USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt discuss whether the West is in a league of its own in the NBA. USA TODAY Sports
Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry celebrates after a 108-105 win over the Houston Rockets.(Photo: Christopher Katsarov, AP)
The Toronto Raptors are the real deal.
Fifteen of their past 16 games have been wins. Ten of those wins were by double digits. Five of those wins, including Friday over Houston, were against teams currently in the playoff picture.
Their on-court attack is once again spearheaded by MVP candidate DeMar DeRozan, who's having the best all-around season of his career, while Dwane Casey may very well be the front-runner for Coach of the Year.
But these Raptors aren't the Raptors of years past, where their ceiling was a trip to the conference finals. This group is taking it a step further, emerging as a legitimate threat to seize the Eastern Conference throne and advance to the NBA Finals.
Among the numbers that make this Raptors team stand out:
- On pace for the first 60-win season in franchise history
- NBA's best bench in terms of net rating (plus-9.9, up from plus-5.9 last season)
- Top-10 in the league in both three-pointers made and attempted (ranked in the bottom-10 in both categories last season)
- Outscoring opponents by an average of 8.8 points per game, trailing only Houston (8.9)
Need we say more?
With the final stretch of the season upon us, here's how we view the league's current power structure. Voters, listed at the bottom of this page, include NBA reporters from across the USA TODAY Network.
1. Houston Rockets (52-14) | Last week: 1
Though the Rockets bid adieu to their NBA-best 17-game winning streak with Friday's loss to Toronto, their status as the most significant threat to Golden State still stands strong.
2. Golden State Warriors (51-16) | Last week: 2
The injury report is to blame for the Warriors' two-game skid, with Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, David West and Jordan Bell forced to watch both games from the sidelines.
3. Toronto Raptors (49-17) | Last week: 3
All signs are pointing to homecourt advantage for the Raptors throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. They're 28-5 at Air Canada Centre — the best home record in the NBA.
4. Boston Celtics (46-21) | Last week: 4
The Celtics, now 3 ½ games behind Toronto but seven games ahead of Indiana, may opt to rest Kyrie Irving and his "aching" knee before the playoffs.
"I think (rest) will probably be the best thing, just instead of kind of hoping it gets better over the two or three days that it usually does," Irving said Sunday. "It's aching a little bit more than I wanted it to now, so I'm taking the necessary time."
5. Portland Trail Blazers (40-26) | Last week: 5
The longest winning streak in the NBA belongs to the Blazers, who haven't strung together this many consecutive wins since 2013. They have the NBA's second-ranked defense (tied with Indiana) during this stretch, allowing just 99.2 points per 100 possessions.
6. New Orleans Pelicans (38-28) | Last week: 7
Back-to-back losses — one with Anthony Davis, one without — have the Pelicans in a three-way tie with Minnesota and Oklahoma City for fourth place in the West.
7. Indiana Pacers (39-28) | Last week: 10
The Pacers continue to exceed expectations, and after Sunday's two-point win in Boston, hold sole possession of third place in the East.
8. Oklahoma City Thunder (39-29) | Last week: 11
The Thunder have won seven of their past 10 games, but only one (Saturday over San Antonio) was against a playoff team.
9. Cleveland Cavaliers (38-28) | Last week: 6
LeBron James' weekend in Los Angeles didn't go as planned for the Cavs, who dropped both games to the Clippers and Lakers by a combined 28 points.
10. Minnesota Timberwolves (39-29) | Last week: 8
What better way to respond to your first three-game losing streak of the season than with a win over Golden State?
"We understood the magnitude of this game," Karl-Anthony Towns said on the postgame broadcast after Sunday's 109-103 victory. " ... We had to come out with some urgency. We had to come out with desperation. We needed this win bad."
11. Washington Wizards (38-29) | Last week: 13
The Wizards have a brutal slate of games — vs. Minnesota, at Boston, vs. Indiana, at San Antonio, vs. Denver — on tap for these next 10 days. The good news? John Wall should be back either at some point during this stretch or shortly thereafter.
12. Philadelphia 76ers (36-29) | Last week: 9
The Sixers are one of just three teams in the league (Houston, Toronto) that ranks in the top-10 in both offensive and defensive rating since Jan. 1.
13. San Antonio Spurs (37-29) | Last week: 14
Reports point to Kawhi Leonard making his return on Thursday, which, barring any setbacks, would give him 14 games to get back into the swing of things. A top-four seed is still very much a possibility for the Spurs, but with the third-toughest remaining schedule in the league, so is a playoff absence for the first time in 21 years. Translation: There's not much leeway.
