NBA Power Rankings: Suns, Heat remain on top, put Grizzlies as contenders, too

The very top of the NBA Power Rankings remain the same at the very top with the Suns and Heat in the top two spots, but below them is it time to move Memphis into true contender status in our minds?

 1. Suns (55-14, Last Week No. 1). Too often overlooked this season: Phoenix has the second-best defense in the NBA. Filter out garbage time from a couple of blowouts (as Cleaning the Glass does) and they have the best defense in the league over the last seven games. While they have quality individual defenders — Mikal Bridges gets the toughest perimeter assignment nightly, and he may get some DPOY votes because of it — the credit for this success should go to both the front office and Monty Williams. The front office gets flowers putting together a roster without many obvious defensive weak spots, and Williams for designing and getting full buy-in on a disruptive system that throws opposing offenses off-balance. It can win them a lot of playoff games.

 2. Heat (46-24, LW 2). Miami is still in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 overall record in the NBA, with a two-game lead over surging Milwaukee with 13 games to play, and the Heat have an easier schedule the rest of the way. However, last week saw two losses when Jimmy Butler was out and in those games combined the Heat scored less than a point per possession — and Butler sprained his ankle and had to leave Tuesday night’s win. Three games into his return, Victor Oladipo is still getting his feet under him (25% from 3) but is playing solid basketball, giving Erik Spoelstra more lineup options come the playoffs.

 3. Grizzlies (48-22, LW 5). It’s time to stop overlooking this Memphis team as contenders. A lot of pundits (*raises hand*) dismiss the Grizzlies out of hand with