The Oklahoma City Thunder vault into the top-five, the Denver Nuggets fall out of it, and there's some jockeying for position at our top spot.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Boston Celtics | 8-6 | 59.0 | 9 | -1 |
| 9 | Indiana Pacers | 8-6 | 61.2 | 7 | -2 |
| 8 | Los Angeles Clippers | 9-5 | 61.4 | 8 | 0 |
| 7 | Denver Nuggets | 10-5 | 63.4 | 4 | -3 |
| 6 | Charlotte Hornets | 7-7 | 64.2 | 6 | 0 |
| 5 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 9-5 | 64.9 | 10 | 5 |
| 4 | Portland Trail Blazers | 10-4 | 69.8 | 5 | 1 |
| 3 | Toronto Raptors | 12-3 | 74.0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | Golden State Warriors | 12-4 | 77.0 | 1 | -1 |
| 1 | Milwaukee Bucks | 10-4 | 78.0 | 2 | 1 |
Risers
The Oklahoma City Thunder are arguably the hottest team in the NBA right now, winning nine of their last 10, including four of their last five without former MVP Russell Westbrook. After starting the season 0-4, they've rattled off a 9-5 record overall, and now sit 11th in the league in offensive rating (109.6), second in defensive rating (104.6), and seventh in margin of victory (5.07). It's not really time to start discussing Westbrook as a Ewing Theory candidate, but it's admirable how they've managed to keep their hot play alive while he nurses an ankle issue.
The Milwaukee Bucks may have only moved up one spot this week, but it was a big one. For the first time in a long damn time, we have new number one here at numberFire. They've lost four of their last seven after starting the season 7-0, but they still maintain the Association's top point differential at 10.86, as well as its second-ranked offense (116.1 offensive rating), and fourth-ranked defense (105.7 defensive rating). The Eastern Conference is suddenly loaded with talent at the top, with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and Philadelphia 76ers around to deal with, but this week it's the Bucks that sit at the very top of the entire pile in our rankings.
Fallers
The Denver Nuggets started the season 9-1, but have dropped four of their last five to fall to 10-5. That still puts them at a respectable place at third in the Western Conference, but overall they fall from fourth to seventh in our power rankings. They still rank respectably in offensive rating (113.5, sixth), defensive rating (105.5, third), and margin of victory (7.87, third), but recent losses to lower-tiered teams like the Memphis Grizzlies, Brooklyn Nets, and Houston Rockets have shown cracks in their armor. It'll be hard to get consistently back in the win column too, with nine of their next 11 games coming on the road.
Let's be honest about one thing: the Golden State Warriors are going to be fine. They may fall out of the first spot in our power rankings this week for the first time in what feels like a decade (it's honestly been less than a year, but you get the idea), but they're not far out of it, and likely won't stay out of it for long. Sure, they've lost three of their last five, and have more personal drama going on than they'd probably like right now, but they're still heavy title favorites (we have them at 38.0%), and even those three recent losses come with an asterisk as they've been without Stephen Curry (groin). No need to break them up just yet.