{"id":10050,"date":"2009-04-09T12:57:05","date_gmt":"2009-04-09T17:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=10050"},"modified":"2023-02-07T07:37:05","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:37:05","slug":"power-rankings-90409","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nba\/power-rankings-90409\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Power Rankings: Cavs On Top"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>NBA Power Rankings &#8211; Cavaliers overtake Lakers for top spot<\/h2>\n<p>Even NBA betting players were focusing on the NCAA Tournament, but with the playoffs coming up, the <a title=\"NBA Power Rankings\" href=\"\/nba\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>NBA power rankings<\/strong><\/a> are returning with a new No.1 team, and some movement in the top 10.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. (2) Cleveland Cavaliers (63-15):<\/strong> The Cavs finally take the top spot, but a blowout loss in Orlando last Friday is worrying. Sunday&#8217;s visit from Boston should be entertaining.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. (1) Los Angeles Lakers (62-16):<\/strong> The Lakers didn&#8217;t do much to lose the top spot, but losing in Charlotte didn&#8217;t help. Andrew Bynum should be back very soon to join the Lake Show for their playoff run.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>3. (3) Orlando Magic (58-20):<\/strong> The Magic could run the table for the rest of the season, which could result in the No.2 seed in the East. If their three-point shooters stay hot, watch out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. (7) Denver Nuggets (53-26):<\/strong> The Nuggets have surged past San Antonio for the No.2 spot in the West, but to be a legit NBA betting contender, they&#8217;ll have to step up their defense.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. (3) Boston Celtics (59-19):<\/strong> The Celtics have won five in a row, but to repeat as NBA champions, they need Kevin Garnett close to 100 per cent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. (9) Houston Rockets (45-38): <\/strong>The Rockets have three of their last four on the road, and they need to prove they can consistently win away from home.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. (6) Portland Trailblazers (50-28):<\/strong> If only Greg Oden could stay healthy for more than 20 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. (5) San Antonio Spurs (50-28):<\/strong> Yes, NBA betting players can never count out the Spurs, but with no more Ginobili and a Tim Duncan with balky knees, how far can they go?<\/p>\n<p><strong>9. (12) Atlanta Hawks (45-34): <\/strong>Shoutouts to the Hawks for gaining homecourt advantage with a No.4 East seed. This a team that could make some noise in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10. (11) New Orleans Hornets (48-30):<\/strong> The Hornets just haven&#8217;t been consistent this year, but if they get San Antonio in the first round, anything can happen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>11. (8) Utah Jazz (47-31):<\/strong> There is no good reason why this team is so bad on the road. They need Carlos Boozer to get back to game shape, and fast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12. (10) Miami Heat (41-37): <\/strong>Michael Beasley is finally starting to come around, and if he can be a viable No.2 threat for Dwayne Wade, the Heat is another team that could cause some playoff headaches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>13. (18) Chicago Bulls (38-40):<\/strong> The Bulls are playing their best ball of the year right now, and if they can keep this nucleus together, glory days may not be far behind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14. (13) Dallas Mavericks (47-31):<\/strong> A final surge pushed the Mavericks to the playoffs, but it&#8217;s not looking likely that they&#8217;ll make it past the first round. NBA betting players shouldn&#8217;t put too much stock in the Mavs.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin: 1px; border: 1px solid #ffffff;\" src=\"http:\/\/baff.betonline.com\/aspx\/affiliateGetImage.aspx?ID_SC=2225&amp;ID_I=1609\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>15. (14) Detroit Pistons (38-40):<\/strong> The Allen Iverson experiment, coupled with Chauncey Billups&#8217; effect in Denver, will probably go down as the worst move of the year, possibly in any sport.<\/p>\n<p><strong>16. (16) Philadelphia 76ers (40-37):<\/strong> Hey, they made the playoffs. Outside of Andre Igoudala and Andre Miller, though, it&#8217;s slim pickings in Philly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>17. (15) Phoenix Suns (43-35)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>18. (21) Indiana Pacers (34-44) <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>19. (19) Charlotte Bobcats (35-43)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>20. (20) New Jersey (32-46)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>21. (17) Milwaukee Bucks (32-47)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>22. (23) New York (30-49)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>23. (27) Minnesota Timberwolves (24-55)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>24. (22) Oklahoma City (21-57)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>25. (25) Toronto Raptors (30-48)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>26. (26) Memphis (22-56)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>27. (24) Golden State (28-50)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>28. (29) Washington Wizards (18-61)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>29. (28) Los Angeles Clippers (18-60)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>30. (30) Sacramento Kings (16-61)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Poor Phoenix, who switched to a defensive style to make the playoffs, but they were terrible at it, so they went back to their old run-and-gun style, and still missed the playoffs. The Knicks were bad under old Phoenix coach Mike D&#8217;Antoni, but at least they were fun to watch. As for the bottom three or four teams, NBA betting players will be watching the lottery closely.<\/p>\n<h3>For more NBA Basketball lines and weekly hoops analysis, check out BetOnline.com &gt;&gt;&gt;<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even NBA betting players were focusing on the NCAA Tournament, but with the playoffs coming up, the NBA power rankings are returning with a new No.1 team, and some movement in the top 10&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11128,11130,11129,9709,5226,4299,4751,4234,66499,11127,4046,1014,1015],"class_list":["post-10050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nba","tag-bet-nba-hoops","tag-bet-nba-online","tag-bet-online-articles","tag-betonlinecom","tag-cavs","tag-celtics","tag-lakers","tag-magic","tag-nba","tag-nba-betting-online","tag-nba-power-rankings","tag-power-rankings","tag-power-ratings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10050"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107605,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10050\/revisions\/107605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}