2014-15 NBA Power Rankings Week 18

Long live the new King. Highlights, photos, recap & reactions from today's big OT win on http://t.co/VBY18eSOmU. pic.twitter.com/91utdhnqTx
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) March 2, 2015

King James. That was the headline.

Not in reference to LeBron James, but by the Houston Rockets twitter account in reference to James Harden.

Ouch.

A kick below the belt?

Wait, that happened too.



The Cavs were without point guard Kyrie Irving (and the Rockets, of course, were still without Dwight Howard), but the battle between the Cavs and Rockets and Harden and LeBron went into overtime.

LeBron put together a strong line overall with 37 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks, but he was awful from the free-throw line. Making only three of his 11 free throws, it was the first time in his career that he shot at least 10 free throws and made three or less.

Meanwhile, Harden (or should I say, King James?) posted a nearly identical line by scoring 33 points (including 15-of-18 free throws) and adding eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks.

With the win over the Cavs, the Rockets are tied with the Pelicans for the league's longest active winning streak of five games.

Houston will open this week with a tough back-to-back on Tuesday (at Atlanta, 47-12) and Wednesday (vs. Memphis, 42-16). Only three teams have a better winning percentage than the Rockets (.695) and the Hawks and Grizzlies are two of those teams.

Jimmy Butler latest Bull to miss multiple weeks

Since his MVP-winning 2010-11 season, Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose has played a total of 95 games over the past three-and-a-half seasons.

Unfortunately, there's a chance that Rose, who had surgery on his meniscus last week, won't play any more regular-season games this season.

With a timetable of four to six weeks, however, he is expected to return at some point and he's already rehabbing his knee. If he doesn't play during the rest of the regular season, D-Rose should return at some point during the playoffs.

Making matters worse for the Bulls, they will be without Jimmy Butler as well.

Butler is expected to miss the next three to four weeks with an elbow sprain, but it looks as though he will avoid surgery.

Butler and Rose are the team's top-two scorers -- 20.2 and 18.4 points per game, respectively -- and no player has averaged more minutes per game than Butler (38.9/G), who is also one of the league's best perimeter defenders.

In addition to the loss of Butler and Rose, the Bulls are expected to be without Taj Gibson for another week. Gibson is averaging a career-high 13.0 points in 28.7 minutes per game as well as 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.

Russell Westbrook: Three consecutive triple-doubles

Already without Kevin Durant (foot), the Thunder were without point guard Russell Westbrook on Sunday after having facial surgery.

That said, it doesn't look as though he'll miss much more time.

Russell Westbrook won't miss much time with surgery. "If he had a playoff game (Sunday), he could play," league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 28, 2015

Before missing Sunday's game, Westbrook had three consecutive triple-doubles. During that three-game span, Westbrook averaged 33.0 points, 12.67 rebounds and 10.67 assists per game.

No player has more triple-doubles this season than Westbrook (five). Coincidentally, the two players tied for second -- Rajon Rondo and Michael Carter-Williams (three each) -- have both been traded during the season.

Here are my Week 18 NBA Power Rankings:

1. Golden State Warriors (Record 46-11, Last Week 1)
2. Atlanta Hawks (Record 47-12, Last Week 2)
3. Memphis Grizzlies (Record 42-16, Last Week 3)
4. Cleveland Cavaliers (Record 37-24, Last Week 4)
5. Houston Rockets (Record 41-18, Last Week 7)
6. Portland Trail Blazers (Record 39-19, Last Week 9)
7. Los Angeles Clippers (Record 39-21, Last Week 10)
8. San Antonio Spurs (Record 36-23, Last Week 6)
9. Dallas Mavericks (Record 39-22, Last Week 8)
10. Oklahoma City Thunder (Record 33-27, Last Week 12)
11. Toronto Raptors (Record 37-22, Last Week 5)
12. Chicago Bulls (Record 37-23, Last Week 11)
13. New Orleans Pelicans (Record 32-27, Last Week 16)
14. Indiana Pacers (Record 25-34, Last Week 17)
15. Washington Wizards (Record 34-26, Last Week 14)
16. Phoenix Suns (Record 31-29, Last Week 13)
17. Milwaukee Bucks (Record 32-27, Last Week 15)
18. Detroit Pistons (Record 23-36, Last Week 18)
19. Charlotte Hornets (Record 24-33, Last Week 19)
20. Brooklyn Nets (Record 24-33, Last Week 20)
21. Miami Heat (Record 25-33, Last Week 21)
22. Utah Jazz (Record 23-35, Last Week 23)
23. Boston Celtics (Record 23-34, Last Week 25)
24. Orlando Magic (Record 19-42, Last Week 22)
25. Sacramento Kings (Record 20-37, Last Week 24)
26. Los Angeles Lakers (Record 16-42, Last Week 28)
27. Denver Nuggets (Record 20-39, Last Week 26)
28. Minnesota Timberwolves (Record 13-45, Last Week 27)
29. Philadelphia 76ers (Record 13-46, Last Week 29)
30. New York Knicks (Record 12-46, Last Week 30)

