In Week 24 of 2017-18 NBA Power Rankings, the Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz are looking like scary playoff opponents for any team.
In terms of contenders for the 2018 NBA championship, the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors remain perched atop their respective conferences with league-leading point differentials. The Rockets have the likely MVP and a historically powerful offense, while the Raptors have a revamped playing style, the league’s best bench and an elite defense.
A healthy Golden State Warriors team can obviously never be counted out. The same can be said (to a lesser degree) for an undermanned Boston Celtics squad that continues to exceed expectations. And of course, the Cleveland Cavaliers have LeBron James.
However, as much as these five teams are the consensus favorites to compete for this year’s title, a few others are emerging from each conference that all of those contenders would probably like to avoid in the playoffs if possible.
Since we’ve covered how red-hot thePortland Trail Blazers already, Week 24 of NBA Power Rankings needs to be devoted to two potentially scary playoff opponents, the Utah Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers.
In the East, the streaking Sixers are enjoying the early fruits of The Process, which is terrifying considering Joel Embiid is only in his second season, Ben Simmons is in his first and Markelle Fultz has played a grand total of five NBA games.
In the West, the Jazz are on an absolute tear despite only being seventh in the conference standings, and if this surge continues, they’ll be a team neither the Rockets, the Warriors nor the Blazers want to face in the first round.
With the playoff picture constantly changing and the postseason likely to be as much of a bloodbath as Tankapalooza 2018, it’s time for the latest edition of NBA Power Rankings to sort it all out.