In this latest edition of 2012 NBA Power Rankings the Chicago Bulls remain on top, but LeBron James and the Miami Heat are gaining ground and may soon take over. Jeremy Lin made a huge impact when he took over the starting point guard job for the New York Knicks, but in the past week the team has stabilized at No. 17 overall. The Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder are still the class of the Western Conference, but now veteran teams like the the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks are making their moves too.

Indiana Pacers are a young team that has thrived on an easy schedule during the first month of the season, but now the competition has increased and they have hit a wall. As losers of six of their last eight games, Indiana has fallen from No. 9 to No. 16 in the past several weeks. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks are still at No. 21 overall despite the recent turmoil involving Brandon Jennings. Take a look.

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Whether you comment regularly during Milwaukee Bucks games or simply stop by to watch the responses roll in, this is our chance to highlight the best of what we see each game and each week. Consider it an organic love letter to our faithful readers and commenters, and an open invitation to all newcomers to join in the fun.

This segment is just a bit behind at the moment, so this is a bigger update than normal. Check out the reactions to losses to the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets, as well as a win over the New York Knicks.

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In this latest edition of 2012 NBA Power Rankings, the Chicago Bulls have finally jumped the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 1 overall spot, while undrafted point guard Jeremy Lin has taken over as the starter for the New York Knicks and has made an immediate impact. In the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets have taken a hit since Danilo Gallinari suffered an ankle injury and George Karl's squad has dropped seven of their last nine games. The Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder have risen to the top of the conference in the meantime, while the San Antonio Spurs continue their ascent thanks to stellar play from point guard Tony Parker.

Younger teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz have failed to sustain their impressive play from the previous weeks, but all three still find themselves within striking distance of premium playoffs seeds. Finally, for what seems like the umpteenth week in a row, the Milwaukee Bucks rank in the middle of the pack in nearly every listed category of advanced stats. To get a detailed look at the NBA landscape, check out the the current version of my NBA Power Rankings.

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The league has announced 2012 NBA All-Star Reserves for the Western and Eastern Conference, and Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings didn't quite make the cut. Instead, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson will represent the East as backup guards. Meh. An all-star berth would have been nice, but ultimately it doesn't define Jennings as a player. He's more than that label, just as Andrew Bogut is too. Milwaukee has been a hard place to gain national recognition, but Jennings has always embraced being the underdog. At least until Tuesday's game against the Phoenix Suns.

His emo sleepwalking routine in the last couple games certainly didn't do him any favors, but as a true sample size guy, I give more weight to the first 167 games of his career as a fiery competitor over his last two games as a disinterested bystander. Why he has completely eschewed his role as a playmaker -- which carries an obligation to create when not scoring -- just days before selections were announced invites too many depressing thoughts for Bucks fans to ponder.

Getting snubbed will always mean something different than playing like someone who deserves to be left off the roster. Whether he mentally blurred that distinction in a moment of weakness is beyond my pay grade, but his performance on the court has looked different recently. Hopefully this little blip ends up carrying even less meaning than the all-star label moving forward. After all, there is still much work to do. Let me explain.

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Losing to Phoenix is nothing new. Shoot, losing is nothing new. But when your leading scorer and franchise cornerstone takes as many shots as there are quarters in an NBA game?

That's new, and I don't like it.

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Material for this post was a lot more clear-cut last Thursday. The Bucks were riding a three-game win streak buoyed by victories over the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. The offense was clicking, the defense was...managing, things were swell.

Now it feels like everything I want to mention on the positive side requires a "well, until recently" disclaimer, as the Bucks followed up a clunker in Detroit with one of the more uninspired performances in recent memory. Momentum has made an about-face, as though it was preserved only by the streak of 100-point outings. Such is the nature of this season--no time to dwell on defeat or enjoy victory. Just have to move on. So that's what I'll do.

What's Working?

Three-Point Shooting...Well, Until Recently
Between January 25 and February 1, the Bucks played 5 games, won four of them, and made 46 of the 112 three-point shots they attempted. That run of 40-plus percent shooting was a huge boost for a team that has been well below average shooting from deep this season (31.7%, 22nd in the NBA). Without Andrew Bogut drawing attention in the middle, the Bucks' court spacing sometimes suffers; Drew Gooden likes to spend a lot more time on the perimeter, and none of Bogut's stand-ins are as capable of passers. Of course, it hasn't gone unnoticed how much the team has picked up the ball-movement in his absence, and the drive-and-kick game has been consistently setting up good looks from behind the arc. We're a long way from saying the team is better without Bogut, but his injury kicked off a stretch of five-straight games with offensive-ratings above 103. The coaching staff needs to find a way to replicate that play with Andrew on the court.

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In this latest edition of 2012 NBA Power Rankings, the Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat are cemented as the class of the Eastern Conference, but out in the Western Conference things are still wide open. The Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder still look strong, but the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers are the ones currently out ahead of the pack.

Meanwhile, young teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Indiana Pacers are finally making their moves upward, while many others are trapped in the blob of mediocrity. The Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets and Milwaukee Bucks seemed ready to prove themselves, and all three recorded some signature wins over the past week, but letdown losses have held them back for the time being. To get a detailed look at the NBA landscape, check out the the current version of my NBA Power Rankings.

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