Team Archives: Select Team Atlanta Boston Charlotte Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit Golden State Houston Indiana LA Clippers LA Lakers Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minnesota New Jersey New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Portland Sacramento San Antonio Toronto Utah Washington

Add Widget

Elation in Atlanta. Relief in Dallas. New life in Oakland. Utter despair in Denver.

With no change to the Boston/New Orleans/Detroit top three in ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings, our focus shifts to the biggest jumps and steepest falls in the season's second-to-last batch of rankings.

The Hawks have climbed to No. 14 as a reward for moving to the brink of their first playoff berth since 1999. The Mavericks have reclaimed their usual spot in the top 10 after halting a string of narrow losses to good teams with a huge comeback win at Phoenix. The Nuggets, meanwhile, have cratered to No. 13 with their potentially fatal back-to-back losses to a Sacramento team that didn't dress Ron Artest and Brad Miller and on the road to a young Seattle team that probably won't win 20 games … losses that suddenly give Golden State real hope of finishing eighth in the West in spite of its own 1-3 disappointment last week.

You can rank the teams yourself or click here or at the bottom to register your approval or disagreement with the order at the top or anywhere else.

Tune in to "NBA Fastbreak" on ESPN to see this week's Army Power Rankings.

2007-08 Power Rankings: Week 23
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Celtics	61-15	Another perk of life in the Least: Boston can rest its starters now, unlike last season's 67-win Mavs, because the Celts face zero risk of getting upset in Round 1. They'll have the Atlanta series to relocate their rhythm.
	2 (2)	Hornets	54-22	So much for the idea that Sunday's appearance on the ABC stage would expose the Hornets' lack of big-game experience. Next question: Anyone else looking forward to Friday's MVP showdown between Kobe and CP3?
	3 (3)	Pistons	55-21	Maybe no Piston is an obvious choice for All-NBA recognition, but Detroit's ensemble cast will undoubtedly prefer this distinction: They're just the sixth team since the NBA-ABA merger in '76-77 to win four straight division titles.
	4 (6)	Lakers	53-24	Pau's return pretty much locks up a top-three seed. Yet you have to ask -- in spite of that impressive rally against Dallas -- if the Lakers can be true title contenders with Bynum (and Ariza) still out and Fisher playing hurt.
	5 (5)	Spurs	53-24	They went a solid 12-6 in March in what Pop calls "the toughest month we've ever had." Yet we figure that the Spurs, deep down, won't relish seeing their old pals from Dallas in Round 1 if the current pairings hold.
	6 (8)	Jazz	51-26	This won't help much if Utah doesn't even have home-court advantage in Round 1. But give the road-loathing Jazz this: They have 26 wins at home by 10 points or more. Not even Boston, with 24 such wins, can match that.
	7 (4)	Suns	51-26	Blow No. 1 of the week: The Suns now know that it's unlikely they'll have home-court advantage for even one round in the playoffs. Blow No. 2: They know that the draft pick Atlanta is sending this June won't be in the lottery.
	8 (7)	Rockets	52-25	How's that for respect? Houston has won 16 of 20 road games and realistically can't finish with worse than the No. 6 seed ... and still everyone out West wishes it could end up drawing the Rockets in Round 1.
	9 (15)	Mavericks	48-29	Interesting theory: Dallas will be far more dangerous in the playoffs as a lower seed trying to emulate last spring's pressure-free Warriors, against the Hornets or Lakers or Spurs, than it was as a 67-win title favorite.
	10 (10)	Warriors	46-31	It was starting to look as though the Dubs would need something resembling last April's 8-1 finish to repeat as the West's No. 8 seed. But maybe not now with those seemingly golden Nuggets intent on imploding.
	11 (12)	76ers	39-38	ESPN Research informs the committee (of one) that only two teams in the last 20 years have risen from 12 games under .500 to a record over .500 in the same season: the 2004-05 Nets and, yes, these plucky Sixers.
	12 (11)	Magic	48-29	All the Magic need, in spite of a bad L to the Knicks, is a 2-3 finish to seal their first 50-win season since Shaq left. The real suspense, though, is seeing who they get in the first round: Washington, Philly or Toronto.
