NBA Power Rankings Update: The Portland Trail Blazers Are Worthy of Your Attention
Teams Ranked 10th to 1st
The Thunder and Clippers jump into the top tier, while the Trail Blazers continue to shoot up our rankings.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 7-4 | 57.9 | 17 | 7 |
| 9 | Boston Celtics | 7-4 | 60.4 | 7 | -2 |
| 8 | Los Angeles Clippers | 6-5 | 62.6 | 12 | 4 |
| 7 | Indiana Pacers | 7-5 | 65.8 | 4 | -3 |
| 6 | Charlotte Hornets | 6-5 | 66.4 | 8 | 2 |
| 5 | Portland Trail Blazers | 9-3 | 68.2 | 10 | 5 |
| 4 | Denver Nuggets | 9-2 | 70.0 | 5 | 1 |
| 3 | Toronto Raptors | 11-1 | 77.0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | 9-2 | 80.2 | 2 | 0 |
| 1 | Golden State Warriors | 10-2 | 84.7 | 1 | 0 |
Risers
After starting the season 0-4, Oklahoma City has rattled off seven straight wins to move into the top tier of our rankings. Russell Westbrook has missed back-to-back games with a bum ankle, but Paul George is filling it up on a nightly basis and keeping the ship afloat. The Thunder boast the league's fourth-ranked defense (105.0 defensive rating), which should keep them knocking on the door of our top 10 most weeks.
The Bucks and Nuggets have been getting a lot of attention for their hot starts, but the Trail Blazers have quietly strung together three straight 3-1 weeks for a 9-3 record. It's safe to say that they're the real deal, too, considering the fact that they currently have the league's second-ranked offense (116.0 offensive rating), seventh-ranked defense (106.2 defensive rating), and third-ranked margin of victory (9.91), trailing only the Warriors (13.73) and Bucks (12.70).
Fallers
The ultra-talented Celtics were supposed to be running away with the Eastern Conference by now, but they've fallen behind the red-hot Raptors (11-1) and Bucks (9-2) with their modest 7-4 record. They've got the league's top-ranked defense (101.7 defensive rating), but they're struggling to figure things out on offense (104.6 offensive rating, 27th). There are a lot of mouths to feed in Boston, but they've still got lots of time left to figure it out.
The Indiana Pacers drop a few spots after a middling 2-2 week. They're still fourth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 7-5, and are worthy members of our top 10 with their fifth-ranked defense (105.9 defensive rating) and eighth-ranked margin of victory (3.50), but they had to make way for hotter teams like the Trail Blazers.
