NBA Power Rankings: Who said the Spurs were over the hill?

By Kurt HelinJan 3, 2011, 2:09 PM EST

Our weekly NBA Power Rankings, where that Spurs/Celtics game Wednesday is looking like the game of the week.

1. Spurs (29-4). They beat a suddenly reeling Mavericks team as well as the Lakers this week. By the way, Tim Duncan has put up an average of 16 points and 10 rebounds a game in the Spurs last 10, plus anchored their defense. Every team could use an over the hill guy playing like that.

2. Heat (26-9). Five wins in a row and they are playing the best ball in the East right now. Why? Because their big three have got it going and are starting to play like we expected, and carrying that supporting cast along.

3. Celtics (25-7). They had lost two in a row due to injuries before Rajon Rondo returned to the lineup Sunday. What does that mean? That the Celtics are not easily cruising to the Eastern Conference’s top seed. But Boston knows it’s about being healthy starting in late April that really matters.

4. Magic (21-12). Five wins in a row because the offense is a little better. And so is the defense — didn’t see that coming. We still question the trades and taking on all that extra salary long term, but in the short term we’re starting to believe.

5. Mavericks (25-8). Three losses in a row with Dirk Nowitzki out and while he may be back soon now Caron Butler may be done for the rest of the season. That could mean a lot more Shawn Marion, which raises depth questions.

6. Lakers (23-11). You see flashes of better play from the Lakers then they get blown out at home by Memphis (and the Grizzlies were on the second night of a back-to-back). Go ahead and say they are bored right now, but because of that they are not developing good habits they will need later. Their offense was best in the NBA but has fallen to fourth.

7. Bulls (22-10). Chicago is 8-2 in their last 10 and it’s because they’ve held opponents to 41 percent shooting in that stretch. Without Noah for some of it (they are 6-2 without him).

8. Thunder (23-12). The Thunder are being held back by being an average defensive team (17th in the league in defensive efficiency). That will cost them in the playoffs, too, if they can’t right that ship.

9. Jazz (23-11). Mehmet Okur was back, and then his back (and back pain) took him out again. The Jazz are a Jekyll and Hyde team from game-to-game and even quarter-to-quarter.

10. Hornets (20-14). They play at the fourth slowest pace in the league — if you had Chris Paul on your roster wouldn’t you run more?

11. Nuggets (19-13). I know it’s not going to matter, ‘Melo is gone no matter what, but I’d like to see this team play at full strength for a few weeks just to see what they would have been like.

12. Knicks (19-14). Some tough games coming up, starting with the Spurs Tuesday followed by a West Coast road swing. Still, solidly a playoff team right now, and that was all you could really hope for with this roster. And it’s a step in the right direction.

13. Blazers (18-16). Call it the Ewing Theory if you wish, but the Blazers are 8-3 without Brandon Roy this season and just beat a hot Rockets team Sunday.

14. Hawks (22-14). Great note from Hoopinion: At 19-5 against sub-.500 teams and 3-9 against teams above .500 the Hawks are currently the perfect gauge for NBA quality.

15. Rockets (16-17). After playing well of late on Sunday the Rockets lost to the Blazers and looked like a team that needed a star to take over for them. Daryl Morey would love to get in the Carmelo Anthony talks for that reason.

16. Grizzlies (15-19). This team just brings it against the Lakers. And the OJ Mayo move to the bench seems to have sparked him personally. When the Grizzlies bring the consistent defensive effort they can beat a lot of teams, but about half the time they don’t bother.

17. Sixers (13-20). A long road trip without Andre Iguodala for much of it has been tough, but the Sixers are still 5-5 in their last 10. They head home Monday night.

18. Bucks (13-18). They only play the Heat and Magic this week, as the Bucks are in the brutal point of their schedule.

19. Pacers (14-18). Here’s the Pacers problem in a nutshell — they shot 37 percent against the Knicks on Sunday. The Knicks. It was a sloppy shooting game both ways but the Pacers should be better than that.

20. Warriors (13-20). Monta Ellis in the All-Star game? I can see that. Just tough to be a guard in the West and get in because who are you going to leave out? Deron Williams? Steve Nash? Tony Parker? Russell Westbrook?

21. Suns (14-18). They are 3-7 in their last 10 and lost to the Kings this week. The Suns are in real trouble.

22. Bobcats (11-20). Paul Silas and the faster pace have the Bobcats looking better than they have all season. But Gerald Wallace injuring his ankle, again, will not help.

23. Clippers (10-24). Blake Griffin for the All-Star game? I can see that, but forward in the West may be the single deepest spot on the ballot. So do you leave of Tim Duncan? Dirk Nowitzki? Pau Gasol?

