Updated: March 3, 2010, 1:55 PM ET

Power Rankings: Top-10 shakeup

Week:
 
Team:
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Monday, March 1

Quality victories early and late in the week -- sandwiched around a road loss to the league's hottest team -- were enough to keep the Los Angeles Lakers in the top spot of ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings.

After escaping with a win Tuesday night in Memphis on Kobe Bryant's game-winning triple, L.A. closed the week strong Sunday with a come-from-behind victory at home over the Denver Nuggets, enabling the Lakers to keep the Cleveland Cavaliers at No. 2 for the second successive Monday. The Lakers' only blemish was a five-point loss Wednesday at Dallas on the second night of a back-to-back, which helped the Mavericks -- who have won an NBA-best seven in a row -- rise to No. 5.

In other notable Week 18 moves, Boston dropped from No. 9 to No. 13 after its horrific home loss Saturday to New Jersey, while Milwaukee moved from No. 19 to a season-high No. 14 on the strength of a 10-4 record in February.

Click here to rank the teams yourself, or click here to comment on these rankings.

Also, check out John Hollinger's daily Power Rankings.

Tune in Tuesdays to "NBA Fastbreak" on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings.

2009-10 Power Rankings: Week 18
RANKTEAM / RECORD TRENDINGCOMMENTS
1
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Last Week: 1		Dare I say that the No. 1 team in the rankings had to have Sunday's come-from-behind victory over Denver. Don't see how Lakers can quibble, either, when they're still just 5-7 against the league's other five division leaders.
2
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Last Week: 2		If the Cavs have Shaq back for the last three rounds of the playoffs -- in reasonable shape, of course -- they'll be fine. In the interim? Can't wait to see the encore after they averaged (no misprint) 107.5 ppg in February.
3
Orlando
40-20
2
Last Week: 5		For all the grief Carter took about his 8.7 ppg in January and all the hassle Howard always gets about his offense, give them this: Vince averaged 18.6 ppg in February and Dwight is at 24.5 ppg since the All-Star break.
4
Denver
39-20
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Last Week: 4		One of the season's safer guesses: Pau Gasol announcing that the Nuggets talk too much -- "Way too much," Pau says -- isn't exactly going to quiet things down between these teams. Which is obviously great for all of us.
5
Dallas
39-21
2
Last Week: 7		They've got the league's longest active winning streak at seven W's in a row. They're a promising 4-2 against the East's top four teams. And they're riding an increasingly ageless Jason Kidd as much as Dirk these days.
6
Utah
38-21
3
Last Week: 3		As peeved as D-Will sounded after the Brewer trade, this might lighten the mood: Thanks to New York's ongoing spiral, only five teams have worse records than the Knicks. Utah, remember, owns New York's first-round pick.
7
Phoenix
37-24
1
Last Week: 8		Not even the latest torturous ending against the Spurs can dampen spirits on Planet Orange. Not after a 9-3 mark in February that, considering all the Amare trade speculation, tops the 14-3 good times of October-November.
8
Atlanta
37-21
2
Last Week: 10		I really do think that the Hawks had the best hope of any suitor outside Cleveland to land Ilgauskas' signature ... if there was any shot Big Z was legitimately open to playing for a team besides the Cavs. But he's not.
9
3
Last Week: 6		Let's get Simmons in one last lather about The Streak: Durant's run of 29 straight games with at least 25 points started before Christmas and spanned a tidy 64 days. The bonus: OKC is up to 22-11 when KD scores 30 or more.
10
3
Last Week: 13		As if the Blazers didn't have enough what-ifs to ponder after all of their injuries, there's more: Portland is 1-5 in OT games. Which presents an unhealthy amount of second-guessing fodder for a team in the No. 8 slot.
11
3
Last Week: 14		The Spurs were already motivated to get Jefferson going by any means necessary, but they'll be even more desperate to keep him plugged in after someone passes along that they're 6-0 when RJ scores at least 20.
12
Chicago
31-28
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Last Week: 12		Make sure Chicago is high on your list of trade-deadline winners. The Bulls' deals made them better now (Warrick and Flip Murray are off to productive starts) and later (creating enough cap space to sign a max free agent).
13
Boston
36-21
4