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2014-15 NBA Power Rankings Week 14

The surprise season for the Atlanta Hawks as this highlight shows continues ...


Here are my NBA Power Rankings heading into Week 14:

1. Atlanta Hawks (Record 37-8, Last Week 1): The HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWKS have now won 16 games in a row.

2. Golden State Warriors (Record 36-6, Last Week 2): Not only did Klay Thompson score 52 points against the Kings last week, but he scored 37 points in the third quarter alone.

3. Memphis Grizzlies (Record 31-12, Last Week 4): After a multi-game absence, Zach Randolph now has eight double-doubles in a row and he has 34 double-doubles on the season.

4. Portland Trail Blazers (Record 32-13, Last Week 3): Instead of missing the next six to eight weeks, LaMarcus Aldridge surprised many by opting to postpone surgery and scored 26 points against the Wizards on Saturday.

5. San Antonio Spurs (Record 29-17, Last Week 10): Kawhi Leonard has three double-doubles with multiple steals in his past four games. He had six double-doubles in his first 24 games of the season.

6. Los Angeles Clippers (Record 30-14, Last Week 11): The Clippers have scored 120-plus points in five of 11 games this month and are averaging 113.8 points over their past six games.

7. Houston Rockets (Record 31-14, Last Week 5): Leading the NBA in Win Shares (9.8) and Value Over Replacement (8.1), James Harden has scored 33-plus points in four consecutive games, the first time in his career that he has done so.

8. Washington Wizards (Record 30-15, Last Week 6): Point guard John Wall is averaging more than 10 assists and two steals per game; Chris Paul (four times) and Rajon Rondo (once) are the only other active players to do that for a season.

9. Cleveland Cavaliers (Record 25-20, Last Week 12): Since returning from his knee injury, LeBron James has averaged 30.28 points, 6.86 rebounds, 6.29 assists and 2.14 steals per game as the Cavs have won six of seven games.

10. Chicago Bulls (Record 29-17, Last Week 7): No longer on a minutes restriction, Derrick Rose has averaged 22.63 points, 5.75 assists and a steal per game over his last eight games.

11. Toronto Raptors (Record 29-15, Last Week 8): After scoring zero, six and eight points in his previous three games, DeMar DeRozan broke out of his scoring slump with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting on Sunday. (He was 6-of-34 in his previous three games.)

12. Dallas Mavericks (Record 30-15, Last Week 9): Not only is Tyson Chandler shooting 66.9 percent from the field (second-highest of his career), but he is shooting a career-high 74.3 percent from the line. Chandler ranks second in the NBA in true shooting percentage behind only Kyle Korver.

13. Oklahoma City Thunder (Record 22-22, Last Week 13): Over the past eight games, Russell Westbrook has four double-doubles and a triple-double. In those eight games, he's averaging 21.25 points, 9.88 assists, 7.25 rebounds and 2.88 steals per game.

14. Phoenix Suns (Record 26-20, Last Week 14): Currently sitting in the 8th seed in the West, the Suns have a brutal schedule before the All-Star break. Their next five games: Washington (30-15), Chicago (29-17), Golden State (36-6), Memphis (31-12) and Portland (32-13).

15. New Orleans Pelicans (Record 23-21, Last Week 16): In his past 10 games, Eric Gordon has connected on nearly half of his three-point attempts (22 of 47, 46.8 percent).

16. Charlotte Hornets (Record 19-26, Last Week 20): As badly as the Hornets began the season, they have now won nine of their past 11 games.

