NBA Playoff Threat Rankings: Who are the most dangerous teams remaining? (2024)

The second round of the NBA playoffs is in full swing, and the dominant teams are dominant. So let's take a look at exactly how fearsome our remaining eight teams are in the Playoff Threat Rankings, which reflect how much you should be afraid of facing a team in a series or crucial game, not how their season has gone overall.

Someday, maybe in a few years, I hope the Raptors actually will pose a threat. It's not just that they struggle to match up with Cleveland. The Cavs have LeBron. That's understandable. It's that the Raptors continue to have the worst transition from the regular season to the playoffs of any team in recent memory. They botched Game 1 in the first round vs. Milwaukee, and flat-lined in Game 3 before being resuscitated by the Bucks' inexperience and lack of weapons. They managed to close out the series, only to get thumped so far by the Cavs.

There's a prevailing idea the Cavs' defense is so weak it opens the door for a team like the Raptors, and a lot of analysts took the bait. But to challenge the King, a team must function at the highest level. And the Raptors are not that; they are built on mid-range shooting from DeMar DeRozan and hopeful contributions from streaky frontcourt shooters. Meanwhile Jonas Valanciunas, a starter and key member of the squad, is almost unplayable vs. the Cavs. The Raptors' regular season offense was tremendous, but they're just never going to keep up in a series.

Barring a massive turnaround in Games 3 and 4 in Toronto, the Raptors' ceiling looks like an immovable, slowly sinking concrete wall.

They should have won at least one, if not both games, in Boston. They had double-digit leads both times. The first time they were sunk by Markieff Morris' injury, the second by Isaiah Thomas' 53 points. You would think that having looked like the better team for more of this series than Boston (I'd grade it five quarters to Washington, four to Boston -- including an OT session) the Wizards should be higher. But it's the opposite.

The Wizards have wasted opportunities to get games they needed, doing so in a fashion that suggests they don't have the depth or poise to handle these games. They have melted down and can't handle what the Celtics are throwing at them, much less what they would see vs. the Cavs. Washington might be better on paper, but Boston is playing like the better squad when it needs to. Another loss and the Wizards might pack it in for the season.

The Jazz don't have the firepower to get past the Warriors, and that's all that matters. They're a good team with a quality first-round series win, even if the Clippers were compromised by Blake Griffin's injury. Their answers for Golden State's overwhelming attack are limited. Utah might be higher if they faced one of the other teams, but this is about as far as that roster was going to take them.

They've had a good year, but are staring at the end of the maze with a brick wall in front of them.

They have faced double-digit deficits at home in Games 1 and 2 vs. the Wizards. While that's a sign of weakness, this team keeps finding its way. Their formula is unconventional, relying on depth and a different answer each game, like Terry Rozier corner 3s and Marcus Smart offensive rebounds in Game 2, but winning is the important thing. The biggest key may be that Thomas has shown no one can guard him and he's taking over games.

Their supporting players are making necessary shots, their defense will get torched, then adjust and ratchet down. The Celtics aren't a perfect team and haven't even been a great the playoffs. Their odds against the Cavaliers don't seem great, but hey, if Thomas just keeps going nuclear ...

The Spurs won 61 games and are led by an MVP candidate and arguably the greatest coach ever... and they're fourth? Well, that's the way it goes in today's NBA. The Spurs bounced back in Game 2 vs. the Rockets, but the damage was done in San Antonio with Houston getting the split. Even in Game 2, it was closer than expected until the fourth. You would have expected the Spurs to come out with a haymaker and put the Rockets on the floor from the get go; instead, it was a five-point game going into the final frame.

The Spurs have specific personnel who can be exploited and are, ironically, more reliant on their superstar player more than any of the remaining teams outside of maybe Boston. Their offense at times becomes pretty much just Kawhi Leonard. Given their road, having to go through Houston, now without home-court advantage in what amounts to a five-game series, and then the Warriors, they have a lot to overcome.

And that's before the Tony Parker injury. Parker knew it was bad immediately, and so did the Spurs. Gregg Popovich simply said "It's not good" when asked about it after Game 2, and Parker's teammates echoed that sentiment. The Spurs reportedly are going to be without a future Hall of Fame point guard the rest of the way, and that only makes their chances worse.

They got their split and hung in Game 2 despite one of James Harden's worst recent playoff games. They've also showed that they have enough firepower to hang with any team, including the Warriors, if they get hot. That's what these playoffs are about: Who has enough firepower to hang with or outlast the others? The Rockets certainly have that.

There are weaknesses, especially on defense. The gap between the Rockets and Spurs is very close, the gap between the Spurs and the Celtics is considerable. But Houston had too much for Oklahoma City, even for more than a game, and they absolutely knocked the Spurs on their backsides in Game 1. Houston can go into any matchup and say "we can hang with you offensively," and their defense is capable of living up to the challenge, even if their consistency at that end is an issue. Houston is the most dangerous of teams outside the Big Two.

No, it's not good that they still are so bad defensively. The gap between them and the Warriors is considerable on paper. But this second-round series has been startling in just how overwhelming the Cavaliers have been to Toronto. The Raptors brought in a good team at full strength with better defenders than last season, and it just doesn't matter. Cleveland's offense is too good.

Their volume shooting, in high efficiency, is just too high a hill to climb for almost any team. Boston might be able to make a run, given their 3-point shooting, but that's the only team in the East with a chance. James remains simply "above all this." No one can do anything with him once he decides to bring together everything he can do, especially this season when his jumper is wet. You can't drop back against him because he'll hit the shot or slice you to pieces with passing. You can't stop up on him because he'll get the edge and muscle past you.

It's not only the physical stuff. James is just ahead of everyone. They're all playing "Connect Four" and lazily missing the slots, while he's playing advanced theoretical physics. The Raptors are outmanned and look worse than they are because they are facing a different player than anyone else is seeing. And there's only one team that brings more to the table.

Of course. Golden State is on another planet where everyone has matching Warriors shirts, no one can miss and everyone plays defense the right way all the time. Sometimes the Warriors are a frustrating puzzle where the last piece doesn't fit. You guard Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala and the lob and then, oh, hey, there's Kevin Durant open spotting up on the perimeter. Sometimes, they're just this wall coming at you that knocks you into oblivion before your feet are set on the possession.

Curry is doing his special dribbles thing, and Durant is slicing to the rim, and Thompson is hitting 3-pointers. And no one has figured out how to stop JaVale McGee -- JaVale McGee for crying out loud! -- from dunking over them because they have too many other things they have to stop. If James is a singular overwhelming entity, the Warriors are overwhelming in totality. Offense, defense, forcing turnovers, rim protection, 3-point shooting, finishing, precision. Everything.

Lost their coach to a health issue? No worries, Mike Brown will take over and everything will be fine. This thing runs on autopilot anyway. Curry has a bad game? No worries, Thompson will hit six 3-pointers. They're just too much.

Cleveland is the only team with a chance and even that feels specious when lining up the rosters. The hope for anything but a Warriors sweep of the playoffs at this point feels like "maybe LeBron can just do LeBron things," which isn't a bad hope, but it's unrealistic. No matter how infuriating it may be for their critics, the Warriors are light years ahead.