Last Week: 9		All might seem lost -- or heading that way -- after that home loss to the Nets, but I still tend to believe that Orlando won't be thrilled to see the Celts in Round 2 as long as KG, Pierce, Ray Ray and 'Sheed are all upright.
14
5
Last Week: 19		No idea what took me so long to react. But the Bucks' overdue bump arrives now thanks to that 6-1 record since trading for Salmons and a 12-4 mark since Bogut's near-perfect game Jan. 26 in the committee's presence.
15
New Orleans
31-29
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Last Week: 15		Thanks to his 35-point signoff in Dallas, Collison averaged 21.6 points and 8.3 assists for the month. Only one other rook in the past 25 years can top those totals: Allen Iverson (33.6 points and 8.7 assists) in April 1997.
16
Toronto
31-27
5
Last Week: 11		The Bulls and Bucks are surging while Bosh -- openly dreaming of a top-four slot during All-Star Weekend -- can't shake his sprained ankle. Add it all up and the East's bottom four playoff seeds are suddenly up for grabs.
17
Memphis
30-29
1
Last Week: 18		Four straight road wins account for just the latest in a string of Griz surprises, but here's the unfortunate reality out West: You've got to win 46 games to get to the playoffs if No. 8 Portland maintains its current pace.
18
2
Last Week: 16		The Mavericks have never lost a game to the Bobs. The Bobs are better than ever at home and will get the Mavs on Monday night after Dallas played l-a-t-e at home Sunday. It's your classic something has to give.
19
Houston
29-29
1
Last Week: 20		Good news: Houston was the first team in 15 years with three 30-point scorers (Martin, Brooks and Scola) in a non-OT game. Bad news: The W they netted over the Parker-less Spurs is Houston's only W post-trade.
20
Miami
29-31
3
Last Week: 17		D-Wade can't miss any more extended time or Professor Hollinger's dream of seeing all 10 teams in the South (and Southwest) with winning records has no shot. Miami and Charlotte are the only teams currently falling shy.
21
2
Last Week: 23		Guest comment courtesy of/swiped from the Twitter feed of Arash Markazi at ESPNLosAngeles.com: "What were the odds of the Clippers going 3-0 and the Cavs going 0-3 in their first three games following the trade deadline?"
22
2
Last Week: 24		With Arenas in exile, Blatche is A) senior Wizard after all the changes and B) averaging 27 and 12 over the past seven games, four wins and three losses by five points or less. Neither development is sinking in so easily.
23
1
Last Week: 22		After an uneventful trade deadline in Philly -- unless you count Jodie Meeks' arrival -- two topics dominate discussion: 1. How much longer Iverson will be here. 2. And ditto for Eddie Jordan even though he's only in Year 1.
24
Indiana
20-39
2
Last Week: 26		Saw Larry Bird on NBA TV over the weekend discussing A) Indy's long and difficult "journey" until it has cap space in the summer of 2011 and B) how he expected this group to at least make another run at 35-40 wins.
25
Detroit
21-38
4
Last Week: 21		In spite of all its issues, Detroit actually made it to the final two games of February with a record of 6-5 ... only to lose in Denver and Golden State and thus clinch a losing record for the ninth consecutive calendar month.
26
2
Last Week: 28		We certainly didn't expect Westphal's Kings to need this long to reach 20 wins after a 13-14 start ... but we can also still remember plenty of folks back in October who thought this team's ceiling was less than 20 wins.
27
2
Last Week: 25		You tell me: Which stretch-run milestone happens first? New Jersey gets to 10 wins? Or the Dubs win the seven games that nudge Nellie (1,326) past Lenny Wilkens (1,332) as the all-time winningest coach in league history?
28
1
Last Week: 27		It hasn't stopped the sniping about his David Stern-issued All-Star invite, thanks to all the Knicks' recent losing, but D-Lee just averaged 23.5 ppg in February, good for the third straight "best" scoring month of his career.
29
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Last Week: 29		The Blazers must have been paying attention when 'Sota sneaked in those road wins in Utah and Denver, because they just polished off a very focused four-game sweep of the Wolves. Margins: 23, 23, 24 and 19.
30
New Jersey
6-53
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Last Week: 30		The shocker heard 'round the world in Boston just catapulted the Nets two wins ahead of Philly's fateful 9-73 pace through 58 games in 1972-73. Which means you can almost hear the exhales from here. Almost.
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