2012 NBA power rankings: Heat check in at No. 2

In the second week of the SB Nation NBA power rankings, the defending champion Miami Heat come in at the No. 2 spot.

The offense might be good, but the defense has been the opposite, wrote Seth Rosenthal:

They're 2-1, but the Heat defense has been eerily bad, and not just "bad for the defending champions" bad. Regular bad. The Knicks lit Miami up from downtown, which happens, but the Nuggets nearly beat them by pounding the ball inside and recycling their own misses.

The Heat picked up opening-week wins over Boston and Denver, but lost to the New York Knicks.

The San Antonio Spurs are the only team ahead of Miami in the power rankings. The Los Angeles Clippers are third, the Oklahoma City Thunder are fourth and the New York Knicks check in at No. 5.

The Orlando Magic were ranked 22nd despite opening the year with a 2-0 record.

Rosenthal wrote regarding the Magic, "They've defended well, had nice stretches from the perimeter, and after coming back to beat the Suns, gone 2-0. On paper, the Magic look like a candidate to be the worst of teams. On the court so far, they've looked like a fun little outfit with a balanced, varied attack."

Orlando has wins against Denver and Phoenix.

The Magic also have three games this week. They'll be on the road for back-to-back games against Chicago and Minnesota, and then host the Nets on Friday night.

The full NBA power rankings can be found here.