It’s only been a week since the NBA playoffs started and despite a fantastic opening weekend with very tightly-contested games, the first round is still the first round as there’s already a team that’s been eliminated, a second one that’s on the verge of elimination Monday night and plenty of blowouts.
As much as the league tries, the disparity between the rich and poor in the NBA, particularly in the Eastern Conference, remains.
At least in the Western Conference things are much tighter from a series perspective, even if there’s been blowouts there as well.
Odds are we’ll see the start of the second round for for all teams who make it by mid next week, but until then we’ll just have to make it through this first round.
Here’s a look at how we view the league right now in the latest edition of our NBA playoff power rankings.
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1. Milwaukee Bucks
After a Game 1 scare that required some Khris Middleton heroics in overtime, the Bucks completely dominated the Heat, sweeping them aside.
Any fears that this is the same old Milwaukee Chokers should be dispelled. With new, more talented personnel, the Bucks are a much different team than before and the league had best take notice.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers look poised to finish off the Wizards Monday night and have looked every bit as dominant as the Bucks have so far in their post-season run.
Philly’s stars have all played to expectation and the off-season moves to bring in sharpshooters Danny Green and Seth Curry appear to have made a huge difference so far, both in terms of their shot-making and the space they’ve provided Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, who look like they’ve never played better than now.
3. Brooklyn Nets
The Nets’ offence has been as advertised as they have been far and away the best offensive team in the playoffs, scoring a scorching 127.6 points per 100 possessions. But as great an offensive team as they are, there’s still concern about their defence.
Brooklyn is allowing the Celtics to put up 116.5 points per 100 possessions on them so far in their series, which is more than three points per 100 possessions more than the Celtics put up in the regular season.
The Nets have the firepower to out-gun every team in the league, but that’s not a very reliable way to win, especially in the playoffs. It’ll be interesting to continue monitoring them and see if they’re able to make any improvements in that area.
4. Utah Jazz
The Jazz have likely been in too much trouble in their series with the young Grizzlies, but they’ve managed to get the job done regardless so far after faltering in the Game 1.
One area of concern, though, is, like the Nets, the Jazz’s defence hasn’t been up to snuff so far, a surprise because they were the No. 3 ranked defence in the regular season.
They need to shore that up if they’re going to go on the kind of playoff run they expect for themselves.
5. Atlanta Hawks
Full credit to Hawks coach Nate McMillan for putting the clamps on Knicks stars Julius Randle and R.J. Barrett. His defensive scheme has flummoxed the two key cogs in New York’s attack thus far and this combined with basically nothing the Knicks can do to stop Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic has the Hawks on the brink of their first playoff series win since 2016.
6. Portland Trail Blazers
Playoff Powell has arrived in Portland and the belief the Blazers have in themselves has to be growing.
As usual, the Blazers don’t play great defence, but unlike in years past where they had to rely very heavily on Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to try to outscore their opponents, the addition of Norman Powell now gives Portland a legitimate third option.
This three-headed perimeter monster is very difficult to defend and for as talented as Denver is, you have to like Portland’s chances with their series tied at 2-2, especially with the shot makers the team boasts.
7. Los Angeles Clippers
So much for those “Clippers are done” storylines. After two disastrous games in Los Angeles, the Clippers turned things around in Dallas, with Kawhi Leonard leading the way.
Leonard, in general, has been ridiculous so far in this series, averaging 33 points and 8.5 assists per game while shooting 62.7 per cent from the field and 47.6 per cent from three-point range.
8. Phoenix Suns
Chris Paul was listed as “questionable” heading into Sunday’s Game 4 for Phoenix with a shoulder problem.
He still played anyway and scored 18 points with nine assists and three steals to help his Suns even up their series with the Lakers at 2-2.
Hurt or not, Paul makes the Suns go and as long as that shoulder stays healthy the Suns look to have the talent to go toe-to-toe with the defending champions.
9. Los Angeles Lakers
At Age 36, is LeBron James still good enough to carry a team on his back by himself and win a playoff series?
It’s something we may be forced to see soon as a groin strain has Anthony Davis listed as day-to-day with the latest report calling his status for Game 5 “unclear.”
As great a player as James is, he’s in very tough against a really good Suns team and given how the Lakers are built, with James and Davis eating up the majority of cap space, this isn’t the deepest of Lakers teams, meaning James will have to shoulder an even larger load than he already does.
10. Denver Nuggets
As dominant as likely MVP Nikola Jokic has been in the series (31 points, 11 rebounds 53.9 per cent shooting from the floor), it’s becoming increasingly clear that he can’t do it all himself and that the Nuggets need their dynamic star guard Jamal Murray healthy and available to realistically compete for a championship.
The Blazers have purposefully turned Jokic into a scorer and neutralized his best talent as a passer and as a result the Nuggets are in trouble of being upset in the first round with their series all evened up at 2-2.
11. Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies likely aren’t going to win this first-round series against the Jazz, but the experience their young core of Ja Morant, Dillon Brooks, Jaren Jackson Jr., Grayson Allen and rookie Desmond Bane is getting by playing a playoff series against a Jazz team with championship aspirations will be invaluable.
In particular, Morant and Brooks have looked like they belong in the playoffs as they both have elevated their games to whole other levels, a promising sign for the future of the Grizzlies as they make deeper post-season runs in the future.
12. Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks blew a 2-0 series lead heading back home to Dallas, but more pressing for the Mavericks is the status of superstar Luka Doncic, who is dealing with a cervical strain that directly led to his, in his own words, “terrible” Game 4 performance on Sunday.
The game is much better when its stars are healthy and able to play, especially one as bright and fun to watch as the 22-year-old Doncic. He likely isn’t missing any games, but if he has to fight through as much pain as it looked like he was in Game 4 perhaps it would be more prudent of the Mavericks to make him sit and look to next season instead.
13. New York Knicks
The Knicks were a great story all season long, and seeing playoff basketball in Madison Square Garden again has been awesome, however, they aren’t winning this series against the Hawks with the way they’re playing now.
Derrick Rose is leading New York in scoring in this series, averaging 22.8 points per game on 50.7 per cent shooting. That’s great, but the problem is he’s coming off the bench and the feature offensive player, Randle, is only putting up 16.8 per game on horrific 27.4 per cent shooting.
Unless Randle finds the adjustment and manages to get uncorked against the Hawks defence that’s suffocating him, the Knicks are toast.
14. Washington Wizards
A fabulous story during the regular season and heading into the play-in tournament, the unfortunate reality of the Wizards playing against the Sixers is, for as talented as Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook are, this is a team that still can’t match Philadelphia’s star power, and certainly can’t go toe-to-toe with Philly’s role players.
All the momentum Washington built up heading into this first-round series hasn’t meant anything in the face of an overwhelmingly superior opponent.
15. Boston Celtics
The Celtics are dead last of the remaining teams still competing not only because it looks like they have no chance to keep up with the Nets offensively, but also because of that moronic fan who threw a water bottle at Kyrie Irving’s head.
The fan was rightly arrested, but it should never have come to that. Be better.
Eliminated: Miami Heat
It was a disappointing end of the Heat, who looked like they lost all the fight they had after Middleton buried them in Game 1.
Still, that doesn’t mean it’s all bad for Miami as the team could open up $27 million in cap space and make a run at a big free agent like Leonard, should he opt out of his current deal and decide to leave the Clippers, or a guy like Kyle Lowry, whose future with the Raptors is still very much to be determined.
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