17. Milwaukee Bucks (Record 22-22, Last Week 15): The Bucks have the league's worst turnover ratio (18.7 per game) in January and they have been even worse in the fourth quarter (20.3) this month. (On the season, the ratio was 15.8 in Q4 for the Bucks.)

18. Detroit Pistons (Record 17-28, Last Week 17): The loss of Brandon Jennings (Achilles) for the season is a big loss, but D.J. Augustin stepped up with a career-high 35 points in his first start following Jennings' injury.

19. Miami Heat (Record 20-24, Last Week 19): Hassan Whiteside had the most impressive triple-double of the season on Sunday with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocked shots in 25 minutes off the bench.

20. Brooklyn Nets (Record 18-26, Last Week 21): Based on some reports, the Nets could soon unload Joe Johnson's contract in exchange for a package of players that includes Lance Stephenson, who went to Lincoln High School in Brooklyn.

21. Indiana Pacers (Record 16-30, Last Week 23): Not exactly Thompson's 37-point third-quarter performance, but Damjan Rudez scored 16 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Pacers ended a seven-game losing streak with a win over the Magic on Sunday.

22. Denver Nuggets (Record 18-26, Last Week 18): After a five-game winning streak earlier in the month, the Nuggets have lost six consecutive games and will face the Clippers, Pelicans and Grizzlies on the road in their next three games.

23. Sacramento Kings (Record 16-27, Last Week 22): Since their surprise 9-5 start, the Kings have lost 22 of 29 games including their past six games in a row.

24. Orlando Magic (Record 15-32, Last Week 24): Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton has been playing great basketball. Over his past seven games, he has averaged 13.29 points, 8.29 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.14 steals per game .

25. Utah Jazz (Record 16-28, Last Week 25): Rudy Gobert ranks third in the NBA in blocks per game (2.2), but he leads the league in block percentage (7.9) by far over Anthony Davis (6.1).

26. Boston Celtics (Record 15-27, Last Week 26): Being showcased for a potential trade, Brandon Bass has averaged 12.67 points and 9.33 rebounds per game over his past three games.

27. Philadelphia 76ers (Record 8-36, Last Week 28): Even though the Sixers don't have the league's worst record, they rank last in the league in net rating (-12.1). (Net rating is difference between Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating -- essentially a scoring margin per 100 possessions.)

28. Los Angeles Lakers (Record 12-33, Last Week 27): The glass-half-full view of Kobe Bryant (torn rotator cuff) missing the rest of the season is the Lakers have a stronger shot of keeping their first-round pick (it goes to Phoenix if outside the top-five picks).

29. New York Knicks (Record 8-37, Last Week 30): In their most recent game, three of the Knicks starters were on 10-day contracts including Langston Galloway, who has averaged 14.5 points and 6.25 rebounds as a starter.

30. Minnesota Timberwolves (Record 7-36, Last Week 29): As bad as the T'Wolves have been, Nikola Pekovic (12 games), Kevin Martin (nine) and Ricky Rubio (five) have played a combined 26 games. Pekovic has returned to the lineup and K-Mart and Rubio should be back soon.

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2014-15 NBA Power Rankings: Week 5

Here are my Week 5 NBA Power Rankings:

1. Memphis Grizzlies (Record: 12-2, Last Week: 1): Grizzlies center Marc Gasol now has eight games of 20-plus points this season. Gasol had just eight 20-point games (out of 59) last season. Since Gasol returned from injury on Jan. 14, 2014, the Grizzlies have an NBA-best record (45-15, .750).

Surprisingly, the Grizzlies have just the sixth-lowest odds to win the Western Conference based on odds from Sportsbook.ag.

2. Golden State Warriors (Record: 10-2, Last Week: 3): Marreese Speights has played only 158 minutes in 11 games, but he leads the NBA in points per 36 minutes (29.5) and in points per 100 possessions (39.5).

3. Houston Rockets (Record: 10-3, Last Week: 2): James Harden is shooting a career-low 39.1 percent from the field, but he is shooting a career-high 89.5 percent from the line and making a league-high 9.2 free throws per game.

4. Toronto Raptors (Record: 11-2, Last Week: 6): The Raptors currently lead the NBA in point differential (+12.2). They rank second in the league in scoring offense (106.9 per game) and sixth in scoring defense (94.7 per game).

5. San Antonio Spurs (Record: 9-4, Last Week: 5): Tony Parker is a career 32.1-percent shooter from three-point range, but he has made 63.6 percent of his attempts this season. His career-best percentage is 39.5 percent (2006-07).

