suns (45-18) — prev. rank #2

A new #1 in the power ranks! The Suns are fresh off wins (all without Jae Crowder) against the Knicks, Clippers and Jazz, and before that took down the Bucks and Sixers. Some caveats were involved: No Kawhi for the Clips, the Jazz were without Don Mitch, and the Sixers didn’t have Ben Simmons or Tobias Harris. Nevertheless, the Suns now have to be viewed as the most consistent and steady team in the NBA. The body of work speaks for itself and has been continually improving. In the month of April, the Suns had the #1 most efficient offense in the NBA, a vigorous 117.7 offensive rating. Step 1 of Chris Paul’s Phoenix Reclamation Project is Complete. The Suns are not only in the playoffs for the first time in over a decade, they could very well be the #1 seed! 35-year-old CP3 will surely land on some MVP ballots, and rightfully so, but we could argue that he has the most helpful co-star among all candidates this season. CP3 steers the ship while Book handles the heavy lifting, scoring over 30 points in 17 games now this season, averaging 25.5 a night.

2. Jazz (46-18) — prev. rank #1

Before they defeated the Raptors last night, the Jazz were 5-5 in their last 10 games and had lost three out of the last four, including a surprising two in a row to the T-Wolves. The Jazz did hang 154 on the Kings despite not having Mike Conley (hamstring) or Donovan Mitchell (ankle). It goes without saying that Utah is going to need Don Mitch come playoff time. This is a precarious time for an injury, derailing all of the momentum that they have worked so hard to build all season. That said, when healthy, the Jazz still have the most proficient array of proven shooters in the game, 39% from 3 on an astounding 43.4 attempts per night. And the Utah defense has remained stout throughout, something they will need to lean more on come playoff-time.

3. Nuggets (43-21) — prev. rank #3

The Jamal Murray torn ACL still sucks so bad, but since he went down, the Nuggets are 9-1 over the last two weeks with a top-5 offense and top-5 defense! That’s what happens when you have the Most Valuable Player. No player in the NBA has meant more to his team’s success this season and no player in the game right now makes those around him better than Nikola Jokic. The Joker’s two-man game slid over to Will Barton for a few games to great success, and then Barton went out with a hammy. Enter Michael Porter Jr. who has completely taken off, skyrocketing up a few levels. Over the last two weeks, MPJ is scoring 25.5 points per game along with shooting 57% from the field and 50% from 3 on eight attempts per game! The dude can shoot it over the top of anyone at 6-10. Oh, and he’s also averaging 7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Talk about seizing an opportunity.

4. Clippers (43-21) — prev. rank #4

The Clippers had won 11 out of 12 games and 17 out of 20 (!!) before most recently dropping three in a row to the Pelicans, Suns and Nuggets. It’s pretty remarkable that despite all of that winning, the Clippers have not gained any ground in the standings on the Western Conference regular season darlings and have now fallen behind the Nuggets in the standings. Kawhi’s been out, 9 of 10 games monitoring a foot issue, before his return Saturday night. And since mid-March, Ibaka has not played a single game while Pet Bev has only played two. So the question from last year remains: Have the Clippers played enough together to thoroughly gel and have the necessary chemistry and familiarness for success in the playoffs? Rondo’s leadership and experience should go a long way. But are the Clippers really ready to face their demons? It sure looks like Denver and Jokic still has their number.

5. Lakers (36-27) — prev. rank #5

The Lakers stayed mostly afloat without their two superstars by maintaining the #1 defense in the league. And now LeBron and AD are back, and not a moment too soon to knock off the rust and get adjusted to playing with some new faces. The Drummond Experience has mostly been a mixed bag so far, but LeBron is going to make things so much easier for him. Ben McLemore’s quick catch-and-shoot release is another weapon that The King will utilize. It’s only been one game, but LeBron looks as serious as ever. He knows it’s Go-Time, the Lakers currently have only a slim one-game cushion ahead of 7th place and a trip to the play-in. We are not too worried and would heed patience to the overly dramatic Lakers fans who are already panicking.

6. Mavs (36-27) — prev. rank #7

Like always, a lot here hinges on the health of Kristaps Porzingis. Even so, we know that Luka can single-handedly will Dallas to wins in the playoffs, conjuring up enough LukaMagic to pull it off as we saw last year in the bubble against the Clippers, and as we saw in his 30-point 20-assist triple-double masterpiece against the Wizards without KP. But the ceiling of this team requires Porzingis to be out there, and to be out there playing well. Jalen Brunson and Tim Hardaway Jr. deserve a lot of credit for allowing Rick Carlisle some flexibility with his lineups, providing enough offense in non-Luka minutes and adding a punch when out there with The Don.

7. Blazers (35-28) — prev. rank #6

People were really freaking out about the Blazers losing 9 out of 11 games in April. “Blow it up!” “Fire Terry Stotts!” Typical hot-take overreaction short-minding thinking. Every last one of those losses was against a playoff team, and Dame was certainly not himself, hampered by a hamstring injury. How quick everyone was to forget that this team was overachieving all season long, again dealing with an injury-plagued roster. And since then, the Blazers have won three in a row, all against playoff teams, and with an average margin of victory of 20 points. The Portland defense, forever their Achilles heel, while still bottom-10 in the league in the month of April, did improve to a 112.8 rating, up from the absolutely putrid 118.4 rating in March.

