Silvermans’ Select: Top 10 NBA TEAMS
Week of Jan 6, 2009

by: Nick Silverman

1. Los Angeles Lakers (27-5) Convincing wins against Boston, New Orleans, Portland and Utah while the Celtics and Cavs stumble leaves the Lakers with the best record in the NBA and playing the best ball. Scary thought for the NBA: We still have not seen the Bynum of last year. Scarier thought for Laker fans: Will we?

2. Cleveland (27-6) The Cavs trip up in the Nation’s capital is their first real loss against one of the NBA’s weaker teams. They miss Big Z but are still playing well.

3. Boston (29-6) Losers of 4 of 6 including a loss to Golden State and the Knicks. The bench unit is struggling, which might pay dividends for Marbury who looks like a better and better fit for Boston with each loss. Big game against Cleveland this week.

4. Orlando (26-8) Still not sold on Orlando, but you can’t deny their record and are 14-4 against the Western Conference.

5. Atlanta (22-11) Winners of 10 of 12 including wins against Houston and Denver help the Eastern Conference grab 4 of the 5 top spots for the first time in a while.

6. San Antonio (23-11) Tony Parker is playing at an All-Star level, and averaging 21 and 7 assists this season. Manu is still a little banged up, but this team is always dangerous.

7. Denver (24-12) Billups has got them playing real basketball. Nene has been a nice surprise replacing Camby, but we will see how they respond to Melo being out 3-4 weeks with a fractured shooting hand.

8. New Orleans (20-10) They have yet to play consistent ball against the league’s best and have a big match up at Staples Center tonight. Will the 07-08 Tyson Chandler please stand up? Hello??? Tyson???

9. Phoenix (19-12) Shaq is actually playing consistent basketball, averaging 21 and 10 in the last month. But how long with the Big (insert name here) play at this level? And how long until Amare demands to be the superstar?

10. Portland (20-14) Oden has shown some glimpses of the player we all thought he’d be, but the Blazers will need more than a glimpse if they want to go deep in the playoffs.