	13 (9)	Nuggets	46-31	Unforgivable L's to short-handed Sac-Town and inexperienced Seattle didn't just pile huge pressure on Furious George and endanger Denver's season. That's right: Iverson's third-team slot on my All-NBA ballot is now D-Will's.
	14 (17)	Hawks	36-41	The team with the league's longest playoff drought has a three-game lead over No. 9 Indiana with both teams down to their final five games. We're going to go out on a limb and say not even the Hawks could blow this now.
	15 (13)	Wizards	40-37	At least there's only one way to go for the Wiz after Gil's long-awaited comeback game ended in a one-point loss to a team with nothing to play for (Milwaukee) and stuck their vet leader (Jamison) with a shoulder injury.
	16 (14)	Cavaliers	42-35	It was only a matter of time before LeBron's back began to feel the strain of carrying this crew. Right? But I still say Boston won't be thrilled to see the slumping LeBrons in Round 2 ... as long as Cleveland gets there.
	17 (19)	Kings	36-41	Artest branded the season "a failure" because the Kings didn't make the playoffs. Everyone else is saying that the Kings actually have more to work with for the future than anyone on the outside saw back in October.
	18 (16)	Raptors	38-39	Getting Bosh back hasn't quite solved Toronto's issues. The Raps are capable of giving Orlando trouble in Round 1 but they could wind up playing Detroit instead thanks to a 4-7 mark since Bosh's return ... 0-3 in April.
	19 (18)	Trail Blazers	38-39	The health of Oden, Roy and Aldridge is really all that matters now, but it remains one of the season's more notable surprises that Portland went from Dec. 16 through April 6 before finally slipping back below .500.
	20 (20)	Pacers	33-44	Larry Legend is finally in sole charge of the Pacers. Which tells me that Jermaine O'Neal -- who quietly made his return from injury one day before Arenas, Brand, Gasol and Nowitzki -- will at last be traded this offseason.
	21 (21)	Nets	32-45	Turns out Jersey won't make the playoffs and Dallas will. But Devin Harris has still made a fine start as a Net, with more double-digit assist games since March 15 (three) than he had in three-plus seasons as a Mav (two).
	22 (23)	Bulls	30-46	Anyone out there remember -- back before all the "Ko-be, Ko-be, Ko-be" chants and the coaching change and the inability to trade for a big name -- when the Bulls were a trendy pick to win the East? Us, neither.
	23 (22)	Bobcats	29-48	The Bobcats' 9-7 mark in March was their most successful month ever. The problem? It was only the third-best March in the state thanks to (A) UNC and (B) what Dell Curry's pride and joy did with Davidson.
	24 (25)	Grizzlies	21-56	Rudy Gay is a leading candidate for the NBA's Most Improved Player award and the Grizz, in general, are still playing hard. So we repeat the question: Iavaroni was supposed to do more with this roster as a rookie coach?
	25 (26)	Clippers	23-54	We're still chuckling about this one from Sam I Am: "When I found out that Elton tore his Achilles ... I knew what this season would be. We got off to a 4-0 start and everyone went gung ho. I was like ho, ho, hold up."
	26 (24)	Timberwolves	19-57	Of the four teams still at risk to join Miami in the 60-loss club, Minnesota seemed the most likely escape candidate after its recent 7-8 stretch. Losing at home to Memphis, though, likely ended that post-KG dream.
	27 (28)	SuperSonics	18-59	Nobody rings up 168 on Seattle, as Denver did March 16, without paying the consequences. And hopefully nobody still doubts Durant's status as an ROY lock after watching what he did to the Nuggets' playoff hopes.
	28 (29)	Knicks	21-56	How much work is confronting front-office savior Donnie Walsh? Before the Knicks' wholly unexpected victory Sunday over Orlando, they were 2-0 since March 1 against Miami ... and 0-16 against the rest of the league.
	29 (27)	Bucks	26-50	They can't lose more than 56 games, but you can safely add the Bucks to the M-Stands-For-Misery trio of Memphis, Minnesota and Miami. It's a quartet now that Yi's rookie season has been ended early by a knee injury.
	30 (30)	Heat	13-64	One more Heat loss or Seattle win secures a 46.5 percent chance that Miami lands one of the top two picks in the draft. Of course, that leaves Riles with a 53.5 percent chance his team winds up with No. 3 or lower.