Week 24 Power Rankings: Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors dealing with poorly timed injuries

Injuries are a part of the game, and staying healthy is the most important key to winning a championship.

So, with the playoffs exactly 19 days away, it’s not a good time for two of the best teams in the league to be dealing with injuries to their most important offensive players.

On Friday, in his first game back from an ankle injury, Stephen Curry suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee. Less than 24 hours later, Kyrie Irving underwent a procedure to relieve irritation in his left knee.

The timelines for both Curry and Irving are fuzzy. The Celtics announced on Saturday that Irving “is expected to return to basketball activities in 3-6 weeks.” Three weeks from Saturday is the first day of the playoffs, six weeks could be too late, and “basketball activities” doesn’t necessarily mean playing in a game.

Steve Kerr made it clear on Sunday that Curry won’t be playing in the first round, though Curry himself wasn’t nearly as set on a timeline. Potential first round opponents for the Warriors include the Utah Jazz, who are 23-4 over the last couple of months, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were the 4 seed before losing Jimmy Butler to injury a month ago. (Butler’s status going into the playoffs remains pretty critical, too.)

The Celtics and Warriors are both dealing with other injuries, as well. Boston’s Marcus Smart (thumb) is out through at least the first round, but the champs should be getting Klay Thompson (thumb), Kevin Durant (ribs) and Draymond Green (pelvis) back soon.

All we can do is wait and see how this all plays out … and hope that everybody else stays healthy.

Note: For the 12 teams no longer in the playoff picture (the bottom seven in the East and the bottom five in the West), notes below will be focused on their offense this season. Notes on their defense will come next week.

• Last week: Teams at top gain separation as season winds down
• This time last year: Top two teams face off again this week — Devin Booker dropped 70 in Boston and Nikola Jokic dropped one of the best dimes of the season. James Harden beat the Nuggets by going coast to coast, Brook Lopez beat the Pistons at the buzzer, J.J. Barea floored Blake Griffin, and Joakim Noah was suspended 20 games for use of a banned substance.

• Plus-minus stud: Ben Simmons (PHI) was a plus-108 in four games last week.
• Plus-minus dud: Jarell Martin (MEM) was a minus-91 in four games last week.

• Hero team of the week: Houston (4-0) — There’s been no let-up with the Rockets, who began the week by ending the Blazers’ 13-game winning streak, and then knocked off another top-10 team (New Orleans) on Saturday.
• Zero team of the week: Chicago (0-4) — The Bulls lost their four games by an average of 21.5 points, allowing two bottom-10 offenses (those of the Knicks and Pistons) to score 112 points per 100 possessions.

• East vs. West: The West is 229-196 (.539) against the East in interconference games after the East went 17-12 last week. With 25 interconference games left, the West has officially clinched a better record than the East for the ninth straight season and for the 18th time in the last 19 seasons.

• Toughest schedules so far: 1. Dallas, 2. Minnesota, 3. Phoenix
• Easiest schedules so far: 1. Cleveland, 2. Indiana, 3. Toronto
• Schedule strength is based on cumulative opponent record, and adjusted for home vs. away and days of rest before a game.

• High jumps of the week: Cleveland (+7), New York (+4), Boston (+3)
• Free falls of the week: Washington (-7), Chicago (-2), Dallas (-2), L.A. Lakers (-2)

• Team to watch in Week 24: Denver — The ninth-place Nuggets are just a game in the loss column behind the seventh-place Wolves and eighth-place Jazz, but are playing their last 10 games against teams with winning records. That stretch began with a win in Washington on Friday, but it gets harder this week. Denver will finish their seven-game trip with visits to Philadelphia (Monday), Toronto (Tuesday) and Oklahoma City (Friday) before returning home to face the Bucks on Sunday.

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Pace: Possessions per 48 minutes (League Rank)

OffRtg: Points scored per 100 possessions (League Rank)

DefRtg: Points allowed per 100 possessions (League Rank)

NetRtg: Point differential per 100 possessions (League Rank)

The league has averaged 99.5 possessions (per team) per 48 minutes and 106.3 points scored per 100 possessions this season.

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NBA.com’s Power Rankings, released every Monday during the season, are just one man’s opinion. If you have an issue with the rankings, or have a question or comment for John Schuhmann, send him an e-mail or contact him via Twitter.

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