NBA Power Rankings 76ers move up
The Phoenix Suns won their 10th consecutive game on Sunday, cementing Monty Williams’ place as head coach of the NBA All-Star Game’s LeBron team by leading the top team in the Western Conference. The Suns, at 40-9 are clinging to the top of the NBA, ahead of the West-rival Golden State Warriors, who own the league’s second-best record at 37-13.
The Warriors have two All-Stars making the trip to Cleveland, as Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins were named starters on Thursday.
Team Durant’s head coach is still up in the air as the Eastern Conference race remains tight. The Miami Heat are No. 1 in the standings, a half-game behind the Chicago Bulls. The Philadelphia 76ers are 1.5 games out of first place, while the Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks are two games each, just a half-game ahead of the Brooklyn Nets.
While the Warriors and Suns have control of the West, the race for the East will continue before the Feb. 10 trade deadline.
Phoenix Suns
With their win at Utah on Wednesday, the Suns completed their second 8-0 streak in away games in a calendar month this season. (They also had an 8-0 mark away from home in November). Phoenix became the first team in NBA history to have an 8-0 or better mark away from home in multiple calendar months in a single season. In addition, at 16-0 in November and 13-1 in January, Phoenix becomes the only team this season with a winning percentage of more than .900 in two different months. In fact, no other team has done that once.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors completed a 6-1 home stay with a win over the Nets on Saturday. The fact that Golden State did it without Draymond Green, who is still dealing with a disc problem in his back, and with Stephen Curry still in the midst of a shooting slump (just 36.9% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the arc in January) makes it that much more impressive.
Memphis Grizzlies
Ja Morant, chosen as a starter for his first selection to the All-Star Game, is in the midst of the best scoring streak in Memphis franchise history. He has scored at least 30 points in six consecutive games, the longest streak by a Grizzlies player, and had the highest triple-double in franchise history with 30 points in Friday’s win over the Jazz. Morant has scored 400 points in January, the most in any month by a Grizzly, and still has one game remaining
Miami Heat
Miami pitched triple-overtime drama against the Raptors on Saturday, but the Heat should be able to keep their strong momentum going into February given how well Jimmy Butler is playing. The 32-year-old forward is averaging 26.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists in his last four games.
Philadelphia 76ers
While Joel Embiid continues to dominate – and has now become the favorite to win this year’s NBA Most Valuable Player Award – the wait continues to see if the 76ers will do anything with Ben Simmons between now and the trade deadline. When Embiid plays this season, Philadelphia has a 27-11 record, and that’s with Simmons sidelined.
