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Let's face it — the best and most powerful teams in the NBA don't really change from week to week. A handful of results in the middle of winter can only mean so much to a franchise's championship hopes. What does shift regularly, though, is how much interest a squad can hold over the course of a season. Every week, BDL's Most Interesting Power Rankings track the teams most worthy of your attention. THE TOP 15 1. Golden State Warriors (66-7, last week : 15): The biggest story of the season is only more important now that it's becoming closer to reality. The Warriors need to go 7-2 in their final nine games to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' single-season wins record. That rate sits more than 12 percent below the winning percentage Golden State has already notched this season. Six of the games come at Oracle Arena, where they are 35-0, and the two most difficult games on paper involve a San Antonio Spurs team that could rest its key players in the last week of the season. In other words, it's probably safe to bet on a new record. That's in part because the Warriors have managed to make the fantastic look workmanlike — they dispatched the lowly Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday behind 40 points from Klay Thompson and a triple-double for Draymond Green, and didn't appear to exert themselves much at all. Sure, make your Sixers jokes, but most teams just don't do such things. It could help that the single-season record is now their main aim after the Spurs essentially conceded Saturday's tilt at the Oklahoma City Thunder by resting all their big names. Golden State now holds a five-game lead for the top seed, and they're sure as hell not finishing the season on a 4-5 run. 2. Toronto Raptors (49-23, LW: 26): Toronto's next win will set a new franchise record for a single season, which is very impressive even if it seems a little surprising relative to memories of similar successes. It would be a meaningful accomplishment for a squad that legitimately looks like the best in franchise history, and anything less than a trip to the conference finals would be a disappointment no matter how they finish up these last few weeks. The East's top seed is still in play, although a 2 1/2-game gap with 10 to play will be difficult to overcome no matter how much the Cleveland Cavaliers value rest over homecourt advantage. However, the remaining schedule will likely be easier than it looks on paper, because upcoming matchups against the Spurs and other comfortable playoff participants could involve heavy rest for opposing stars. Plus, the closing trio of the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, and Sixers is a very kind way to close it out. At any rate, the Raptors should make history at some point this week with their 50th win. Whether they have much to play for beyond that point depends largely on how seriously the Cavs view the regular season. 3. Chicago Bulls (36-36, LW: 6): Do not take this ranking as a recommendation to watch the Bulls, a reeling team with no identity that believes in the strength of pre-practice meetings to remain a viable playoff team. It's a good idea to predict that Chicago will find itself out of the postseason for the first time since 2008, which probably isn't the worst outcome given that this group seems to be an especially poor fit for first-year head coach Fred Hoiberg. However, if we're being honest, the front office will probably start selling off parts this summer regardless of where they finish. The schedule is not amenable to making up the current two-game gap, either — this week's four games all come against teams in tight fights for playoff spots or seeding. It wouldn't be terribly shocking to see the Bulls finish the week all but mathematically eliminated from contention. 4. Dallas Mavericks (35-38, LW: not ranked): Injuries to Deron Williams and Chandler Parsons have put an old team already dealing with the stresses of a long season in an increasingly precarious position. Losses in three straight and 10 of their last 12 now have the Mavericks a half-game back of the Houston Rockets for the West's last playoff spot, and Sunday's 22-point loss at the Sacramento Kings did not inspire any confidence that they can turn things around. The schedule falls somewhere in the middle of "easy" and "difficult," starting with Monday night's visit to the Denver Nuggets as a test of their resolve and energy. The stakes are clear. Here's Wesley Matthews , via Tim McMahon of ESPN.com: "We've got to decide if we want to go home after the last game [of the regular season] or not. Everybody's got to look in the mirror and decide what the hell they want to do. Do we want to play for something or do we not? Do we want to waste six, seven months of our lives just being NBA players and another season and blah, blah, blah or do we want to do something that's meaningful? Do we want to take a run? Anything can happen in the postseason. Do we want to lay everything out on the line every single night nine more times and let the chips fall or do we want to go to Travelocity?" For what it's worth, most of these guys can probably afford to pay full price for vacations. But his point is a good one.
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