24. Raptors (11-22). During Summer League we were hyping DeMar DeRozan as a guy who could have a breakout year, and he’s finally staring to show it.

25. Pistons (11-22). They caught the Celtics at the right time, but if you thought maybe they were turning a corner we hope you didn’t watch the Suns game.

26. Timberwolves (9-25). The Wolves are on fire from three-point range — 48 percent as a team in the last five games — and that has got them on a little hot streak (3-2 in those five games).

27. Kings (7-24). Even if you don’t watch the whole game, tune in for the end of Kings games to see dramatic endings. The Kings got two wins in one week, a legitimate one over the Suns and a lucky one over the Grizzlies.

28. Nets (9-25). Well, at least they are not in the running for the worst record in NBA history this year. But this is a long, slow and painful rebuilding process.

29. Wizards (7-21). Soft part of the schedule for the next couple weeks, including road games in Philly, Charlotte and Minnesota. Win one of those and the Wizards will have one road win this season.

30. Cavaliers (8-22). They are 1-9 in their last 10 and that one win was in overtime against the Knicks. They are bad at both ends of the floor and watching their trade wire will be more interesting than their games.

Bob Myers stepping down as Warriors president, GM

By Kurt HelinMay 30, 2023, 1:00 PM EDT

Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

The architect of the four-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors, the former agent turned two-time Executive of the Year Bob Myers is stepping away from the franchise.

This had been rumored all season and Myers confirmed it to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN prior to Myers’ formal press conference Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s just time,” Myers told ESPN.

Warriors ownership wanted to keep Myers on board and reportedly made generous contract offers to retain him, but Myers just wanted to back away from the job.

Myers took over a Warriors franchise in 2012 that had already drafted Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, but was still being led on the court by Monta Ellis and David Lee. Myers drafted Draymond Green (in the second round), eventually traded for Andre Iguodala, built out the roster, fired Mark Jackson and replaced him with Steve Kerr, and generally built a championship team. When that team fell short in 2016 — and boosted by a one-time spike in the salary cap due to a new television deal — Myers brought in Kevin Durant to form one of the best, most dominant teams the NBA had seen, and they won two more titles. After Durant left and due to some brutal injuries, the Warriors stumbled for a few years, but in 2022 found their footing again and won a fourth ring. Myers helped guild all of that.

It is expected Mike Dunleavy Jr. — the No. 2 man in a Warriors front office that values a lot of input from different voices and isn’t classically hierarchical — will take over as the man in charge. Wojnarowski reports that Kirk Lacob, son of owner Joe Lacob, also is expected to have an expanded role.

This changeover comes at a critical time for the Warriors (and adds to the end-of-an-era feeling), heading into an important offseason for the franchise. Green is expected to opt out of his $27.5 million contract for next season and is looking for the security of more years — and this past season showed the Warriors cannot win at a high level without him. However, the Warriors will want him back at a lower figure than that $27.5 million per year. Klay Thompson is set to make $43.2 million next season and is extension eligible, but he is not a max player anymore and the Warriors will want those future years at a much lower price. Then there is Jordan Poole‘s extension kicking in — at $28.7 million — after a down season. The tension following Green punching Poole tainted the entire Warriors’ season, and there is a lot of speculation around the league Poole could be traded.

Myers built strong relationships with the Warriors’ players, and he would have been better positioned to talk to Green and Thompson about sacrifice to keep the team together. That is a tougher sell for Dunleavy.

Don’t expect Myers to jump straight into another NBA job — although offers will come to him fast — he is expected to take a year or more and step back from the game before deciding his next move.

Heat’s Tyler Herro reportedly targeting Game 3 return during Finals

By Kurt HelinMay 30, 2023, 8:10 AM EDT

Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images

Tyler Herro fractured his hand just before halftime of Game 1 against the Milwaukee Bucks, and following his ensuing surgery the target timeline was he could be back for the NBA Finals. That led to a lot of “good luck with that” comments on social media (not to mention comments about his sideline fits).

The No. 8 seed Miami Heat are on to the NBA Finals, and Herro hopes to return to the court when Miami returns home for Game 3, reports Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT.

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (hand fracture) is ramping up workouts and is expected to make his return at some point during NBA Finals with Game 3 being the likely target, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) May 30, 2023

Maybe he returns, perhaps that is optimistic (Game 3 is Wednesday, June 7). Herro is still feeling pain in his right hand, he told reporters after the game.

Tyler Herro says he expects to be able to return during NBA Finals. But he says there is still post-surgical pain in his right hand.

