Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland Cavaliers Still Atop the NBA After Week 11's Power Rankings

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:31 a.m. ET

Fansided, Nathan Beighle/FanSided via King James Gospel

A week after an impressive Christmas Day win over the Golden State, the Cleveland Cavaliers manage to stay atop ESPN’s most recent power rankings.

The Cleveland Cavaliers may not have the NBA’s best record but according to ESPN writer Marc Stein they’re still the top dogs in the NBA.

Outside of talk about LeBron James, his birthday and comparable accolades, Marc Stein said this about the Cavaliers:

“Wednesday’s home win over Boston, meanwhile, hiked the Cavs to 24-2 overall (regular season and playoffs) when James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all score at least 20 points.”

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The Cavaliers have been playing extremely well this season with the NBA’s third best win percentage while resting starters in multiple games. They also have been rolling offensively: scoring the league’s third most points per game.

The key reason for the Cavaliers success has been their ability to move the ball and find open shooters. This is made obvious by the team’s three-point percentage, which is second in the NBA at 39.3 percent only behind the Spurs.

After tonight’s home game against the Chicago Bulls, the Cavaliers will head on a six-game road trip that ends in the Bay as the Cavaliers will take on the Golden State Warriors for the second time this season. That will be a game that could force the Cavaliers down in the ESPN power rankings if they lose. It’s unfortunate that the Cavaliers have to play them at the tail end of a 5-game road trip.

The Cavaliers can not make excuses. That game will shift the power rankings if they lose, and while the rankings do not innately matter, they are a good metric of how to rank teams.

Watch next week for another update on the Cleveland Cavaliers power ranking position.