NBA Power Rankings: Pistons take No. 1 spot, Clippers jump into top 10, plus what's wrong with OKC?
Meanwhile, the Knicks are falling while the Celtics and Suns are proving they're for real
By
Brad Botkin
•
1 min read
In last week's Power Rankings the Knicks came out in the No. 1 slot mostly by default. They had won three straight, but more importantly the Thunder were sliding (they still are) while the Nuggets, Pistons and Spurs each lost two straight to give up the inside track on the top spot.
The Knicks just sort of woke up in the penthouse, only to step off the balcony and drop like a lead balloon with four straight losses. The most recent defeat was a blowout at the hands of the Pistons, who are, once again sort of by default as all the top West teams outside of Houston continue to struggle, the latest No. 1.
Oh by the way, the Wizards have a better record than the Thunder over the past 12 games, and it's high time we start talking about the Celtics and Suns as more than just nice little overachievers. Let's get to it.
- Note: As a general Power Rankings rule, we're going to try to strike a balance between what we've seen in the last week, the season as a whole so far, and what can reasonably be expected to play out over the next few weeks.
- We will not go so far as to rank these teams based on championship expectations, because in that case it would take a lot more to alter, at least in tiers, the generally accepted hierarchy. Winning matters, and it will get you on the move up this board form week to week. But if you're beating bad teams, just as an example, and probably playing a little above your head, it's not necessarily going to be reflected in a completely commensurate climb up the rankings. Or vice versa.
Biggest Movers
7
Hornets
11
Knicks
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | A very impressive back-to-back showing for Detroit with wins over Cleveland and New York on Sunday and Monday. The New York game was a shellacking. Cade Cunningham won the battle with Jalen Brunson and Detroit, not normally a high-powered shooting team, hit 52% of its 3s. The Pistons are 3-3 over their last six. | 5 | 28-9 |
| 2 |  | Houston has won five of six after Kevin Durant delivered a game-winning dagger against the Suns on Monday. The Rockets don't have the signature wins that San Antonio has over OKC, and the Spurs won the lone head-to-head, but right now Houston is getting the results. | 2 | 22-12 |
| 3 |  | The Celtics have won eight of their last nine and 15 of their last 19. We are way beyond the cool-story part of this season. Boston is legit. It is a real threat to win the Eastern Conference as is, even without factoring in the possibility of Jayson Tatum coming back. | 4 | 23-13 |
| 4 |  | Much like the Celtics, if you are still thinking this Suns story is going to just all of a sudden end, you're mistaken. This team is for real. Dillon Brooks has an All-Star case. Devin Booker is on the list of MVP candidates who have no chance of actually winning MVP. Phoenix has won six of eight, took out OKC on Sunday, and was a Kevin Durant game-winner away from taking Houston to overtime on a back-to-back. | 5 | 22-15 |
| 5 |  | San Antonio got Wemby back on Tuesday, but he hit his minutes limit and had the sit down the stretch as the Spurs were unable to hang on in a loss to the Grizzlies. The Spurs have split their last four games, but the power of those three OKC wins still has them in the top five of the Power Rankings. | 3 | 26-11 |
| 6 |  | The Thunder got smoked by the Hornets by 27 on Monday, one night after losing to Phoenix, and are now 6-6 over their last 12 games. This is still the best team in the league, but right now, this does not feel like the best team in the league. | 3 | 31-7 |
| 7 |  | The Nuggets survived Philadelphia when Tyrese Maxey's potential game-winner rolled off the front of the rim in OT. That's a big win with your entire starting lineup out. Denver is now 2-2 since Nikola Jokić went down with a hyperextended knee that will keep him out through January. | 2 | 25-12 |
| 8 |  | A nice on-paper stretch for the Lakers, who have taken advantage of some bum opponents to win four of their last five (Memphis twice, Sacramento and New Orleans on Tuesday). They had to rally from 16 down to beat the Grizzlies and trailed the Pelicans in the fourth quarter on Tuesday. Austin Reaves' absence is tough on this team that needs to win with its scoring, but having Luka Dončić and LeBron James, who combined for 60 points and 18 assists on Tuesday, doesn't exactly leave you with an empty clip. LeBron took a lot of heat for his play early in his return, especially his defense, and I was one of the critics. But he's really been playing great of late. Averaging nearly 30 PPG to go with eight assists and eight rebounds over his last three. | 4 | 23-12 |
| 9 |  | Minnesota blasted Miami on Tuesday, beating the Heat for the second time in four days. The Wolves have won seven of their last 10, and their starting lineup continues to have the best total point differential in the league. | 1 | 24-13 |
| 10 |  | Is this happening? The Clippers have won six of their last seven and are now just two losses back of a play-in spot. Over this stretch, they rank No. 2 in offensive and net rating, and seventh in defense. Kawhi Leonard is quietly putting together an All-NBA season if he can somehow make the 65-game minimum. He's missed 10 games so far. | 3 | 13-23 |
| 11 |  | Three notable wins over San Antonio, Phoenix and Denver (albeit without Jokić) had the Cavs riding high entering their date with Detroit on Sunday, when they trimmed a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to two inside the final minute. The couldn't finish the job, but Cleveland is slowly starting to come around with the Big Four back on the floor together. A loss to Indiana on Tuesday would've put a pin in this little gust of momentum, but the Cavs rallied for their fourth win in five games. | 1 | 21-17 |
