NetRtg: +5.6 (5)
Things appear to be wide open in both conferences, but the Sixers are heading toward the playoffs looking very much like a legit No. 1 seed. They’ve won eight straight games, having held their opponents to just 101.4 points per 100 possessions over the streak. Philly is now 26-4 (15-0 at home) when it’s had its full starting lineup, with the only loss to an Eastern Conference opponent having come in Tampa on Feb. 21, when the starting lineup was a +21 in its 15.4 minutes and the Sixers were outscored by 28 points otherwise.
It will be interesting to see if Doc Rivers staggers the minutes of his starters in the playoffs more than he has in the regular season. The 20.7 minutes per game that the group has averaged is, by a healthy margin, the most for any lineup that’s played at least 10 games together and
Power Rankings, Week 18: Sixers surge to No 1 spot as season enters final month nba.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nba.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NetRtg: +7.0 (2)
In two wins over the Jazz, the Suns have allowed the league’s third-ranked offense to score just 101 points per 100 possessions. And in two losses to the Clippers, they’ve allowed the league’s top-ranked offense to score 123 per 100. The working theory in this space is that their defense is better than the sum of its parts, not great with individual matchups (they rank 29th in isolation defense), but great at helping, rotating, and defending teams that rely on ball movement. There were some really nice sequences in that win over Utah on Wednesday.
The Utah matchup is also a favorable one because the Suns have two of the five guys who have shot better than 50% on at least 200 pull-up 2s. And on Wednesday, Chris Paul (9-for-16) and Devin Booker (6-for-12) were 15-for-28 on those shots against the Jazz’s drop coverage. Booker has had good numbers against the Clips, but the game in L.A. on Thursday got away from the Suns with him off the floor at the start of t
Power Rankings, Week 16: Play-In races heating up in East, West nba.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nba.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NetRtg: +9.0 (1)
The Jazz survived some slow starts over the last three games of their nine-game winning streak (the
second longest streak in the league this season), overcoming deficits against the Heat, Sixers (Philly’s first loss after leading by double-digits) and shorthanded Clippers. They erased a 15-point deficit against the #fullsquad Clippers on Friday, but they had matchup issues down the stretch as LA scored 10 points on four possessions to gain separation. The Clippers attacked Derrick Favors on two straight possessions and then went at Bojan Bogdanovic. On the other end of the floor, they were able to stifle ball movement and limit the Jazz to a season-low 13 assists and just 15 catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts, down from an average of 26.5 prior to that.