| | Rankings as of Tuesday, Feb. 1
|  | | Sprewell and the Knicks rise, the Kings drop a bit. |
This is getting out of hand now. Utah was coming off a win over the Lakers, had the third-best record in the Association and were showing no signs of a losing streak. The Stockton to Malone thing remained a thing of beauty, the Polynice-Ostertag tag team act was producing better than expected and the absence of Jeff Hornacek hadn't seemed to hurt the team. Then came the Vancouver Grizzlies.
The night after we moved the Jazz up in the Power Rankings to No. 2 -- a controversial decision to be sure, but one many of you did agree with -- the Grizz beat Utah for the first time in 18 all-time meetings. That's all-time meetings. And this was in Salt Lake City. And by 17 points. Vancouver shot .570.
So Utah isn't No. 2 this week. The Lakers are. Minnesota now moves up to the top three, a little high, but one we're comfortable with since no other team deserves it. Now watch the Wolves lose to Washington, Houston and Denver this week. (No, we don't really believe that will happen.)
Here are the latest Power Rankings as we stride into February. Click here to complain and we'll post the best e-mails later in the week. And for those who have written to ask where Around The Rim has been, it will resume on Wednesday.
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Team (Record)
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Last week
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Pvs.
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ESPN.com skinny
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1. Blazers (33-10)
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2-0
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1
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Pip (12.8 ppg.) on way to worst statistical season, but might be best year for image if team wins title
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2. Lakers (34-10)
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1-1
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3
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Team's coasting along; Phil finally admits Rice is on the block, and Kukoc is a possibility; What about Ike?
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3. Wolves (25-17)
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3-1
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5
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Impressive wins over Kings, Jazz offset Spurs loss; Fantasy alert: Get Bobby Jackson while Brandon's out
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4. Spurs (28-16)
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2-1
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6
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Beat the Wolves, then score 67 vs. Blazers; Hurting Admiral must play or wheels fall off team very fast
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5. Knicks (26-16)
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1-1
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7
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Still the East's best; Kings fans won't agree, but Knicks handled them easily; It's called defense, by the way
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6. Pacers (28-15)
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2-0
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10
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Smits, a 7-4 center, averaged 3.9 boards in January; Jackson, at the point, averaging that for the entire year
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7. Jazz (27-15)
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0-3
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2
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Maybe they were basking in glory of Laker win, or looking ahead to losses to Blazers, Wolves. We hope so
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8. Kings (27-16)
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2-3
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4
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Not too bad for a packed week on the road; Jason cannot disappear in games; Nick and Corliss already are
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9. Sonics (28-17)
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1-1
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9
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Beat Nets at buzzer, lost at buzzer in George Karl's return; Key home-and-home with Suns this week
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10. Heat (27-16)
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2-2
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11
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Still figure team wins 55 or so; Mash playing well despite trade rumors; Riley seems fixed on some kind of deal
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11. 76ers (24-20)
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0-3
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8
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Lost three games by combined 11 points, and because of missed FTs; Must get another scorer in town
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12. Hornets (24-18)
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2-1
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13
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Good enough to win division or finish fifth, represent East in Finals or go out in first round; Who knows?
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13. Bucks (25-20)
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3-1
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15
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Most road wins in division after edging Sonics, Grizz; Nobody knew Scott Williams could do this every night
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14. Raptors (24-19)
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3-0
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16
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Some Rap fans want to be top 10; On basis of beating Bulls and Wiz? Play on road at Spurs, Bucks this week
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15. Suns (25-18)
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2-3
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12
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Eighth seed in West only 4½ up on Nuggets now; Is Shawn Marion ever coming back?
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16. Mavs (17-26)
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3-0
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21
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Beat Clips, War's and Nugs, a pretty good cure for a struggling team; If only Rodman were here to fix everything
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17. Pistons (22-22)
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1-3
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14
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East's eighth seed talking deals with lot of teams for size, but Montross and Buechler isn't great bait
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18. Nuggets (20-22)
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2-1
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20
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Losing Mercer means more time for McCloud, Stith, more shots for McDyess, Van Exel, LaFrentz
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19. Celtics (20-23)
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1-2
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17
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Walker or Jalen Rose? Pitino may get his choice, but he denies it all; Sources confirm Walker's on block
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20. Magic (20-26)
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2-2
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22
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Backcourt of Armstrong, Mercer, and a big free agent to go with Maggette, Doleac up front? Not too bad for 2001
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21. Rockets (17-27)
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1-3
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18
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Beat Shaq, then lose to Warriors? Why is Hakeem huffing and puffing a minute into games? Answer: He's old
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22. Nets (17-27)
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0-3
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19
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Even though it was by combined 5 points, you can't lose to Clips and Grizz, anywhere; Team going backward
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23. Cavs (18-26)
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2-1
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23
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Going nowhere with this team, slowly; At least they score more than 80; When's Kemp giving birth, anyway?
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24. Hawks (16-26)
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2-1
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24
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Beat the Knicks, then get ripped in Orlando; J.R. gets rematch with Steve Smith in Atlanta this week...
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25. Wizards (14-30)
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1-1
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25
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Coaching thing with Walker, Higgins handled poorly; Shame is both are good guys; MJ should coach
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26. Grizzlies (12-31)
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2-1
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28
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Win in Utah, beat Nets, then almost beat Bucks; This is starting to look like a real team after all
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27. Warriors (9-32)
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1-1
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27
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Four games in two weeks; That's a good way to avoid long losing streak; Mookie, Toronto's playoff-bound, so go!
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28. Bulls (8-33)
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0-3
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26
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Imagine how Brand, Artest feel: No idea who the other 10 players on team will be next year, and maybe next week
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29. Clippers (11-32)
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1-2
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29
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What? An Eric Murdock sighting? Ah, remember when he averaged 14, 7 and 2 steals over a three-year period?
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ALSO SEE
NBA Power Rankings, Jan. 25
NBA Power Rankings, Jan. 18
NBA Power Rankings, Jan. 11
NBA Power Rankings, Jan. 4
NBA Power Rankings, Dec. 28
NBA Power Rankings, Dec. 21
NBA Power Rankings, Dec. 14
NBA Power Rankings, Dec. 7
NBA Power Rankings, Nov. 30
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