There is some animosity to dwell upon between these teams

Plus, after a few defense games they where showing signs of promise, they allowed Memphis to shoot 52 percent from the field. 23. MemphisThe Allen Iverson experiment is over in the Music City. LA ClippersThe second LA team have yet to discover an identity. Playing without Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin probably doesn't help the matter either. They lose to New Orleans and Memphis, but they thrash the Nuggets after a 19-0 run in the first half, what does Baron Davis have to do to bring some consistency to the locker room. 25. Golden StateMonte Ellis has officially played on of the best games in his life. He not only shut down All-Star Brandon Roy, but he scored 38 points and collected eight assists, six steals, and two blocks.

Maybe this will give the Warriors a spark after trading off Stephen Jackson.26. CharlotteThey've broken 100-plus just twice this season, maybe the Jackson trade payed off. Finally they have a go to scorer that Larry Brown might have faith in. The Raptors are next, maybe they can pull off two straight 100-plus point games. 27. WashingtonAntawn Jamison returned to lead the Wizards over the Cavs on Wednesday. However, changes seem inevitable after following their best defensive game with their worst.

A damaged and splintered locker room can not bode well with Flip Saunders. 28. MinnesotaDamien Wilkins should get some kind of medal for his antics against New Jersey at the beginning of the season. Other wise they would probably off to the worst start in NBA history Wilkins has only made eight of 28 since. 30 New Jersey0-13 is really all you have to say about the Nets. Once the best assist team in the league, they've fallen to the bottom ranking 29th.

Devin Harris' return should help their lack of offense, but predicting any time table for their first win is incredibly difficult. The Bleacher Report NBA Power Rankings are done by averaging individual feature columnist's tallies. Weekly contributors are: Denton Ramsey (Houston Rockets), Keith Schlosser (NY Knicks), Curtis Finchum (Oklahoma City), Brandon Ribak (Orlando Magic), Hotnuke (Miami Heat), Bryan Toporek (Philadelphia 76ers), Andrew Ungvari (LA Lakers), Shaun Ahmad (Washington Wizards) and DeMarco Williams (NBA Lead). . While the trade rumours with Chicago continue to heat up, let's focus on the real burning issue that's been simmering for a while. Ian White made a rather startling case for himself this past week, well, actually over the course this young season, and has now proven himself to be worthy of the vaunted 'C'.With a decent amount of points to his credit, he iced the cake for me last week by simply being truculent, not to mention his initial highlight-reel hip check, which sent an unsuspecting Erik Cole cartwheeling over the blue line.But back to the rumours for a moment, I like Kaberle heading over to the Hawks in exchange for Sharp, and a few others, like maybe Sopel and Tlusty, but I'm not in favour of sending Toskala for Huet. I also heard Chicago likes Stajan, as they apparently need a 2nd line centre.Which brings us to the upcoming games and who needs to step up to the plate this week. I'm really liking the idea of recalling Stalberg and giving Hanson a shot. Obviously Blake is heading toward the waiver wire sooner than later, as the game against Taveres, et al, will surely demonstrate.After all, who is this Moulson chap One minute he's got a collective 10 points under his NHL belt prior to joining the Isles, and the next he's elevated the team toward playoff contention. Well, it's not a one-man team, obviously.There is some animosity to dwell upon between these teams. Hopefully someone in MLSE management is showing the Peca-Tucker incident in the dressing room as we speak. But there have been some trades too.Getting back to our young guns, I predict Phil Kessel will dominate this week, after going head-to-head against Taveres, especially with other weeknight games against Florida's Bolts and Panthers. After his SO goal, Hagman might have inspired himself! I look to Stempniak to deliver a critical goal or two this week, or he's going to be shuffled off to Buffalo.The Monster needs to learn a few more things on route to becoming a bonafide 1 goalie for the Leafs. In the meantime, Toskala is holding the fort, quite admirably, I might add. I wonder if we'll be seeing Exelby skating in a game any time, as the play of Gunnarson has been pretty impressive, despite bad penalties here and there. Speaking of Sweden, I'm sure Wallin's days are numbered too. This isn't such bad news, as we do have some talent to exploit on the farm these days. Luck and timing are now influential factors, as well as the impending trade. . Well, the Bucks are certainly the biggest surprise thus far.As a lifelong Bucks fan, I'm not used to being in this position of guarded optimism. We started great, winning our first eight out of 11, and have a great rookie class along with some unearthed gems that, in reality, were castoffs from second-rate rosters.