| 12 |  | Make it four straight losses for the Knickerbockers. They miss Josh Hart quite a lot. Karl-Anthony Towns had six points on four shots against Detroit, and Jalen Brunson finished with zero assists for the first time as a Knick. Rough stretch. | 11 | 24-13 |
| 13 |  | Toronto has won four of its last five and Scottie Barnes continues to play at an All-Star, if not All-NBA level. Incredible balance in the most recent win over the Hawks, when seven guys scored between 11 and 19 points. | 1 | 23-15 |
| 14 |  | Bad loss to the Nuggets, who were down their entire starting lineup, on Monday. Maxey had a shot to win it. But the Sixers have still won three of four to reverse the vibes of a three-game losing streak. The best news is Joel Embiid is averaging 28 points and eight boards and Paul George is shooting 40% from 3 over the last 10 games. Those two guys are starting to figure out how to fit into what is now clearly Maxey's team. | 1 | 20-15 |
| 15 |  | Steve Kerr says he feels better about the way the Warriors have been playing, which makes sense given that they have hit a pretty soft part of their schedule. They're still not beating the good teams. Since Christmas they've beaten the Jazz, Hornets and Nets and lost to the Clippers, Thunder and Raptors. | 4 | 20-18 |
| 16 |  | There's a lot to like about the Hornets right now. They throttled the Thunder by 27 on Monday. They've won four of their last seven and have outscored opponents by 12.4 points per 100 possessions with LaMelo Ball, Kon Kneuppel and Brandon Miller on the floor together, per CTG, with a 99th percentile offense. | 7 | 13-24 |
| 17 |  | Portland has won five of six. Deni Avdija's sensational season continues. Shaedon Sharpe hit five 3s in Monday's win over Utah, and is now averaging 22 PPG on 42% 3-point shooting since the start of December. That's a big deal. | 1 | 18-20 |
| 18 |  | Take Minnesota off the schedule and the Heat haven't lost since before Christmas with wins over Denver and Detroit. Over that span Miami entered Tuesday with a top-five offense and defense and only Boston had a better net rating, but that will take a hit after 28-point loss to the Wolves. | -- | 20-17 |
| 19 |  | Jalen Suggs missed two weeks, came back for two games, and now he's out again. Franz Wagner hasn't played in a month. The Magic are not a good team without those guys. They're 6-7 since Wagner went down and lost to the Wizards on Tuesday in a game in which they got down by as many as 26 before the backups rallied to make it a fairly competitive game in the end. | 2 | 21-17 |
| 20 |  | Cooper Flagg is having maybe the most clutch rookie season in NBA history. He has 72 Clutch points, sixth most in the league, and Brandon Jennings' rookie record of 138 Clutch points is well within reach. But on Tuesday in Sacramento, Flagg made the game-winning play as a facilitator, setting up Brandon Williams on a drive-and-kick for what proved to be the game-winning 3. | 1 | 14-23 |
| 21 |  | Milwaukee has taken advantage of a tissue-paper soft schedule over the last two weeks to win five of its last seven. The Bucks still aren't a good team. They have a bottom-eight offensive and net rating and the defense is barely inside the top 20. | 5 | 16-21 |
| 22 |  | You ready for this? The Wizards (7-5) have a better record over their last 12 games than the Thunder. They're not really beating any good teams, but for Washington, every win is notable, particularly as it is now outside the bottom three records, which of course carries the maximum 14.5% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick this summer. | 7 | 10-26 |
| 23 |  | Eight losses in 10 games for the Jazz, who have a great formula for honest tanking: A playoff-level offense that keeps most games competitive and a lottery-level defense that still puts an L in the column. Keyonte George is on an absolute heater and has been for some time. | 1 | 12-24 |
| 24 |  | A five-game winning streak has turned into four losses in their last six. Chicago continues to get more shots inside the restricted circle than all but two teams only to actually make those shots at the second-worst clip in the league. | 4 | 17-20 |
| 25 |  | Impressive win for the Grizzlies over the Spurs on Tuesday. De'Aaron Fox looked like he was going to close it out with seven straight points late, but Memphis kept coming, finishing it off with a Cam Spencer baseline jumper to halt a four-game skid. | -- | 16-21 |
| 26 |  | It's getting pretty ugly in Atlanta. The Hawks have lost nine of their last 11 and 13 of their last 17 to fall four games under .500 and right back into the familiar territory of clinging to a play-in spot. They have to find a way to trade Trae Young, but going after a big fish like Anthony Davis, which has been rumored, is a reach. Get Young off the books, open up cap space and hopefully get an elite young player with the Pelicans pick this summer. | 1 | 18-21 |
| 27 |  | Brooklyn ended a three-game slide -- which followed a stretch of five wins in seven games with the league's best defense for the month of December -- with a win over the Jokić-less Nuggets on Sunday. Egor Dënim has really found his stroke from 3, and that's a big development for what the Nets hope is their point guard of the future. | 8 | 11-23 |
| 28 |  | New Orleans has lost eight straight after a five-game winning streak in mid-December. We'll see if Zion Williamson is moved at the trade deadline. | 4 | 8-31 |
| 29 |  | Sacramento has lost six straight and has the worst net rating in the league. Russell Westbrook's decision to pull back for a 3-pointer rather than swing the ball to DeMar DeRozan with the Kings down two to the Mavericks and 12 seconds to play was ... interesting. | 1 | 8-29 |
| 30 |  | Make it 13 losses in a row for the Pacers, who have the worst record in the league. | -- | 6-31 |
