ESPN Weekly Power Ranking: now at 3 on 12/9/19

[RMO]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

[Somebody]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

Yeah ESPN sucks. Seeing anyone use the lists it churns out to rate NBA players never ceases to amuse me.

[RMO]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

Yeah ESPN sucks. Seeing anyone use the lists it churns out to rate NBA players never ceases to amuse me.

Scores and the power rankings (a guilty pleasure) are the only reasons I go to that site.

[Somebody]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

Yeah ESPN sucks. Seeing anyone use the lists it churns out to rate NBA players never ceases to amuse me.

Scores and the power rankings (a guilty pleasure) are the only reasons I go to that site.

I suggest checking out Backpicks and their YouTube channel Thinking Basketball! And I use Google for scores

[nickagneta]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

The LA bias this week shown through. I also think they marked Boston down due to Gordon's future absence rather than ranking them based on performance to this point.

Probably going to take going undefeated this week and having an 11 game winning streak for this Celtic team to get in the top 2 given the love that the ESPN guys have for the Lakers and Clippers

[Somebody]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

The LA bias this week shown through. I also think they marked Boston down due to Gordon's future absence rather than ranking them based on performance to this point.

Probably going to take going undefeated this week and having an 11 game winning streak for this Celtic team to get in the top 2 given the love that the ESPN guys have for the Lakers and Clippers

nba.com has us ranked #1! the only power ranking that I'll take seriously

[footey]

I love the disrespect from ESPN ranking.

Motivation.

Although Luka love tonight from national pundits will be an opportunity to show them what we got.

[nickagneta]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

The LA bias this week shown through. I also think they marked Boston down due to Gordon's future absence rather than ranking them based on performance to this point.

Probably going to take going undefeated this week and having an 11 game winning streak for this Celtic team to get in the top 2 given the love that the ESPN guys have for the Lakers and Clippers

nba.com has us ranked #1! the only power ranking that I'll take seriously

Do they? Gotta go read that. Thanks for heads up. TP.

I put zero stock into the power rankings but always find them a fun read.

[Somebody]

Celtics number four this week.

Lakers at the top.  Followed by Clippers and Bucks.

The LA bias this week shown through. I also think they marked Boston down due to Gordon's future absence rather than ranking them based on performance to this point.

Probably going to take going undefeated this week and having an 11 game winning streak for this Celtic team to get in the top 2 given the love that the ESPN guys have for the Lakers and Clippers

nba.com has us ranked #1! the only power ranking that I'll take seriously

Do they? Gotta go read that. Thanks for heads up. TP.

I put zero stock into the power rankings but always find them a fun read.

Yeah they did. They were really bullish on our core four and were still optimistic on us maintaining our high level of play even with Squidward out.

[keevsnick]

With all due respect to those who disagree, I dont have a problem with the rankings right now. Preseason expectations were LAL, LAC, MIL, PHI were all title contenders and the Celtics were not. Those expectations were built on real concerns about how good Tatum, Brown, Hayward ect would be as well as obvious rosters flaws. Its gonna take a while for national guys who dont watch every minute of every Celtics game to change their minds about the Celtics and move them over those teams, you have to overcome small sample size concerns first. If the Celtics are like 16-4 after twenty games the c's  will get recognition.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

I don’t think the Lakers are nearly as good as their record and I don’t think OKC is as bad as their record.

[Moranis]

I don’t think the Lakers are nearly as good as their record and I don’t think OKC is as bad as their record.

These seem like strange takes. 

The Lakers have at worst 2 of the 8 best players in the world.  Neither has missed a game.  They have quality veterans rounding out the starting five and in several key bench positions.  They also have a 3rd year player who averaged nearly 19 a game last year who is still rounding into form after missing the first few games.  And pretty much everyone on that team is shooting below their career averages.  Once they start shooting better, the Lakers should only get better.

The Thunder are 4-6.  I can't see them being any better than that.  I mean last year with Westbrook and George they were a 49 win team (they also lost Grant their starting PF last year).  They "replaced" them with Paul, Gallinari, and SGA.  That is a clear downgrade collectively (grant is obviously the worst of those 6 in a vacuum, but he was a pretty solid fit on that roster and has played well in Denver this year).  At best the Thunder are a 40ish type win team, but I expect them to win in the 35 range.  They aren't terrible, but they aren't good either. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

Everytime we get near the top we start losing...

[keevsnick]

An interesting note, the Celtics next four opponents (DAL, WAS, GSW, SAC) are rated as 19th, 29th, 30th and 28th in defensive rating this year as of 11/11. So its possible the Celtics can have some pretty big offensive games that may help get some people's attention.

[gpap]

Anyone else surprised at how well Toronto is doing?

Kawhi is gone and then last night they beat the Lakers without Lowry and Ibaka.