6. Portland Trail Blazers (Record: 10-3, Last Week: 9): Since starting the season 3-3, the Blazers have won seven consecutive games, the longest active winning streak in the NBA, and will face the winless Sixers on Monday night.

7. Washington Wizards (Record: 9-3, Last Week: 8): In his three games since returning from injury, Bradley Beal is averaging 16.7 points, 4.7 points and 1.3 steals per game in 30.7 minutes per game off the bench.

8. Chicago Bulls (Record: 8-5, Last Week: 7): Derrick Rose, who has missed the past four games due to a hamstring injury, may or may not play Monday night. If he's unable to play tonight, however, he is confident that he'll return for Tuesday's matchup against the Nuggets.

9. Dallas Mavericks (Record: 10-4, Last Week: 11): Brandan Wright had his first double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) on Saturday against the Rockets and has now scored in double digits in seven consecutive games. Wright has yet to shoot below .545 in any game this season and he leads the league with a .785 field goal percentage.

10. Phoenix Suns (Record: 9-5, Last Week: 16): Among players with no starts this season, Isaiah Thomas (15.4 PPG) and Gerald Green (14.2) rank second and fourth in the NBA in per-game scoring. In addition, Thomas is currently leading all Suns players in scoring.

11. Los Angeles Clippers (Record: 7-5, Last Week: 10): Chris Paul continues to lead the NBA in assist/turnover ratio (6.33). If he continues to average 9.5-plus assists per game and 1.5 turnovers (or less) per game, CP3 will become the first player in league history to do so for a full season.

12. Sacramento Kings (Record: 8-5, Last Week: 13): The Kings lead the NBA in offensive rebound percentage (30.0) and rebound percentage (55.4).

13. Miami Heat (Record: 8-6, Last Week: 14): Over the past six games with Dwyane Wade sidelined, Mario Chalmers has averaged 20.0 points, 7.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

14. Cleveland Cavaliers (Record: 5-7, Last Week: 4): Four games last week. Four losses last week. With LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love & Co. are still adjusting to each other, the Cavs averaged just 89.5 points in those four losses.

15. New Orleans Pelicans (Record: 7-5, Last Week: 12): Anthony Davis is averaging 26.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game. The last player to average 26/11/3/2 is, well, nobody.

16. Atlanta Hawks (Record: 6-5, Last Week: 15): Fourteen different players have seen the court for the Hawks this season. All 14 of them are averaging double-digit minutes.

17. Milwaukee Bucks (Record: 7-7, Last Week: 17): The Bucks already have seven wins and compared to last season, it's more than a month earlier than they got their seventh win last year, which occurred on New Year's Eve against the Lakers. (And then they went 1-14 in January.)

18. Denver Nuggets (Record: 6-7, Last Week: 28): After a 1-6 start to the season, the Nuggets have won five of their past six games including the previous four games. Having another perfect week will be tough, however, as they face the Bulls on Tuesday and then have a home-and-home with the Suns this week.

19. Indiana Pacers (Record: 5-8, Last Week: 20): Although Roy Hibbert will miss Monday's game with an ankle injury, David West is close to returning and even Paul George has hopes (albeit unlikely ones) of returning this season.

20. Brooklyn Nets (Record: 5-8, Last Week: 18): Deron Williams currently ranks fifth in the league in minutes per game and Williams is one of three players with double-digit games of 15-plus points and five-plus assists this season. The other two are Stephen Curry and James Harden.

21. Utah Jazz (Record: 5-9, Last Week: 23): Only the Lakers (11) have allowed more 100-point games to their opponents than the Jazz (10) this season.

22. Orlando Magic (Record: 6-9, Last Week: 26): Nikola Vucevic currently leads the NBA in double-doubles with 11 of them in 15 games this season.

23. Boston Celtics (Record: 4-8, Last Week: 21): The Celtics rank last in the league in FTA Rate (.220), which measures how often a team gets to the free-throw line in relation to field-goal attempts.

24. Charlotte Hornets (Record: 4-10, Last Week: 19): Expectations were high for the Hornets entering the season, but they have now lost five games in a row and seven of their past eight games.

25. Oklahoma City Thunder (Record: 3-12, Last Week: 22): Although Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant will be back in the near future, Reggie Jackson is one of just two players in the league to currently average at least 20 points, seven assists and five boards per game. The other is Golden State's Stephen Curry.

