Power Poll: Cavs Lose Shaq, No. 1 Spot
Sean Deveney - SportingNews.com
Mar 02, 2010
Back on Christmas, the Cavaliers logged a pretty convincing 17-point win over the Lakers, part of a 32-game span in which Cleveland went 28-4. That was enough to put them on top of the Power Poll for nine straight weeks.
Alas, all good things must end, and after trading away Zyrdunas Ilgauskas as part of a package for Antawn Jamison, the Cavaliers hit a three-game skid last week, losing to Denver, Charlotte and Orlando. And they got some bad news when Shaquille O'Neal required surgery on his thumb, which will likely keep him out until the playoffs. As O'Neal said on his Twitter account, "Going into surgery today on my thumb, will be out for a min but when I return it is on, win da ring for da king! Luv my team, Cavs baby!"
The Lakers, winners of seven of their last nine games, slide in ahead of Cleveland, but it is a tenuous spot -- the Lakers will play 11 of their next 14 on the road, and the Cavaliers already seem to have put that losing streak behind them.
On to the poll (last week's ranking in parenthesis):
1. Lakers (2). F Lamar Odom's scoring has been erratic, but he's been doing the little things -- he is averaging 11.7 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks over the last nine games.
2. Cavaliers (1). They're looking at the rest of the regular season without C Shaquille O'Neal. That makes bringing back C Zydrunas Ilgauskas all the more important.
3. Mavericks (10). Not only have the Mavericks won seven straight games, but five of those wins were against plus-.500 teams, including Orlando and the Lakers.
4. Magic (3). Foul trouble finally got the best of C Dwight Howard, who had his streak of 20 straight double-doubles snapped in the team's win over Miami.
5. Jazz (4). SF Andrei Kirilenko's return to the starting five helped spark the Jazz's turnaround, but his balky back remains a concern.
6. Nuggets (5). Anticipating big games from Gs J.R. Smith and Kobe Bryant -- Smith had trash-tweeted Bryant earlier in the week -- we got 6-for-29 combined from them.
7. Hawks (8). Atlanta's PR folks came up with this quirky PF Josh Smith stat: At 6-9, he is the tallest player in the top 12 in steals and the shortest player in the top 12 in blocks.
8. Celtics (6). It should be a good thing that their next four opponents are under .500, but after a 20-point defeat to Cleveland and a loss to the Nets, nothing can be assumed.
9. Suns (11). SG Jason Richardson, formerly a two-time dunk champion, apparently should have stuck with a layup in San Antonio on Sunday.
10. Thunder (7). The Thunder seem to have gotten the offense back on track. They posted a season-best 29 assists on Friday and scored 119 points on Sunday.
11. Spurs (12). Finally, it appears that SG Manu Ginobili is healthy and playing like his old self. Since January 20, he has averaged 17.5 points and 5.1 assists.
12. Blazers (13). Blowing that 25-point lead at home to Utah last week was a painful way to lose, but the Blazers bounced back on their five-game road trip.
13. Raptors (9). Losing PF Chris Bosh has cost them the momentum that had brought them within reach of the Celtics in the Atlantic -- they've dropped three straight games.
14. Bucks (16). C Andrew Bogut has put together an outstanding season. He's gone for 20 points and 10 rebounds in a game 12 times, and the Bucks are 11-1 when he does.
15. Bulls (15). C Joakim Noah's sore foot remains the biggest concern, but the persistent swelling of F Luol Deng's knee is a problem, too.
16. Hornets (14). The team is saying that injured PG Chris Paul is making progress, but he's still likely to be out for a couple more weeks. By then, the Hornets' playoff hopes could disappear.
17. Bobcats (17). Michael Jordan is the team's new owner, and if he's wise, he will continue listening to coach Larry Brown on personnel matters.
18. Grizzlies (19). The first eight games after the All-Star break were bizarre. Memphis was 4-0 on the road, but winless -- 0-4 -- at home.
19. Rockets (18). Hard to believe that, with all the great scorers Houston has had, it was PF Luis Scola, PG Aaron Brooks and SG Kevin Martin who became the first trio in team history to score 30 points in the same game.
20. Heat (20). Last year, it seemed that Gs Mario Chalmers and Daequan Cook would develop into very productive players. This year is a different story, though.
21. Clippers (22). PF Drew Gooden has been traded six times and released once, which seems an awful lot for a guy with decent career numbers (11.8 points, 7.8 rebounds).
22. Wizards (24). Sure, they're not going to storm their way into the playoffs, but the Wizards have actually played well lately, going 7-6 in their last 13.
23. Sixers (21). The reward for that very difficult four-game road trip? A four-game stretch of Orlando, Atlanta, Boston and Toronto.
24. Pistons (23). F Charlie Villanueva has been losing minutes and missing shots. Over his last 12 games, he is averaging 6.2 points on 39.4 percent shooting.
25. Kings (28). Injuries to PFs Jason Thompson and Jon Brockman have given PF Sean May what might be one last chance to show that he can play.
26. Pacers (25). The Pacers' offense actually looked effective and efficient in their win over the Bulls. Now they have to hope they can execute on their four-game trip.
27. Knicks (26). Over their last 10 games, the Knicks have given up an average of 112.8 points, which helps explain why they are 1-9 in that stretch.
28. Warriors (27). The lingering back injury of G Monta Ellis is just one of many issues for a team heading out on a five-game, seven-day road trip.
29. Timberwolves (29). C Darko Milicic's first five games in Minnesota weren't so bad -- he's averaged 5.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 20.4 minutes per game.
30. Nets (30). For the month of February, at least, SG Courtney Lee looked like the guy the Nets thought they were getting, averaging 15.5 points and shooting 40.9 percent on 3s.
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com.
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