Isn\u2019t it way past time for the Indiana Pacers to take a bow?<\/p>\n
Virtually ignored, the Pacers are in terrific shape (35-21) as the season grinds into the home stretch. Scorer Danny Granger has finally returned from injury, bolstering a rotation that was already solid. <\/p>\n
Granger now has several weeks to work himself back into the offense, and his legs should be fresh for the playoffs.<\/p>\n
As the usual Eastern Conference suspects (Boston, New York, Chicago) have faded, the Pacers have won 4 in a row (on top of a 5-game streak earlier in the month) and look to be ready for a serious playoff run and a possible spot opposite the Heat in the Eastern finals.<\/p>\n
1. SPURS (45-13) <\/strong>\u2013 Any team that can win 2 of every 3 road games in the NBA (SA is 23-11) has to be comprised of robots. 16. CELTICS (29-27) Larry’s NBA Power Ratings Isn\u2019t it way past time for the Indiana Pacers to take a bow? Virtually ignored, the Pacers are in terrific shape (35-21) as the season grinds into the home stretch. Scorer Danny Granger has finally returned from injury, bolstering a rotation that was already solid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":24926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[260,4977,22803,11586,22804,22805,57179,3126],"class_list":["post-60154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-cappers-picks","tag-nba-power-ratings","tag-nba-power-ratings-online","tag-nba-rankings","tag-nba-ratings","tag-nba-team-power-rankings","tag-nba-weekly-power-rankings","tag-team-rankings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60154","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\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60154"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60172,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60154\/revisions\/60172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2. HEAT (40-14) <\/strong>\u2013 Did James (28 points, 3 rebounds) go easy on the Cavs Sunday night, still feeling regret about the way he shot his way out of Ohio?
\n3. THUNDER (41-15) <\/strong>\u2013 Imagine where this franchise would be today if the Blazers had taken Durant No. 1 and the then-Sonics were forced to settle for Greg Oden.
\n4. CLIPPERS (40-18) <\/strong>\u2013 Somewhere (and not too far) down the road, the Clippers will have to deal with Eric Bledsoe, who is good enough to be a start in this league.
\n5. GRIZZLIES (37-18) <\/strong>\u2013 Methinks the Grizz might have a player in 6-foot-11, 285-pound beast Dexter Pittman, who they got from the Heat for a second-round pick.
\n6. PACERS (35-21) <\/strong>\u2013 It will be interesting to see how the Pacers manage front line minutes with Paul George, David West and Granger all looking for time and touches.
\n7. NUGGETS (35-22) <\/strong>\u2013 Denver hasn\u2019t lost to a good team at home since the Heat took out the Nuggets way back on Nov. 15.
\n8. KNICKS (33-20) <\/strong>\u2013 Kenyon Martin says that he has a bad rep and that he\u2019s really a nice guy who gets along with everyone. Ten-day contracts have a way of forcing former stars to eat humble pie.
\n9. WARRIORS (33-23) <\/strong>\u2013 Might be time to shut down Andrew Bogut, who has back problems again and has played only 12 games this season.
\n10. HAWKS (31-23) <\/strong>\u2013 Josh Smith is as good as gone. Smith wants to leave after the season, and the Hawks aren\u2019t sure they want to even make an effort to sign him.
\n11. NETS (33-24) <\/strong>\u2013 Trouble in Black Rock. Deron Williams is banged up, Brook Lopez is playing like Chuck Nevitt and the Nets are starting a stretch in which 13 of their next 17 will be on the road.
\n12. BULLS (32-24) <\/strong>\u2013 One teammate (he doesn\u2019t want to be identified) says that Derrick Rose is ready to return, but the star PG still is not mentally prepared.
\n13. JAZZ (31-25) <\/strong>\u2013 Big rush just before the All-Star break probably kept Paul Millsap from being traded. [ad-6571516]
\n14. ROCKETS (31-27) <\/strong>\u2013 When the 3s drop they can beat anybody. When they don\u2019t . . . well, you know.
\n15. LAKERS (28-29) <\/strong>\u2013 Pau Gasol definitely out until at least playoffs.<\/p>\n
\n17. BUCKS (26-28)
\n18. TRAIL BLAZERS (26-30)
\n19. MAVERICKS (25-30)
\n20. RAPTORS (23-33)
\n21. 76ers (22-32)
\n22. PISTONS (22-36)
\n23. TIMBERWOLVES (20-33)
\n24. CAVALIERS (18-38)
\n25. HORNETS\/PELICANS (20-37)
\n26. KINGS\/SONICS (19-38)
\n27. WIZARDS (17-37)
\n28. SUNS (18-39)
\n29. MAGIC (15-41)
\n30. BOBCATS (13-43) <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"