14. Los Angeles Clippers (36-29) | Last week: 16
The Clippers, still neck-and-neck with Denver and Utah for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, close out March with 11 games against nine playoff teams.
15. Utah Jazz (37-30) | Last week: 17
Since Rudy Gobert's return, the Jazz are tied for the NBA's second-best record (19-4), have the league's top-ranked defense (97.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) and have beaten Toronto, Golden State, New Orleans (twice), San Antonio (twice), Portland and Indiana.
16. Denver Nuggets (37-30) | Last week: 12
Eight of Denver's next nine games will be played on the road, where they're 11-20 this season. Five of those games will be played against teams currently in the playoff picture, including four consecutive against Washington, Philadelphia, Toronto and Oklahoma City. Make no mistake: This is the most important stretch of the Nuggets' season.
17. Miami Heat (36-31) | Last week: 18
Back-to-back wins over Philadelphia and Washington are impressive, but the question remains: What's this team's ceiling?
18. Milwaukee Bucks (35-31) | Last week: 15
The good news for the Bucks, who have faced four playoff teams in their five March games, going 2-3? This next stretch — at Memphis, at Orlando and vs. Atlanta, with multiple days of rest in between — could be just what they need to tune up for what's sure to be a hard-fought final few weeks between teams 3-8 in the Eastern Conference standings.
19. Los Angeles Lakers (30-36) | Last week: 19
While the conversation surrounding the future in Laker Land took center stage with Sunday's win over Cleveland, the present doesn't look too bad for this group, either. They're tied for the seventh-best record in the NBA (19-9) since Jan. 6 and have the league's eighth-best net rating during that span.
20. Detroit Pistons (30-36) | Last week: 20
The Pistons, while not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, are already answering questions about the future. Most notably: Is coach Stan Van Gundy on the way out?
"We haven't won enough, but I can tell you this team works really hard and Stan works really hard," owner Tom Gores said Friday night. "He's been here four years, dedicating his whole life. I'm not giving up on Stan, I'm not giving up on this team."
21. Charlotte Hornets (29-38) | Last week: 21
The Hornets, who snapped a five-game skid with a win over Phoenix on Saturday, have the 29th-ranked defense in the NBA over their past six games, allowing 118.7 points per 100 possessions.
22. New York Knicks (24-43) | Last week: 22
The Knicks, who have won just one game since the start of February, insist that they're not tanking.
"We still want to win games," coach Jeff Hornacek said Thursday. "We want to see if our young guys can help us win games. That's part of the evaluation process. It's not like we're putting them out there going, 'Oh heck, if we put them out there we're going to lose games.' We still want to try to win but want to see if these guys can step up and help us win."
23. Chicago Bulls (23-43) | Last week: 24
If the fact that the league had to warn the Bulls about resting healthy veterans Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday during the final stretch of the season doesn't tell you what you need to know about this team's mindset, nothing will.
24. Dallas Mavericks (21-46) | Last week: 26
The Mavericks didn't help their lottery odds with back-to-back wins over Denver and Memphis, as they now sit behind Memphis, Phoenix, Orlando and Atlanta in the race to the bottom of the standings.
25. Sacramento Kings (21-46) | Last week: 25
No team in the league has shot the ball less efficiently this season than the Kings, whose true-shooting percentage sits at 53.1.
26. Brooklyn Nets (21-46) | Last week: 28
The Nets average just 14.3 points off turnovers per game this season, the worst mark in the league.
27. Orlando Magic (20-47) | Last week: 23
With both Evan Fournier (knee) and Aaron Gordon (concussion protocol) sidelined, increased opportunities have arisen for the likes of rookies Jonathan Isaac and Wesley Iwundu and third-year wing Mario Hezonja. They each played at least 24 minutes in Saturday's loss to the Clippers.
28. Atlanta Hawks (20-47) | Last week: 27
The Hawks had even fewer offensive options than usual during Sunday's loss to Chicago with Dennis Schroder and Kent Bazemore sidelined, which led to the best game of second-year forward Taurean Prince's career. Prince, a game after being benched for the second half of a blowout loss to Indiana, scored a career-high 38 points and tallied seven assists and six rebounds.
29. Phoenix Suns (19-49) | Last week: 29
The Suns have been outscored by 360 points since the turn of the new year — 118 points more than the next-closest team (New York).
30. Memphis Grizzlies (18-48) | Last week: 30
The Grizzlies haven't won a
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