The Los Angeles Clippers hit a wall, the Charlotte Hornets slide into the middle tier, and literally no one moves up.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Houston Rockets | 16-15 | 48.7 | 20 | 0 |
| 19 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 14-17 | 49.4 | 18 | -1 |
| 18 | Los Angeles Clippers | 18-13 | 49.7 | 13 | -5 |
| 17 | Portland Trail Blazers | 18-13 | 49.9 | 17 | 0 |
| 16 | Utah Jazz | 15-17 | 50.0 | 16 | 0 |
| 15 | Memphis Grizzlies | 16-15 | 50.4 | 15 | 0 |
| 14 | Sacramento Kings | 16-15 | 50.5 | 14 | 0 |
| 13 | New Orleans Pelicans | 15-17 | 52.5 | 12 | -1 |
| 12 | Dallas Mavericks | 15-15 | 52.6 | 11 | -1 |
| 11 | Charlotte Hornets | 15-15 | 55.1 | 8 | -3 |
Risers
Not a single team left in the middle tier moved up this week. Last week's 19th-ranked team, the San Antonio Spurs, gained a fair bit of ground, but they actually leapfrogged everyone here to land in the top-10 (more on them when we get there).
Fallers
This time three weeks ago, the Los Angeles Clippers sat at the top of the Western Conference with a record of 15-6, and were the sixth-ranked team in our power rankings. They've fallen off a bit of a cliff since then, however, going 3-7 over the last 10 and posting the league's third-worst net rating of -9.4 over that span in the process. On the plus side, 12 of their next 15 games take place at STAPLES Center (11 home games and a "road" game against the Los Angeles Lakers), so they've got a good opportunity to right the ship just ahead.
The Charlotte Hornets have been a relative fixture in our top-10 this season, despite having had a fairly middling record the entire time. They fall out of the top tier this time around after a 1-2 week, but their eighth-ranked margin of victory of 2.27 continues to keep them firmly on the doorstep.