Red, White, and Blue Power Rankings: 2/12-2/18
By Dante Nelson
As I promised, there are some new features to the power rankings. I’m still making tweaks to try and improve it as much as possible. But what are the two main new features? We’ll be looking at some stats and we’ll also be looking at some off the court stuff, if there is anything to talk about. And this week is All-Star weekend so I’ll list out all of the participants from each team, if applicable. It’s trial and error folks. But, let’s get on to the main event!
News
So what’s been going on off the court for the Red, White and Blue? Not every team will get a link unless the news is crazy good. Expect to see a range of 2-3 articles per week.
You’ve probably heard this already. But yes, somehow Allen Iverson is broke. He made $150 million in salary alone his NBA career and still found a way to lose it all. I wonder what he learned at Georgetown. Anyway, you know it’s really sad. But it’s not very surprising either. You kind of knew this was coming; just didn’t think it would be this soon after his retirement. Guess the rumors about the gambling were true. He’s got the rest of his life to live. I just hope he stays out of legal trouble. What a shame.
Laker fans turning into Clipper fans
Ok this is pretty funny. The link takes you to little letters written by Laker fans struggling with the fact that the Clippers are better and now their loyalty is tested. Here’s one here to give you an idea.
"I’ve been a lifelong Lakers fan who bleeds purple and gold and have always watched the Clippers with one eye. Well, I’m now watching with two eyes and love what I see.Showtime is back in L.A. but the jersey colors are different.Paul Shubunka Sr.Santa Clarita"
There’s a couple of other little letters like that. It’s a good read.
Statistical Leaders
Alright so we’ll look at which team was the best in some categories. For this week we’ll start at a more basic tone. Perhaps we’ll expand into advance stats too. There will also be a little bit of commentary too. But here we go:
FG%—Wizards 48
3P%—Hawks 38
FT%—Nets 88
APG—Sixers 22
RPG—Clippers 50
SPG—Hawks 10
BPG—Nets 7
TOs— Sixers 9
PPG—Wizards 101
Ok so how about the Wizards? They shot 48% for the week. Over 100 points too. As we’ll soon find out, they had a good week. Impressive for the Nets. They hit almost 90% FT’s for the week. Sixers are the only team that averaged single digits in turnovers. As you can see, Pistons are not on this list. They didn’t lead in any of these categories. These stats do help factor in my decision making for the actual rankings. Speaking of rankings…
Week Review
Clippers: 1 (1)
Week record: 2-2 (my prediction was 2-2)
Clippers had an average week really. All of their games were close, except for their blowout win over the Wizards. I saw that game vs the Blazers. Feel sorry for the Blazers. But hey, a win is a win. Clippers came from I believe 18 down and won. Good job.
Sixers: 2 (2)
Week Record: 1-2 (my prediction was 2-1)
Sixers almost fell to 3rd place. They just came off of what may have been their worse loss of the season against the Mavericks. Sixers lost against quality teams so at least it wasn’t against a team that upset them. Still, Sixers could have potentially swept the week. They’ll need to get their energy level up. But, I’m sure Sixers fans are pleased with the latest draft picks at some level. The rookies impressed.
Wizards: 3 (5)
Week record: 2-2 (my prediction was 0-4)
the Sixers nearly lost to this team this week in terms of rank. It was a good week for them. They blew out the Pistons and beat the Blazers in convincing fashion; both games on the road. But I guess the road got to them as they lost to the Clippers and Jazz by a combined 32 points. Still, it was a better week than the bottom 3 teams.
Nets: 4 (6)
Week Record: 1-2 (my prediction was 1-2)
Well, well, well. And I saw that game vs the Bulls too. Sure D-Rose was injured but who would have thought Nets would bring it like that? But the injury did keep the Nets from taking the 3 spot from Wizards. Still, Nets are trying to hang in there without their starting center Brook Lopez. they expect him back as soon as today (Sunday). If Lopez can play decently enough, Nets will start grabbing more wins like that.
Pistons: 5 (4)
Week Record: 2-2 (my prediction was 1-3)
Pistons continue the “upset” trend as they beat the Celtics by 11. They also beat the Kings. They hung around with the Spurs. In an interesting twist, they lost to the probably the worse team they could face this week in the Wizards. Go figure. Still, a good week.
Hawks: 6 (3)
Week Record: 1-3 (my prediction was 2-2)
Don’t expect the Hawks to remain down here for long. But, I would count them out of being the best team in this “division” of teams that we are talking about. In fact, 3rd through 5th place is a safe bet for the rest of the season. But, they were blown out by the Blazers and Heat, and also lost to Lakers. They did manage to beat the Suns but Suns are not at a high level like the other 3 teams that the Hawks lost to.
Week Preview: 2/19-2/25
Remember, it’s All-Star weekend so this week will be “easy” for the teams.
Clippers will look to keep control of the top spot this week. But can they? Warriors and Nuggets. Keep it simple and say 1-1 with victory over the Warriors and loss to Nuggets.
Sixers have 3 games. All on the road. Timber-wolves, Grizzlies, and Rockets. I want to say they sweep the week, but the way they’ve been playing on the road recently, I will stick with 2-1. If they lose two of these games, I will start to worry abut this team.
Wizards have the Suns and Kings. Why do I think they can beat them both? No. We’ll go 1-1. I don’t know who they beat.
Nets have the Bucks,
Linsanity
Knicks, and Magic. We could say they beat the Bucks; especially if Lopez is back. I’m torn on the Knicks, and they lose to Magic. But if Lopez comes back, things like morale and passion could come back. Nets have a good team when healthy. So, with that in mind, I’m going 2-1. God help me.
Pistons beat the Celtics last week but I’m not counting on that happening again. They can beat either Cavaliers or Raptors. In fact, they’ll beat the Raptors. We’ll have to say loss to Cavs. 1-2.
Hawks…Magic, Bulls, and Knicks. Yeah. Their best bet is against the Knicks. Perhaps Magic too? Eh…1-2.
All-Star Weekend!
Alright so for this week only, we’ll have a list of the players that are participating during All-Star weekend this weekend.
Player (team): Participant of
Blake Griffin (Clippers): BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, All-Star game
Brandon Knight (Pistons): BBVA Rising Stars Challenge
Greg Monroe (Pistons): BBVA Rising Stars Challenge
MarShon Brooks (Nets): BBVA Rising Challenge
Evan Turner (Sixers): BBVA Rising Challenge
John Wall (Wizards): BBVA Rising Challenge
Joe Johnson (Hawks): Haier Shooting Stars, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, All-Star game
Anthony Morrow (Nets): Foot Locker Three-Point Contest
Andre Iguodala (Sixers): All-Star game
Deron Williams (Nets): All-Star game
Chris Paul (Clippers): All-Star game
I have to admit that I have searched high and low to find out who is participating in the Skills Challenge. I guess we won’t find out until this week?
So quite a few players from each team will be participating in something this weekend. I have a very strict rule of only watching the all-star weekend stuff if someone from the Sixers is involved. What this means is that I actually haven’t watched anything from all-star weekend in years. I heard about some stuff but didn’t see any of it. Well, except for the dunk contest. Remember, I used to blog about the Wizards so I was cheering on JaVale McGee. I still think he was cheated. Not as much as Iguodala was after losing to Nate Robinson.
How did you like the new stuff? Anything you want me to mention or comment on? I’m slowly turning this into more of a news central for coverage of Red, White, and Blue teams. But, the Sixers will always reign supreme. Enjoy the weekend folks!