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 30, 2023

Herro averaged 20.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists a game for the Heat this season, shooting 37.8% from 3. He was the team’s secondary shot creator after Jimmy Butler, a guy counted on to jumpstart the offense at points.

If he returns, Erik Spoelstra has to return him to the sixth-man role where he thrived a season ago. The starting lineup without him was better defensively, and with the emergence of Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent, the Heat don’t need the offensive spark with that first group (less Herro has meant more Jimmy Butler with the ball, and that’s a good thing). The second unit could use the offensive spark Herro brings.

It’s something to watch as the Heat return to the NBA Finals for the first time since the bubble, this time facing the formidable Denver Nuggets.

Three takeaways from Heat playing with intent, beating Celtics in Game 7

By Kurt HelinMay 30, 2023, 7:30 AM EDT

Is there a more Miami Heat way to win a series than going on the road and ripping the heart out of Boston fans in their own building in a Game 7?

Is there a more fitting way for this era of Celtics to lose this series than to play poorly until their backs are against the wall, then flip the switch and look like the best team in the NBA, only to not quite get all the way there?

In those ways the Eastern Conference Finals worked out the way it should have, with the Miami Heat taking charge of Game 7 in the first quarter and never looking back. The Heat beat the Celtics 103-84 to advance to the NBA Finals (which start Thursday in Denver).

Here are three takeaways from Game 7.

1) Caleb Martin embodied the difference in this series

Jimmy Butler was officially voted MVP of the Conference Finals. He averaged 24.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game through the series, numbers that are hard to argue. He is the best player on the team.

However, he won in a tight 5-4 vote over Caleb Martin — who had 26 points and 10 rebounds in Game 7, but more than that embodied the difference in this series. Martin played with intention, focus, and with a commitment to the system every night in a way the Celtics don’t do consistently. Martin, a guy waived by the Hornets in the summer of 2021, has had to scrap and fight for everything he’s gotten in the league, and with that comes a hardened edge.

Caleb Martin SHINES as the @MiamiHEAT win Game 7 on the road!

26 PTS (Playoff career high)
11-16 FG
10 REB#NBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV Game 1:
Thursday, 6/1 at 8:30 PM ET on ABC pic.twitter.com/leZLxechIp

— NBA (@NBA) May 30, 2023

“To the untrained eye, he just looks like he’s an undrafted guy who has been in the G League, who has started with Charlotte and now he’s here,” Butler said of Martin. “Started on a two-way contract. That’s what it looks like to y’all. To us, he’s a hell of a player, hell of a defender, playmaker, shotmaker, all of the above. Everybody [on the team] has seen Caleb work on those shots day in, day out. It doesn’t surprise us. We have seen it every single day. I’m so proud and happy for him.”

Martin’s shotmaking also embodied why the Heat won — they were simply better at getting and hitting the shots they wanted all series long. It was historic shotmaking.

Bam Adebayo had another rough offensive outing — 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting with a lot of good looks missed — but his defense was stellar and that was reflected in his +22 on the night, the best of any starter on the team. He remains vital to what they do.

2) Jayson Tatum‘s rolled ankle proved too much for Celtics

The Celtics didn’t lose this series because Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle on the game’s first play.

Jayson Tatum hurt his ankle on the first play of the game.

He's staying in the game. pic.twitter.com/Tny92sVPXb

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 30, 2023

They lost this series because when they went down 0-3 in the series they left themselves no margin for error — everything had to go perfectly. It never does, just ask the other 150 teams in NBA history to go down 0-3 in a series. Tatum went on to score 14 points, but he admitted he was a shell of himself.

The Celtics needed to collectively make up for Tatum being slowed (much the way the Heat’s role players such as Gabe Vincent stepped up with Tyler Herro out).

Jaylen Brown didn’t, he ended up shooting 8-of-23 for 19 points, but with eight turnovers. Derrick White had 18 and was the best Celtic in Game 7. Malcolm Brogdon tried but could not play through an elbow injury he may need off-season surgery on (and coach Joe Mazzulla stuck with him a little too long).

The bigger problem was Boston was 9-of-42 (21.4%) on 3-pointers. Miami leaned into their zone defense (which allowed them to keep Duncan Robinson on the floor) and while the Celtics did a better job of getting into the middle of that zone, but they still needed to knock down shots over the top of it. They failed.

When the Celtics’ shots aren’t falling it bleeds into the other aspects of their game — the defensive lapses come, the mental focus goes in and out. Consistency is not a hallmark of these Celtics.