26. New York Knicks (Record: 4-10, Last Week: 24): The Knicks currently lead the NBA in three-point shooting percentage (40.6 percent). The Knicks have eight players averaging at least one three-point shot per game and five of them are shooting at least 40 percent from behind the arc.

27. Detroit Pistons (Record: 3-10, Last Week: 25): After shooting 60.8 and 62.3 percent from the field in his first two seasons, respectively, Andre Drummond is shooting just 39.7 percent from the field this year although he's shooting a career-high 43.6 percent from the free-throw line.

28. Minnesota Timberwolves (Record: 3-9, Last Week: 27): The T'Wolves have managed to keep their opponents from scoring 100-plus points in three games. They are tied with the Celtics and Lakers to rank last in the league in that category.

29. Los Angeles Lakers (Record: 3-11, Last Week: 29): Jordan Hill has an active streak of six consecutive games with 10-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, which is tied with Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins for the longest such streak this season.

30. Philadelphia 76ers (Record: 0-13, Last Week: 30): This tweet says it all:

Your weekly @numberFire update: Sixers favored in ZERO of remaining 69 games. Best win odds are 44.6% on March 30 at home against ... Lakers
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) November 24, 2014

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Kevin Durant posts triple-double in loss to Lakers

Before today, there were 28 triple-doubles this season in the NBA and Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant was one of six players to have multiple triple-doubles this season.

Against the Lakers today, Durant posted his third triple-double of the season by scoring 27 points and adding 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

In addition to Durant, Serge Ibaka (21 points and 15 rebounds) and Russell Westbrook (20 points), but it wasn't enough as they lost to the Lakers by four points, 114-110.

Westbrook (eight) and Durant (five) combined to commit 13 turnovers in today's loss and Lakers shooting guard Jodie Meeks scored a career-high 42 points today.

The Thunder will face ex-teammate James Harden, Dwight Howard and the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.

OKC's Kevin Durant extends 30-point streak to 11G

It should probably come as no surprise, but Thunder forward Kevin Durant once again scored more than 30 points.

Entering the night with a 10-game streak of 30-plus points, Durant scored 41 points tonight against the Hawks on 15-of-25 shooting from the field, which included five three-pointers, and six-of-eight from the line.

Averaging 38.45 points per game during that stretch, Durant has scored at least 40 points in four of those contests. In addition, Durant has averaged 6.27 rebounds, 6.00 assists, 1.64 steals and 1.00 blocks during that stretch.

The only other player with 30-plus points in more than three consecutive games was Miami's LeBron James (four games). This season, Durant has accounted for three of the seven streaks of at least three consecutive games with 30-plus points.

Aside from Durant and James, only James Harden and John Wall have one three-game streak each of 30-plus points.

On Wednesday, Durant and the Thunder will face LeBron and the Heat in Miami.

James Harden scores career-high 46 vs. Thunder

With the NBA trade deadline fast approaching, the Rockets acquired rookie power forward Thomas Robinson, the fifth overall pick in last year's draft, from the Kings earlier tonight (per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports).

Meanwhile, James Harden, Robinson's new teammate, had a career night against the team that traded him to Houston before the season began.

Despite trailing by 14 points around midway through the fourth quarter, the Rockets mounted a comeback and beat the Thunder by three, 122-119.

In the process, Harden scored a career-high 46 points.  He set his previous career high against the Hawks in his second game as a Rocket.

Not only was he 14 of 19 from the field, Harden made seven of eight three-pointers and 11 of 12 free throws.  On top of his great shooting night, Harden added eight rebounds, six assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

James Harden (ankle) to miss Clippers game?

After stepping on Golden State's David Lee's foot last night, Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (ankle) left the game but later returned.

Harden finished the game with 27 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.  In six games this month, one of which includes a triple-double, Harden is averaging 27.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

Per Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, "Harden will miss Wednesday's game at Clippers with ankle injury but will be ready for Sunday's All-Star Game."

That said, Harden has not yet ruled himself out for Wednesday night's matchup against the Clippers, according to  Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

“I’m tough enough,” Harden said. “My main focus is on tomorrow, getting the right treatment, icing as much as possible, try to get my ankle ready and my knee ready. My whole body hurts.”

