N.B.A.’s Best Lineups Are Falling Apart

We’ve reached the midway point of the N.B.A. season, a time at which evaluations of teams across the league become concrete. The fortunes of any team can still change, but the half-season of precedent we’ve just witnessed will be the grounds on which claims for contention are made. This is the time during which we realize how far some teams and players have come and how quickly success can be taken away.

Players suffer injuries, others can be traded, and some teams that appeared to have an embarrassment of riches are left trying to make do. That’s certainly the case in the N.B.A. this season, as the top lineups –- not entire teams, but specific five-man units -– are dropping one by one. Eight of the nine most effective lineups this season have either been broken up by injury or appear to be headed toward expiration due to advancing trade talks:

(All lineup ratings are courtesy of BasketballValue.com)

Portland’s Andre Miller-Brandon Roy-Wes Matthews-Nicolas Batum-LaMarcus Aldridge
+59.98 in adjusted plus-minus, top-ranked lineup in the N.B.A.

Try as we might to spin Wes Matthews’ fantastic play or LaMarcus Aldridge’s evolution as a positive result of Brandon Roy’s injury, sometimes there’s no use in digging for latent benefits. Roy was a superstar, and now, due to a pair of problematic knees, his season is over and his chair at the table of the league’s elite has been filled. He’ll have to play his way back into competency before his status as a star is up for review once again, and in the meantime, Portland will have to continue with business as usual.