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.