NBA power rankings reaction, Hornets moving up
By Ben Handler
The latest edition of the NBA’s power rankings came out on Monday, the first post-all-star break edition and they saw the Charlotte Hornets move up a whopping 2 spots, from 29th to 27th. They make this climb after their first three-game winning streak of the season.
John Schuhmann compiles the weekly rankings for NBA.com, and this week he vaulted the Hornets over the Wizards and Pistons, two teams they had been trailing. It’s nice to see the team get out of the basement for Eastern teams and to see some appreciation for the way they’ve been playing lately.
It has been an ugly season in Charlotte, exemplified by the fact that this is their first three-game winning streak all season, and only their second time winning consecutive games. So 27th in these rankings may not seem like much, but it is a small sign of improvement.
With some more wins and competitive play, I could even see the team climbing ahead of 26th place Portland and 25th place Memphis before too long.
The Blazers have dropped 6 in a row, and a case could already be made for the Hornets to have passed them. The Grizzlies just keep fighting and winning games even with a depleted roster, but they had lost 8 straight before their current two-game winning streak.
If the Hornets can catch those two, they’d be looking up at teams like the Raptors (24th), Nets (23rd), and Hawks (22nd), all teams that are vying for a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
The only teams currently behind the Hornets are the San Antonio Spurs at 28th, the Washington Wizards at 29th, and the Detroit Pistons at 30th - where they’ve spent most of the season. Detroit has the worst record in the league at 8-46.
The Boston Celtics come out of the all-star break at number 1 in these power rankings, as they’ve won 6 straight, and boast the league’s best record by 4 games. Out in the West, the Timberwolves climbed from 5th to 2nd in the power rankings, as they have a 1.5-game lead in their conference.