Houston is hosting this weekend's All-Star game and activities. After tonight's game against the Clippers, the Rockets won't play a regular-season game again until February 20th when they host Harden's former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

James Harden gets first triple-double of career

Since James Harden was drafted third overall in the 2009 NBA Draft, 51 players have recorded a triple-double.

Make that 52.

For the first time in his career, Harden finished with a triple-double as the Rockets beat the Bobcats, 109-95.  Harden had 21 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

It was the third time this season that Harden had double-digit assists and the third time he has had double-digit rebounds.

On the season, Harden is averaging 25.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, all of which are career highs.

Trifone: 2012 NBA Finals Prediction - Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Miami Heat

After an incredible Game 6 performance from King James, the Miami Heat were able to defend home court in Game 7 and advance to the Finals.  After a very competitive series, one that turned out to be far closer than I thought it would be, the Heat showed flashes of greatness.  However, they also showed some glaring weaknesses.

Miami is easily the most criticized and scrutinized team in the NBA, and while it's pretty clear why, it creates a very interesting dynamic.  Every time the Heat appear to be down (falling behind 2-1 to the Pacers, or falling behind 3-2 to the Celtics after taking a 2-0 lead), everyone, including myself at times, wants to pile on the Heat.  And the reason seems to be that our expectations for them are so high.  We think to ourselves that this team came together, three of the best players in the league, and yet we see them struggle the way any other team might.  It appears that the reality of the situation is that regardless of how they came together, the Big 3 of Miami are simply NOT substantially better than a handful of other teams in the league.

In the prime of his career, Michael Jordan and the Bulls were not challenged.  It was clear who the best team was, and Jordan's Bulls would usually have the series in hand before there was ever even talk of a Game 7.  We lived through this, and wonder why LeBron can't seem to yield the same results, in spite of joining forces with Wade and Bosh.

And the truth of the matter is that the league is just more competitive today; not as a whole, but at the top.  In the Jordan era, we didn't think there were five or six teams at the top, any of which could realistically win it.  I used to be a die-hard Knicks fan, and they were a playoff team year after year.  But I knew in my heart that Ewing and Starks and Oakley simply were not going to beat Jordan and Pippen.  And they never did.  Before free agency became as prevalent, teams simply did not change enough.  And Jordan and Pippen were simply better than Malone/Stockton, Olajuwon, Ewing, Barkley, etc.  The question was not which of a handful of teams will win it all.  It was will any other team rise up and really challenge the Bulls?

Today, we feel that Miami should be that team because of the way that they came together, and the incredibly high expectations we have for those three players.  But as we've seen, Miami is a very good team; often a great team.  But they simply are not head and shoulders above the rest of the league.  And when they struggle, we come down on them as if they should be Jordan's Bulls, rather than simply acknowledge that maybe they're not.

With all of that said, for the second straight year, Miami is headed back to the NBA Finals.  It wasn't always a pretty road and it wasn't always apparent that they would emerge, but once again they have, setting up the NBA's dream matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Celtics and Spurs put forth valiant efforts to make what appears to be one final run for each team, but in the end, we are witnessing the changing of the guard.  It's the two faces of the NBA, the three-time MVP versus the three-time scoring champion.  It's good versus evil in a series that will have just about everyone outside of Miami (and Seattle) rooting for the Thunder.

Oklahoma City was incredibly impressive against San Antonio.  All year, I have felt that the Thunder were a good team, certainly one of the best in the league.  But I definitely thought that they were still a bit young, and with the way the Spurs had been playing, I was more than a bit surprised that they were able to overcome a 2-0 deficit to win four straight.  It's ironic the way we judge Miami's Big 3, as OKC's Big 3 is every bit as good.  James Harden has been playing like the unquestioned best "third option" in the league, if we can still call him that.  And Oklahoma City seems to be winning by not only pouring on the points, but on the defensive end as well.

The Thunder are the favorite to win the title, and deservedly so.

They were more impressive overall than Miami was, and went through a more difficult road, knocking off three championship-caliber teams.  Still, I can't help but feel like LeBron isn't going to let anything stop him this time.  I felt the same way last year, and I still feel that Miami was better than Dallas was last year.  Just not at that moment in time.  Dirk Nowitzki had one of the top-five greatest playoff performances in history.  If Durant can mimic that kind of effort, it could spell the same kind of trouble for Miami this time around. 

