Locals Fall to the Very Bottom of the Rankings

Could things get any worse for the local teams?

Jason Kidd skipped a game on Wednesday with a migraine, if you believe his story, while the entire Knicks team skipped Saturday's disastrous home loss to the Sixers. New York now has the worst point differential in all of basketball at -8.3 points per game, and to make matters worse Isiah Thomas apparently got a vote of confidence from James Dolan after the Philly debacle. Which forces us ask one more time — what exactly must this man do to get himself fired?

Meanwhile, Kidd's Nets dropped three straight games, even managing to lose a game to the Knicks, and their boat looks as if it's starting to take on water. With the frontcourt producing almost nothing, the weight seems too much for Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson to bear.

As a result, you won't be surprised to see which teams are bringing up the rear in this week's power rankings. Nor will it shock you to see Boston back on top, as the Celts rampage through the league with an all-time-best +14.2-point differential. The middle? That part might raise some more eyebrows. Envelopes please … (All records through Sunday's games, last week's ranking in parentheses).

1 BOSTON CETICS (14 – 2 ) (1): As if they needed another weapon, second-round pick Glen Davis is turning into a force off the bench. The rook from LSU had eight points and 12 boards in Saturday's win over Chicago.

2 SAN ANTONIO SPURS (17–3) (2): No Tim Duncan? No problem. Spurs knocked off two tough customers in Utah and Dallas without him, as the brilliant Manu Ginobili scored 37 in both.

3 PHOENIX SUNS (16–5) (5): Despite an embarrassing loss to Minnesota, the Suns move up based on the rest of the week. Offense looks to be clocking again after clearing 120 points in three straight road games before the Minny debacle.

4 DETROIT PISTONS (14–6) (10): Call them the SEC champs after beating Atlanta, New Orleans, and Charlotte, but their curious inability to beat the struggling Bulls bites them once again.

5 ORLANDO MAGIC (16–5) (3): Their overtime win in Golden State was impressive, especially considering Dwight Howard had an off night. The home loss against Indiana? Not so much.

6 UTAH JAZZ ( 1 3 – 8 ) (4 ) : They're not the first team to lose twice facing the Mavs and Spurs back-to-back on the road, but Josh Howard's 47-point game opened up more questions about a porous defense.

7 DENVER NUGGETS (13–8) (11): An impressive road win in Dallas allowed the Nuggets to catch the Jazz for the Northwest division lead; the week would have been better had Allen Iverson's 51 not been for naught against Lakers.

8 DALLAS MAVERICKS (12–8) (6): "What's wrong with Dirk?" whispers are getting louder after he blew a wide-open 3 which would have beat the Spurs. He's fallen short of 20 points in four of his past six games.

9 LOS ANGELES LAKERS (12–8) (12): An unbeaten week included a tough road win in Denver, with kids like Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar giving Kobe more support than expected.

10 HOUSTON ROCKETS (11–10) (10): Hard to be impressed with the second-half offensive meltdown in Toronto, and the brutal early schedule isn't any kinder for the next few weeks before it finally relents.

11 GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (11–9) (9): Baron Davis is awesome when he's on, but when he's off he can kill the Warriors with his shot selection — kind of like he did in the OT loss to Orlando.

12 TORONTO RAPTORS (11–10) (14): Chris Bosh returns and Raptors roll against Houston; once Andrea Bargnani gets back, these guys could be ready for a major move up the list.

13 NEW ORLEANS HORNETS (14–7) (7): Now for the hard part — the paper-thin Hornets have to stay afloat with Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson temporarily shelved and six of the next eight on the road.

14 CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (9–9) (13): We'll keep their spot warm for another week while they wait for LeBron to come back from his sprained finger. Speaking of comebacks, Anderson Varejao should make his return too.

15 INDIANA PACERS (10–10) (15): Jermaine O'Neal returned and actually looked good. If he keeps it up, his trade value could take a big turn northward ahead of the expected Feburary sweepstakes.

16 WASHINGTON WIZARDS (10–10) (17): It's tough not to be impressed with Caron Butler after he destroyed the Nets' Richard Jefferson in a head-to-head matchup on Sunday. The team's top scorer is at a scalding 52.9% for the year.

17 MIAMI HEAT (5–15) (19): The Dwyane Wade of old returned during the Heat's second half of win over the Clippers on Sunday. If he keeps it up, Miami won't stay down here for long, regardless of how decrepit Shaq looks.

18 ATLANTA HAWKS (9–10) (20): The Hawks eked out a 3–1 week by beating three chumps (Sixers, Wolves, Grizzlies), but Joe Johnson needs to snap out of recent slump to compete against tougher slate.

19 CHICAGO BULLS (6–12) (23): Are the Bulls starting emerge early-season slumber? It's possible after beating Detroit for the second time and having competitive losses to Dallas and Boston.

20 PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (7–13) (22): It's amazing what playing the Knicks can do for a team. Philly suddenly looks like a dark-horse playoff contender after back-to-back routs.

21 SACRAMENTO KINGS (7–12) (21): They've stayed spunky despite losing top scorer Kevin Martin and point guard Mike Bibby to injury, but now a long Eastern road trip beckons.

22 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (6–14) (16): After losing four winnable games last week, it's now or never time — the Griz play seven of the next nine at home and need wins in a few of them to stay in playoff chase.

23 MILWAUKEE BU C KS (8–11) (19): Dropping seven of the past eight negates the Bucks' hot start, and the defense has gone AWOL. So has Charlie Bell's shot — the alleged sharpshooter is posting a ghastly 27% for the year.

24 PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS (8–12) (27): The winners of three straight are geeked up about forward Travis Outlaw's emergence. His shot at the buzzer beat Memphis and he's the team's third-leading scorer on the season at 11.5 a game.

25 LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (7–12) (25): The Clippers can't get Elton Brand back soon enough — they haven't hit century mark in the past five games and scored just 77 against the Bucks' normally porous D.

26 CHARLOTTE BOBCATS (7–12) (26): The 'Cats only win on the week was a 3-point squeaker over the LeBron-less Cavs; an ABP is out for Gerald Wallace after his 3-point, 1-rebound stinker vs. Pistons.

27 SEATTLE SUPERSONICS (5–16) (29): While Kevin Durant hogs the spotlight, Sonics' other rookie, Jeff Green, is quietly averaging solid 9.1 points and 5.3 boards off the pine.

28 MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (3–15) (30):

Al Jefferson had a monstrous 32-point, 20-rebound night in their win over Suns, and the scary thing is that he's starting to make 15-foot jumpers when he's not destroying people down low.

29 NEW JERSEY NETS (9–12) (24): There are comets that orbit the Earth more frequently than Jason Collins scores a basket. The Nets' starting center has been scoreless 12 times in 19 games.

30 NEW YORK KNICKS (6–13) (28): How do you stop Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry? Play them with each other, apparently. Each player has been vastly less effective than a year earlier.

jhollinger@nysun.com