NBA
NBA Power Rankings: Warriors Still in First
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated16 Oct 2023
First, it was Blake Griffin returning to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then, Dwight Howard made his return to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. Both Paul George and Derrick Rose are expected to follow shortly.
Miraculously, the Rockets have been able to hold things together and it is primarily for that reason that James Harden has emerged as my Most Valuable Player. The case for him gets even stronger if the Rockets can somehow chase down the Memphis Grizzlies for the second seed out West—something that was given greater odds of occurring after the Cleveland Cavaliers beat up on them in Memphis on Wednesday. With LeBron James leading the way and David Blatt doing a better than advertised job for the franchise, the sky is truly the limit.
Of course, we can’t refer to the sky without calling out the team that has led the way, almost interrupted, from day one. That would be the Golden State Warriors.
On Tuesday night, by virtue of their defeating the Portland Trail Blazers, the Warriors clinched their first Pacific Division title in 39 years and will likely clinch the top seed in the Western Conference in short order.
Clearly, it’s the Warriors leading the charge. As usual.