However, LeBron is just as capable as Durant of having that kind of a series, and while the Heat have some weaknesses, James has been taking it to another level in the playoffs.  He appears to be less concerned about being criticized and is more focused on taking games over.  He looks like Cleveland Lebron, except he finally might have enough of a supporting cast.

I am as excited for this series as I have been for any series I can remember, and I look forward to watching the two best players on the planet go at each other.  When Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook aren't the headliners, you know you're in store for a pretty great matchup.  This series could go either way, but I've felt that in a seven-game series, Miami has been the best team all year.  And I still feel that way today.

Miami in seven.

[Editor's note: This post is by John Trifone (@JohnnyT0122).  Get tickets to the NBA Finals from TicketCity.]

Western Conference Finals Prediction: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

[Editor's note: This post is by John Trifone (@JohnnyT0122), who also contributes at our NFL site: Eat, Drink and Sleep Football (see John's archives).  John was a believer in the Spurs back in February; read below to see if that's still the case.]

This looks to be the best match up of the entire playoffs.  The Spurs have not lost a game since April 11, and more than that, haven't been challenged in many of their wins.  So far in the playoffs, they easily disbursed of the Jazz in the first round, and just kept rolling against the Clippers, who played very well in the first round to oust Memphis.  Even after falling behind by 24 points into the 2nd quarter of game 3, they went on to destroy LA for the remainder of the game, and won by double digits.

The Spurs look like the perfect team.  Tim Duncan is playing like he's 28 again, Tony Parker is having an outstanding season at the point, and they have few, if any, weaknesses.  They have a great coach, a deep bench, and play unbelievable team basketball.  They always seem to find the open man, and everyone on the floor is a reliable shooter.

The Thunder, on the other hand, have been pretty impressive in their own right.  I do think they have looked more vulnerable, as they have been in several very close games that could have gone either way.  In the first round of the playoffs, they swept Dallas, but realistically, could have easily gone down 0-2 at home.  In the second round, they blew the doors off against the Lakers in Game 1, but the next three contests could have, and maybe should have, gone to the Lakers.  Game 2, for example, had the Lakers leading by seven with just two minutes to go.  The flip side of the argument, of course, is that they keep finding ways to win these close games, which, of course, they have.

Clearly, Oklahoma City knows how to play well down the stretch and has several guys that can close.  While Durant is the biggest star on the team, Russell Westbrook and James Harden are perfectly capable of taking a game over when necessary, which makes it more difficult for defenses.  If you double up on Durant, you're looking at potentially leaving another stud with an open look.

While the Spurs and Thunder are a combined 16-1 in the playoffs thus far, this one certainly doesn't look like it's going to be a short series.  I'd guess that most people will be calling for a seven-game series and virtually flipping a coin on the winner.

Durant and Westbrook are the youthful superstars and future of the NBA, while the Spurs, though much less sexy, have pretty clearly been the best team in basketball for the last two months.  I think that the Thunder are a formidable opponent, but I just can't see them beating San Antonio.  In fact, I believe the Spurs will win in 5.

OKC has been a little inconsistent at times, and sometimes just start throwing up three-pointers in an attempt to make a quick run.  I don't think that's going to fly against the Spurs, and if the Thunder fall behind after three quarters, I don't expect them to be able to make the kind of runs they've made in the past in this series against San Antonio.  Don't get me wrong, OKC is incredibly athletic, they're fairly deep, they have some size, and they have multiple threats to score.  But Poppovich always seems to come up with a good scheme and I definitely give the Spurs the coaching advantage.  I also feel that the Spurs are so consistent that if OKC gets sloppy from time to time during the game, the Spurs will take advantage.  Ultimately, I like the Spurs to continue the amazing run they're on and advance to the NBA Finals over Oklahoma City.

Prediction: San Antonio in 5

Kevin Durant scores career-high 51 points vs. Nuggets

Entering tonight's game, Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant was averaging nearly 27 points per game and ranked third in the league behind Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

He nearly doubled his average tonight as he set a career high with 51 points.

In addition to Durant's 51 points, teammates Russell Westbrook scored 40 points and Serge Ibaka finished with a triple-double.

Before today, a player has scored 40-plus points only nine times and Kobe had four of the nine. Durant was the first player this season to score 50-plus points.

Aside from that trio and James Harden (10 points), no other Thunder player reached five points.