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All summer and into fall I kept telling myself that the Indiana Pacers were the best team in the NBA... on paper. Everything just looked too perfect for them. They fixed their holes on the bench at point guard and power forward, Paul George is in a two-man race with Kevin Love for the MVP of the league right now.
Do the Pacers have a weakness right now? I'm sure you could find a few and sound very confident in making your points. Then I'd throw it around on you and ask if you wanted your favorite team to play them in a seven game series right now. I bet the answer is no.
Danny Granger isn't even back yet either.
Previous weeks:
Preaseson | Week 1
Rank |
Last Week |
Team |
W-L |
|
1 |
1 |
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7-0 |
The Pacers are coming off a very strong week in which they beat the Pistons, Bulls, Raptors and Nets. Paul George looks like a legit MVP candidate. Pacers could be 12-0 heading into back-to-back games against Philadelphia and Minnesota. |
2 |
3 |
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4-2 |
Kevin Love is on a historic tear right now averaging 27 points and 15 rebounds through the first two weeks of the season. He's healthy and he's unstoppable. |
3 |
9 |
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6-1 |
No one on the Spurs is averaging 20 points a night, Tony Parker is the leader with 19.3 points a game. Ten guys also average over 10 minutes a night. They just keep on winning. |
4 |
8 |
5-1 |
Kevin Durant continues to get better at scoring and develop as a leader. Westbrook is back doing Westbrook things, but his shot selection is atrocious as ever. As is his shooting percentage. |
|
5 |
11 |
4-2 |
Last year you'd be lucky to have the Blazers bench to score 30 points in a week, this year they are averaging 30 points a night in Portland. |
|
6 |
5 |
4-3 |
The Clippers had a bad road trip, going 0 for Florida, but they beat down the Rockets twice. Sadly, they only play Houston twice more this season. |
|
7 |
15 |
4-3 |
Michael Carter-Williams is on track to be a unanimous selection for rookie of the year. Spencer Hawes is playing the best basketball of his career and the 76ers just keep winning basketball games. *insert can't tank properly joke here* |
|
8 |
19 |
4-2 |
They suffered a tough loss to San Antonio this week, but are beating teams they should beat. Two weeks ago I would be lying if I said I would be looking forward to a Suns-Blazers game on a Wednesday night. I am this week. Jeff Hornacek, coach of the year? |
|
9 |
4 |
4-3 |
There's just something a little bit off in Miami. The focus that I thought would be there just is not there. Good win against the Clippers, but to turn that around into a loss to the Celtics is not Heat like. |
|
10 |
10 |
2-3 |
Yes they are the only team with a sub .500 record in the top ten, but they are just a fun team to watch and with Brandon Jennings back they even more so. |
|
11 |
2 |
4-3 |
Last week I said that James Harden was actually trying and playing defense! Then he goes and makes me look like a complete idiot by trying to become the worst defensive guard in NBA history. |
|
12 |
6 |
4-3 |
Once again we realize how important Stephen Curry is to this Warriors team. Once again we should question letting Jarrett Jack go. |
|
13 |
14 |
4-3 |
This team could potentially be undefeated if it wasn't for Samuel Dalembert. Okay, it's just not him, but the Mavericks are playing much better ball than most expected. Also is Monta Ellis buying into the team system instead of Monta Ball? |
|
14 |
7 |
2-3 |
Derrick Rose only has one game so far where he's had more assists than turnovers. Rose is shooting 32% from the field, 27% from three, but hey, he still shoots 90% from the charity stripe. |
|
15 |
12 |
3-3 |
Is the new up-tempo pace by Dave Joeger actually hurting the Grizzlies? The interior defense is definitely not what it was a year ago with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph looking real tired toward the end of games. Might have to rethink the philosophy. |
|
16 |
16 |
3-4 |
Rudy Gay looks like a better player than he did last year, but his shooting percentage doesn't look any better than years past. He might actually be holding back DeMar Derozen's growth at this point. |
|
17 |
20 |
3-4 |
Still waiting for Kyrie Irving to make the leap. Some think he has already, but I do not see nearly enough leadership out of him early on for me to believe he's made the leap. As Cleveland's best player, he needs to realize they need more from him beyond points and asissts. |
|
18 |
18 |
3-5 |
The Lakers could honestly be a playoff team once Kobe Bryant comes back. They could be or things could get a lot more entertaining, but not in a good way. |
|
19 |
13 |
2-4 |
The Nets are technically the worst team in the Eastern Conference right now. We knew there would be some big growing and meshing problems in Brooklyn this year. The talent is obviously there, but can they pull it all together? |
|
20 |
23 |
3-4 |
The Pelicans are turning into a great young team. Anthony Davis is a monster and should be an All-Star this year. New Orleans just needs to learn to be consistent night in and night out. |
|
21 |
24 |
3-4 |
Nikola Vucevic is a rebounding machine sent to us from another world. The win against the Clippers wasn't a fluke win, they were the much better team that night and could actually challenge them in a playoff series if the playoffs began tonight. |
|
22 |
21 |
2-4 |
The Wizards are getting better with each game. They are definitely going to be a playoff team in the East this season. John Wall just needs to become a little bit more clutch. When do we finally get to see Otto Porter on this team? |
|
23 |
25 |
3-3 |
This is one of those teams that I can't figure out. They could be better or worse than their record shows, but at this point who knows?!? Al Horford and Paul Milsap are playing great ball every night and Kyle Korver keeps draining threes. |
|
24 |
27 |
2-3 |
The only reason to really watch the Bucks at this point is Nate Wolters. He's exciting to watch and takes care of the basketball. For a kid who should be in the D League, he's earning himself a nice contract bump in the very near future. He's White Chocolate 2.0, but minus the crazy and isan actual good teammate. |
|
25 |
17 |
2-4 |
First Jimmy Dolan says this year is a failure if the Knicks don't win a championship, then he fires the Knicks Dancers and then Tyson Chandler breaks his leg. Chandler was the only guy interested in playing defense on that team. Mike Woodson's seat is on fire right now, but I think Knicks fans would rather fire their owner at this point in time. |
|
26 |
29 |
3-4 |
The Celtics have their first official winning streak under Brad Stevens. Twitter exploded when Uncle Jeff Green hit that game winning three right in LeBron's eye on Saturday night. Consider that Stevens' first signature win in the NBA. |
|
27 |
28 |
3-3 |
The Bobcats had an awesome win in Madison Square Garden, but the Knicks are terrible. The Bobcats stay this low because they are the Bobcats. |
|
28 |
22 |
1-4 |
JaVale McGee is out for the next 4-6 weeks with a broken leg, but that's not the problem with the Nuggets. Really starting to think there was a reason Brian Shaw didn't get a job before this year. George Karl is still available. |
|
29 |
26 |
1-5 |
Getting rid of the Maloofs hasn't solved everything in Sacramento. Greivis Vasquez was supposed to thrive under Mike Malone, but he just looks lost. So do all the other players on the team not named DeMarcus Cousins. |
|
30 |
30 |
0-7 |
The Jazz could really use a point guard. Trey Burke can not come back fast enough for this team right now. They look a little off on offense and they are definitely regretting letting Jeff Hornacek go. |