The surprises continue across the NBA as the third week of the 2022-23 season gets underway.
The 6-0 Milwaukee Bucks stand alone as the last undefeated team, and get appropriate placement at the top of this week’s power rankings. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. haven’t had the toughest schedule so far but clutched out important wins against other top Eastern Conference contenders, including the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks.
The Cleveland Cavaliers currently sit right behind Milwaukee in the East, as the offseason addition of Donovan Mitchell has helped jumpstart Cleveland’s return to serious postseason contention this year.
Meanwhile in the West, the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers sit atop the conference, but the surprising 6-2 Utah Jazz haven’t faltered like many expected them to, so far. Utah notched back-to-back home wins against the Memphis Grizzlies. Whether the Jazz can keep it up has yet to be determined, but their early success is still recognized in this week’s rankings.
The Miami Heat have surprisingly underperformed so far, joining the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers on a list of teams built to be win-now contenders on paper but haven’t lived up to expectations on the court yet. However, Miami’s outlook for the rest of the year is still much more positive compared to Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
Note: Throughout the regular season, our panel (Kendra Andrews, Tim Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Nick Friedell, Andrew Lopez, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin and Ohm Youngmisuk) is ranking all 30 teams from top to bottom, taking stock of which teams are playing the best basketball now and which teams are looking most like title contenders.
Previous rankings: Week 1 | Week 2 |
1. Milwaukee Bucks
2022-23 record: 6-0
Previous week’s ranking: 1
The Bucks are 6-0 for the third time in franchise history. In the previous two instances (1971-72 and 2018-19), they finished with 60 wins and the league’s MVP (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Giannis Antetokounmpo, respectively). It’s still early, but Antetokounmpo is showing signs of asserting himself into contention for that award again, racking up at least 30 points in five straight games, the second-longest streak of his career (six straight in November 2019). — Collier
2. Phoenix Suns
2022-23 record: 6-1
Previous week’s ranking: 3
It has been a week full of history for the Point God. On Saturday against the Rockets, Chris Paul finished with 15 assists and zero turnovers. It was the ninth time he has had…
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