Lakers Dip In Power Rankings
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One week of basketball, one loss to the New Orleans Hornets, three wins over the Heat, Warriors, and Pacers.
This season is so competitive that one loss and three mediocre wins doesn’t make allow you to remain the top team any longer.
ESPN.com
2008-09 Power Rankings: Week 11 RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT 
1 (2) Cavaliers 29-6 The new No. 1′s thorough trouncing of the defending champs in the second-most anticipated game of the season so far — without Big Z, don’t forget — made us forget about the whole crab-dribble controversy. Almost. 
2 (4) Magic 30-8 This’ll get you Team of the Week status: Orlando throttled Atlanta twice, then won in San Antonio and tossed in one of the week’s better quotes, too. Says Coach SVG: “If you don’t think we’re good, that’s fine.” 
3 (1) Lakers 30-6 Are we grading them too hard? Not really. We can pardon the loss to the Hornets, but three shaky home wins (Golden State, Indy and Miami) and three injuries (Farmar, Walton and Odom) aren’t a good combination. 
4 (3) Celtics 30-9 This season’s first 30-game winner? Doesn’t have quite the same ring as all the 70-win talk before Christmas, but the Celts will take it after that 2-7 swoon. Six of those L’s were on the road, so do we cut them any slack? 
5 (5) Spurs 24-12 There’s no better second-half team than these guys, but this will be tough sledding even for the Spurs: After going 0-2 against Orlando, they still have to play Cleveland twice, Boston twice and the Lakers three times. NBA.com
TEAM (LAST WEEK) REC. BREAKDOWN 1 
Cleveland (3)29-6 Off: 114.6 (2), Def: 100.6 (1)
Friday’s win over the Celtics puts the Cavs at 19-0 at Quicken Loans Arena, but they’ve got six of their next seven on the road, including a Finals preview next Monday in L.A. Yeah, I said it. Finals preview.2 
L.A. Lakers (1)30-6 Off: 114.8 (1), Def: 105.3 (5)
After an inconsistent four-week stretch that ended with a 2-for-7 performance in Tuesday’s loss to the Hornets, Andrew Bynum has got it together again, averaging 20.7 points on 65.7 percent shooting over the last three games. A back-to-back in Houston and San Antonio this week is followed by home games against the Magic and Cavs, maybe the toughest four-game stretch L.A. will play all season.3 
Orlando (5)30-8 Off: 110.8 (7), Def: 102.3 (3)
Did you think you’d ever see a team other than the Cavs or Celtics in second place in the East? Or did you think you’d ever see J.J. Redick hit big shots down the stretch for the Magic? With Friday’s 34-point pasting of the Hawks in Atlanta (they were up 101-51 at one point), and Sunday’s win in San Antonio, is anybody still overlooking Orlando?4 
San Antonio (4)24-12 Off: 110.3 (11), Def: 106.2 (6)
The Spurs had hit 36 threes in their three games before Sunday’s matchup with the Magic, but they were outscored 42-9 beyond the arc by Orlando in what was one of the best games of the week. Next up is their first meeting of the season with the Lakers, before San Antonio hits the road for 14 of 17.5 
Boston (2)30-9 Off: 110.8 (8), Def: 101.4 (2)
Losing six out of eight is bad, but Friday’s loss in Cleveland was just as critical. Winning that game would have gone a long way in righting the Celtics’ ship. They picked up a win Sunday in Toronto, thanks to Ray Allen going 8-for-10 from deep.USAToday.com
Rank Team Prev. Comment 
1
Los Angeles Lakers (30-6) 1Lakers beat good Miami team even without Odom, Farmar, Walton. 2
Cleveland Cavaliers (29-6) 3Cavs are 19-0 at home. 3
Orlando Magic (30-8) 4Win over Spurs adds to their resume. 4
Boston Celtics (30-9) 2Boston just 3-7 in last 10.
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January 13th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
The NBA season is a grind, and even the best teams are going to go through a
slump. We still see the Celtics as the favorites to pull it out in the East
and, barring any major injuries, the Lakers are our pick to take it all.
What do four of the top 5 teams here have in common? They all play great
defense. But we feel the Lakers have the ability to play defense with the
best of them and that they will do just that in the stretch run of the
season and into the playoffs. There should be some great value in taking the
Lakers ‘under’ the total heading into April and May.