NBA Power Rankings: 30 Words for 30 Teams
Welcome to theScore's biweekly NBA power rankings, where you'll find roughly 30 words on all 30 teams every other week through the end of the season.
1. Golden State Warriors (18-3)
Lost in the Warriors' predictable start and Klay Thompson's historic performance is that Kevin Durant's enjoying his most efficient season, while posting career highs in rebounds, blocks, and steals.
2. San Antonio Spurs (17-4)
The Spurs have more road wins (12) than 18 other teams have total wins, and they're two away from matching the record for consecutive road wins to open a season.
3. Los Angeles Clippers (16-6)
The Clippers have lost four of six - all to losing teams - but they won in Cleveland last week, have the league's best defense, and a double-digit net rating.
4. Cleveland Cavaliers (14-5)
The Cavs are literally defending like the Wizards right now, but they proved again Monday that they need not worry about East foes.
5. Toronto Raptors (14-7)
The only team to score more efficiently in the last 44 years is this season's Warriors, and Toronto's net rating (+9.7 points per 100 possessions) is more than five points better than the East's next best.
6. Houston Rockets (14-7)
The last five nights have seen Houston outlast the Warriors in double-overtime at Oracle on Thursday, trounce the Nuggets in Denver less than 24 hours later, then rally in the fourth Monday to beat Boston.
7. Utah Jazz (13-9)
Utah's one of three teams - along with Golden State and the Clippers - to rank in the top 10 on both sides of the ball.
8. Oklahoma City Thunder (14-8)
Russell Westbrook has more triple-doubles through the first quarter of this season than Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce, and Vince Carter have in their entire careers.
9. Memphis Grizzlies (14-8)
In typical Grizzlies fashion, Memphis has continued to win while missing six rotation players, thanks in large part to Marc Gasol's continued emergence as a sharpshooter.
10. Milwaukee Bucks (10-9)
Milwaukee's last three losses have come by a combined 10 points against the Warriors, Spurs, and Raptors. How good could this team have been with Khris Middleton?
11. Detroit Pistons (11-11)
The good news is that the Pistons finally have Reggie Jackson back. The bad news is that they welcomed their starting point guard back to the lineup with a home loss to the Magic.
12. Charlotte Hornets (12-9)
Of the 99 lineups that have logged at least 40 minutes together, only Memphis, Utah, Toronto, and Golden State have produced more effective units than Charlotte's Walker-Belinelli-Batum-Kaminsky-Zeller lineup (+27.6 per 100 possessions).
13. Boston Celtics (12-9)
For those who blame the Celtics' poor defense on their time spent without Al Horford and Jae Crowder, Boston's defensive rating with both players on the court (107.1) would rank 26th.
14. New York Knicks (11-9)
The Knicks are off to their best start in four years, but they look like the type of mediocre team that further delays a youth movement.
15. Portland Trail Blazers (12-10)
The Blazers own the worst defense and are a net-negative overall, but it's quite possible the West's playoff field is already set, with New Orleans and Minnesota, for example, already five games behind eighth-place Portland.
16. Chicago Bulls (11-9)
The Bulls have lost five of eight, somehow allowed a pitiful Mavs team to score 107 points, and had to suspend Rajon Rondo for conduct detrimental to the team. Not even beating Cleveland overshadows all that.
17. Indiana Pacers (10-11)
The Pacers have the makings of a quintessential .500 team, having not won or lost more than two in a row yet this season.
18. Los Angeles Lakers (10-13)
The Lakers' feel-good start has given way to a stretch that has seen their last six losses come by an average margin of 21 points, and they begin a seven-game road trip next week.
19. Atlanta Hawks (10-12)
Has a team's season ever unraveled so quickly and inexplicably? Since starting 9-2, Atlanta's lost 10 of 11 - including seven straight. They also own the league's worst offense by a mile, and the 29th-ranked net rating.
20. Miami Heat (7-13)
Hassan Whiteside has been the NBA's leading rebounder in 18 of his 20 appearances this season, and he grabs more contested rebounds than anyone else. It's tough to find things to say about the Heat.
21. Washington Wizards (7-12)
The Wizards found a way to win Monday in Brooklyn, but does anything sum up the team's dysfunction quite like a bricked put-back that followed a botched layup?
22. Orlando Magic (9-12)
At least the Magic are making good on their defensive potential. Orlando's defensive rating of 100.8 ranks third, and is the franchise's best mark in six years.
23. Denver Nuggets (8-13)
Who would've thought, when he started his career 0-for-17 from the field, that Jamal Murray was embarking on a Rookie of the Month-caliber performance?
24. Sacramento Kings (7-13)
Despite his reputation for petulance and Sacramento's aversion to meaningful basketball beyond November, DeMarcus Cousins is proving to be one of the NBA's most loyal stars.
25. New Orleans Pelicans (7-15)
So much for that run New Orleans was on with Jrue Holiday back in the lineup. The Pelicans have followed up four straight wins by losing five of six and falling five games back of eighth.
26. Minnesota Timberwolves (6-14)
For all the hype surrounding the Tom Thibodeau-led Timberwolves, Minnesota's actually two games behind where they were after 20 games last season.
27. Phoenix Suns (6-14)
Phoenix's latest loss to Philadelphia was long enough ago (17 days) that the Suns can reclaim their rightful place as the best of the worst.
28. Dallas Mavericks (4-16)
If the Mavs are serious about trading Andrew Bogut when their playoff hopes fade, then they should've been on the phone about a month ago.
29. Brooklyn Nets (5-15)
Since grinding out four wins in their first nine games, the Nets have lost 10 of 11 while posting an average point-differential of -14.7. The lone win during that stretch somehow came against the Clippers.
30. Philadelphia 76ers (4-17)
The Sixers clearly weren't ready for the attention and pressure that came with a top-26 ranking, losing seven straight since then to return to their familiar, cellar-dwelling place.