EP85: Final NBA Power Rankings | We Should Be Concerned About the Lakers

After a week hiatus, I am back to give you my NBA Power Rankings Top 10 NBA teams going into the NBA Bubble playoffs. I also share a not no nice experience on Twitter with another fellow tweeter, and I round it off with Damian Lillard taking Skip Bayless soul in a Monday afternoon tweet.

NBA Power Rankings

It was impossible to predict what would happen during the season restart after 4 1/2 months off. But even expecting the unexpected, we have to be surprised by the performances of some teams in Orlando.

The title favorites have seemingly had a tough time adjusting. The Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers are a combined 7-10. The Lakers have had the worst offense in the restart, and the Bucks ranking 11th defensively over the last 11 days may be more shocking than that. Both Milwaukee and the Clippers lost to the Brooklyn Nets last week.

The Phoenix Suns probably shouldn't have been invited to the restart. But they were, they have their first five-game winning streak in 5 1/2 years, and they're still very much alive in the chase for eighth and ninth place in the Western Conference. The San Antonio Spurs went to Orlando to develop their young players and they've found themselves in the middle of that same chase.

Two playoff series in the East are set. The No. 1 seed Bucks will face the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic, while the No. 2 seed and defending-champion Toronto Raptors will face Brooklyn, the 7 seed. We also know that the Boston Celtics are the No. 3 seed in the East, while the Lakers are No. 1 in the West.

Everything else will be determined in the next seven days, with the Western Conference play-in series taking place on Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday.

With the top teams all stumbling, there's no obvious No. 1 in this week's rankings. Fortunately, this isn't college football or basketball, and the rankings don't really matter. 

Feel free to disagree.

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