NBA Power Rankings Update: It's Time to Stop Sleeping on the Indiana Pacers
Teams Ranked 30th to 21st
The Portland Trail Blazers make an appearance in the bottom-10, the Detroit Pistons lose a little bit of ground, and literally no one else moves in this tier this week.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Chicago Bulls | 9-26 | 21.2 | 30 | 0 |
| 29 | Phoenix Suns | 9-26 | 22.2 | 29 | 0 |
| 28 | Atlanta Hawks | 9-24 | 22.7 | 28 | 0 |
| 27 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 8-27 | 25.0 | 27 | 0 |
| 26 | New York Knicks | 9-27 | 26.8 | 26 | 0 |
| 25 | Orlando Magic | 14-19 | 33.6 | 25 | 0 |
| 24 | Washington Wizards | 13-22 | 39.3 | 24 | 0 |
| 23 | Detroit Pistons | 16-16 | 45.7 | 22 | -1 |
| 22 | Portland Trail Blazers | 20-15 | 46.5 | 17 | -5 |
| 21 | Brooklyn Nets | 17-19 | 47.4 | 21 | 0 |
Risers
There is no upward movement in the bottom tier this week. The only team from last week's bottom-10 that improved in our rankings was the Miami Heat, and they jumped out of this tier entirely.
Fallers
The Detroit Pistons have had the definition of an up-and-down season, winning four in a row, losing four in a row, winning nine of 11, and now most recently, losing nine of 12. Who are the real Pistons? Who knows at this point, but they're sitting at exactly .500 through all of this (16-16) and slot in sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. Sounds about right.
The Portland Trail Blazers are a surprising entry in the bottom-10 this week, considering their 20-15 record has them tied for fifth -- and two and a half games out of first -- in a very competitive Western Conference. They've gone 2-2 over the last week, however, and their middling 111.0 offensive rating (14th), 110.9 defensive rating (18th), and 0.11 average margin of victory (18th) don't really suggest that they deserve to be much higher.