8. Grizzlies (32-31) — prev. rank #8

Jaren Jackson Jr., nice to see ya! five games is an incredibly small sample size (and the Grizz are 1-4), but the fact remains that JJJ allows for optimal spacing and is the perfect sidekick for Ja Morant. Ja has put up almost identical numbers to last season despite defenses game-planning to stop him as the Grizz main scoring threat. Yet the Grizzlies are a unit, tried and true, with seven double-digit scorers now and nine averaging over nine points per game. The Memphis offense actually jumped into the top-10 during April (15th on the season) while the defense regressed to 16th (still 8th on the season). Taylor Jenkins will look to strike a balance over the last two weeks that features the 3rd easiest remaining schedule.

9. Warriors (32-32) — prev. rank #9

Wardell Stephen Curry II put on a motherfuckin’ show in April, going full 2015-2016 Steph Curry Supernova mode: 37.3 points, 51.8% from the field, 46.6% from 3 (on 13.7 attempts!), 90.8% on free throws and a grand total of 96 made three-pointers. It was a tremendous display of offensive brilliance and precisely the Steph that we have wanted to see, and it’s the exact rendition of Steph that is necessary to get the Warriors into the playoffs (er, play-in). Because despite Steph’s otherworldly run, the Dubs had lost four out of the last five, including a 30-point drubbing by the Mavs and inexcusable loss to the T-Wolves, before taking care of the Rockets in the 2nd half on Saturday night. The good news is the schedule is favorable the rest of way, including the Pelicans three times (??) and the Thunder twice. The elephant in the room is that the Warriors have not declined since the #2 pick Wiseman went out for the season. If anything, they have been better off without him with more spacing and more Draymond in the pick-and-roll.

10. Spurs (31-31) — prev. rank #12

DeMar DeRozan has become underrated again, having one of the best seasons of his career. DeRozan is averaging a career-high 7.4 assists per game. Per Stat Muse, in his first 11 seasons, DeRozan had 13 games with 10 or more assists. This season DeRozan has 14 such games while also being the Spurs go-to crunch-time scorer. The only player in the NBA with more clutch points scored than DeRozan is Dame. The Spurs are still in the driver’s seat to make the play-in, currently 10th in the standings and a 3.5 game lead over the Pelicans, but you have to wonder if the 32-point collapse at the Boston Garden on Friday night will deflate them, in addition to having the #1 most difficult remaining opponents left on the schedule according to tankathon.com. It is seriously a gauntlet: Both the Suns and Jazz twice, the Sixers and Nets. At least they get one against the Kings.

11. Pelicans (29-35) — prev. rank #10

It might surprise you to know that over the last two weeks, the Pelicans have the #2 defense in the NBA… Yeah, shocked the hell out of us, too. We checked multiple places because we thought NBA.com was broken. The Pels finished 6th in defense for the entire month of April, however, the offense went the completely opposite direction: 28th in the NBA, a rating of 108.4 after having the #1 offense in February at 122.7 and #6 in March at 116.3. That’s the way the cookie crumbles in the NBA. Things change. Josh Hart hasn’t played since April 1st and Nickeil Alexander-Walker has been out since April 4th. This team has a miscommunication and turnover problem, a detrimental combo. We still are not of the mind that the coaching or personnel here match what’s best for Zion. Look no further than what the Knicks have built. That’s a crazy thing to say, but in so many ways, the Pellies are the anti-Knicks.

12. Kings (26-37) — prev. rank #11

Over the last 40 years, the Kings franchise has had eight winning seasons. This year is not one of them. The list of coaches who led the Kings to those winning years includes Rick Adelman and Cotton Fitzsimmons. That’s it, that’s the list. Luke Walton is not one of them and the boot is again inevitable. Don’t let the recent wins against the Mavs and Lakers fool you. Look to the 50-point BEATDOWN handed to them by the shorthanded Jazz and the 9-game losing streak before that. It appears as though the 2020-2021 Sacramento Kings are going to finish with the worst defense rating in NBA history, currently at 119.3. Sheeeesh.

13. T-Wolves (20-45) — prev. rank #14

Ayo, the T-Wolves have been litty lately! Winners of four in a row and five out of the last six games before an OT loss to the Pellies. That was the first winning streak for Minnesota since the first two games of the season. You could argue that the T-Wolves should not be winning games late in the season, and while we would wholeheartedly agree with you, we would say that there is still something to be said for actually winning some ball games. Optimism within the organization. Pride. Momentum. Happiness. These are things that should still count for something even if they worsen your odds at a better draft pick. Or even keeping that draft pick at all… Gulp.

14. Rockets (16-48) — prev. rank #15

Kevin Porter Jr.’s 50-point and 11-assist game against the Bucks (in which he was sliding Jrue Holiday’s ass all around the fucking court) put him on notice. We have written before about KPJ’s tenacity and his innate propensity to just fucking go for it. He brings the fire and we stan him for that. Off the court issues have always been the rub against him. We could not be rooting harder for this kid to make it. He’s a special talent (just 20 years old!) and the Rockets might have another keeper. John Lucas could be the perfect mentor, and Christian Wood (only 25) could be the perfect complimentary big.

15. Thunder (21-43) — prev. rank #13

For the first three months of the season, we lamented at this being the worst tank job we have ever seen. But the month of April was an OKC masterclass in tanking, losing 14 straight games, only one win in the entire month, and a record of 2-19 in their last 21 games. And so now we say: Job well done! Sam Presti has gotta be sleeping SO much better now.

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Our last power ranks of the season. Only 2 weeks left!

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