In Week 20 of NBA Power Rankings, the Pelicans, Wizards and Blazers turn the jets on, the Rockets continue their reign at No. 1 and the bottom of the league tanks its heart out.
Now that the All-Star break has come and gone, the lay of the NBA landscape should be crystalizing. Instead, the playoff picture for each conference is as muddied as ever, and to complicate matters, even the bottom-feeders find themselves in one of the most epic tank races the league has seen in years.
The Houston Rockets continue their reign at No. 1 thanks to a 13-game win streak, but the rest of this week’s NBA Power Rankings continue to shift.
Anthony Davis is carrying the New Orleans Pelicans without DeMarcus Cousins, the Portland Trail Blazers are turning the engines on as they always do after All-Star Weekend, and the Washington Wizards are playing terrific basketball despite the absence of John Wall.
Meanwhile, the Charlotte Hornets have won five straight games to keep dwindling playoff hopes alive, the Detroit Pistons are imploding, the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t quite out of the woods yet and the Phoenix Suns, Memphis Grizzlies, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls are on a combined 40-game losing streak in the Great Tank Race of 2018.
The question is, where does everyone end up in Week 20 of NBA Power Rankings for the 2017-18 campaign? Let’s dive in.