We’ll get into Boston’s future in the next couple of days, they should and will re-sign Jaylen Brown and make another run, but this core needs to look at itself in the mirror and figure out why it can’t play closer to its peak nightly.

3) The Heat are the life lesson you want to teach

As a parent, there are a lot of life lessons you try to pass on to your children, although you eventually realize that it’s more about what you show them day-to-day than what you say in any moment that really resonates.

One thing I want to show my daughters, what I want for them is to be resilient like this Miami team — a group that took a punch to the gut in Game 6, stumbled, got up off the ground, shook off the dust, and came back with more resolve and focus.

“I think probably people can relate to this team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team advanced. “Life is hard. Professional sports is just kind of a reflection sometimes of life, that things don’t always go your way. The inevitable setbacks happen and it’s how you deal with that collectively. There’s a lot of different ways that it can go. It can sap your spirit. It can take a team down for whatever reason. With this group, it’s steeled us and made us closer and made us tougher.

“These are lessons that hopefully we can pass along to our children, that you can develop this fortitude. And sometimes you have to suffer for the things that you want. Game 6, the only thing that we can do is sometimes you have to laugh at the things that make you cry…

“We have some incredible competitors in that locker room. They love the challenge. They love putting themselves out there in front of everybody. Open to criticism. Open to everything. But to compete for it, and that’s a beautiful thing.”

They did compete harder than the team in Green across from them, and that’s why Miami tips off in the NBA Finals on Thursday night.

Martin, Butler spark Heat to resilient Game 7 win on road, beat Celtics to advance to Finals

By Kurt HelinMay 29, 2023, 11:24 PM EDT

This is what resilience looks like. What heart looks like.

Miami had to fight through the play-in, coming back late against the Bulls to earn the No. 8 seed. Then they beat the feared Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Then they beat the feisty New York Knicks. All that to get the most talented team in the NBA on paper, the Boston Celtics.

Miami raced out to a 3-0 series lead, then watched the Celtics climb back in — taking a punch to the gut with Derrick White’s putback to win Game 6 and force a Game 7. Most teams would have rolled over after that loss.

Miami came out hungry in Game 7, punched the Celtics in the mouth in the first quarter, pulled away in the second to a double-digit lead, and never let Boston all the way back, eventually taking their hearts and the game, 103-84.

The Miami Heat advance to the NBA Finals, flying directly after this game to Denver where they will face Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets starting Thursday night.

Caleb Martin was the MVP of this game — 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting, plus 10 rebounds — and was the Heat’s best player all series long.

CALEB MARTIN ON FIRE 🔥

He's 4/5 from three… now up to 26 points as Miami leads early in Q4 of Game 7! pic.twitter.com/lcg8rikszT

— NBA (@NBA) May 30, 2023

However, the voters gave the Eastern Conference Finals MVP award to Jimmy Butler, who scored 28 in this game and bounced back after a couple of rough outings.

For Boston, the game may have turned on the team’s first possession when Jayson Tatum turned his ankle, landing on Gabe Vincent after a jumper. He stayed in the game and finished with 14 points, but he never moved the same and was not the threat the Celtics needed as a shot creator with the ball in his hands. Postgame Tatum admitted it impacted his play.

Jayson Tatum hurt his ankle on the first play of the game.

He's staying in the game. pic.twitter.com/Tny92sVPXb

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 30, 2023

With Tatum injured, the Celtics ran a lot of their offense through Derrick White and he responded with 18 points.

Derrick White cuts it to 8 ❗❗❗ pic.twitter.com/QjeVYS8Vzy

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 30, 2023

With Tatum down, the Celtics also needed more Jaylen Brown, who scored 19 points but on 8-of-23 shooting with eight turnovers. It was not nearly enough.

Both teams were tight to start the game (as is often the case in Game 7s) and it showed mostly with the Celtics shooting 0-of-10 from 3. Miami started slow but did a better job settling into their offense and led 22-15 after one quarter. Their hot streak extended to a 25-7 run into early in the second.

The Heat stretched the lead up to as much as 17 and led by 11 at the half thanks to 14 from Caleb Martin and 11 from Jimmy Butler in the first 24. The Celtics were lucky to be that close shooting 4-of-21 from 3 and Jayson Tatum only scoring seven points. What kept Boston close was the seven offensive rebounds.

Miami made a push in the third quarter, had momentum for stretches with White hitting shots and making plays, but they couldn’t get stops and entering the fourth they were still down 10.

Then the Heat started the fourth on a 7-0 run, which was the ballgame.

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1) Caleb Martin embodied the difference in this series

2) Jayson Tatum‘s rolled ankle proved too much for Celtics

3) The Heat are the life lesson you want to teach

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