NBA Power Rankings 18: A new top team as the playoffs approach

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118. . 44-16. Previous: 3rd. Utah Jazz. 3. team

Last Week: Beat Los Angeles Lakers 111-97, Beat Houston Rockets 112-89, Lost to Minnesota Timberwolves 101-96

This Week: 4/26 at Minnesota Timberwolves, 4/28 at Sacramento Kings, 4/30 at Phoenix Suns, 5/1 vs. Utah Jazz

What a mystifying way to end a week. In what was just the fourth loss at home all season for the Utah Jazz, the Minnesota Timberwolves came into Salt Lake City and took care of business. Even with Donovan Mitchell out of the lineup, dropping a game to one of the worst teams in the league at home should never happen. This was enough to drop the Jazz down just a little further.

The week was a good one for Bojan Bogdanovic, who averaged 21.0 points, 3.3 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game to lead all members of the team. Rudy Gobert remained his dominant self, averaging 14.0 points, 15.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. The Jazz are really good but the time to answer the ultimate questions is drawing near.

This has been a masterclass season for the Jazz. They have shown what continuity and effort can do in the right situation. When combined with good health (until the recent Mitchell injury) those factors have led to the Jazz being the best team in the regular season this season. It may be unfair to bump them down given the projections forward and one loss but that is just the nature of being measured by their own standard so far this season.