Things are getting brutally tight in the middle tier, as all 10 teams are separated by less than five in terms of nERD, and continue to shuffle quite a bit on a weekly basis.

Risers

The Sacramento Kings have won four of their last five and continue to hang around in the Western Conference playoff race. At 23-22, they currently sit 10th in the Western Conference, but they're somehow only three-and-a-half games out of third as well. Despite being so heavily in the mix, our algorithms continue to cast doubt on Sacramento's postseason hopes, giving them only a 22.4% chance of making it at this point in time.

The Portland Trail Blazers have won 7 of their last 10 games and have had the league's third-best net rating over that span at 10.3. They have gone through a few shaky stretches this season, but they've now settled into fourth place in the Western Conference with a record of 27-19 and are gaining momentum.

Fallers

The Minnesota Timberwolves have won four of their last six, but they slide pretty hard down our rankings this week because of a 42-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Clippers went winless this week (0-3) and have now lost four in a row and six of their last nine. They thankfully had a nice enough buffer made for themselves that they still hold onto seventh place in the West and are only two games out of third, but the margin for error is so razor thin in their conference this season that they're only five games up on the 14th-place Memphis Grizzlies as well.