David Aldridge takes a look at the week that was around the NBA, and uses that to help him rank which teams are the top 15 in the league right now.
(previous rank in brackets; last week’s record in parenthesis)
1) Cleveland [2] (3-0): Go crazy, Cleveland. Go crazy. It’s been a long wait. Enjoy.
2) Golden State [1] (0-3): First three-game losing streak of the season could not have come at a worse, or more unexpected, time.
3) Oklahoma City [3]: Season complete. You wonder what KD thought about the Warriors’ collapse, and how it will impact what he thinks of Golden State as an option.
4) Toronto [4]: Season complete.
5) San Antonio [5]: Season complete.
6) L.A. Clippers [6]: Season complete.
7) Miami [7]: Season complete.
8) Atlanta [8]: Season complete.
9) Boston [9]: Season complete.
10) Portland [10]: Season complete.
11) Charlotte [11]: Season complete.
12) Memphis [12]: Season complete.
13) Indiana [13]: Season complete.
14) Detroit [14]: Season complete.
15) Dallas [15]: Season complete.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Cleveland (3-0): LeBron James was otherworldly, but Kyrie Irving was pretty spectacular himself, and Tristan Thompson was pretty doggone effective throughout this series in the paint at both ends, and Kevin Love and J.R. Smith made big contributions in the Game 7 win Sunday. It was a team effort and something that Cavaliers fans can savor forever. No one has ever done what their team did. That’s forever.
TEAM OF THE WEAK
Golden State (0-3): There will be a lot of ink and a lot of bandwidth devoted to what exactly happened to the Splash Brothers in this series, and whether Draymond Green’s suspension was warranted, and how much Andrew Bogut missing the last two games really hurt. But the bottom line is the bottom line: the Dubs got outplayed three straight times, and twice at home.
MORE MORNING TIP: LeBron delivers Cleveland its championship | NBA conspiracy theories? You’ve got to be kidding
Longtime NBA reporter and columnist David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
