The Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz are peaking at the right time, while the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder pick a bad time to hit a wall.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Portland Trail Blazers | 44-27 | 57.1 | 10 | 0 |
| 9 | Indiana Pacers | 44-29 | 59.5 | 6 | -3 |
| 8 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 42-30 | 60.6 | 5 | -3 |
| 7 | Philadelphia 76ers | 47-25 | 60.7 | 9 | 2 |
| 6 | Denver Nuggets | 48-22 | 61.5 | 7 | 1 |
| 5 | Utah Jazz | 42-30 | 62.0 | 8 | 3 |
| 4 | Boston Celtics | 43-29 | 63.7 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | Toronto Raptors | 51-21 | 65.7 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | Golden State Warriors | 49-22 | 67.8 | 2 | 0 |
| 1 | Milwaukee Bucks | 53-19 | 74.0 | 1 | 0 |
Risers
The Philadelphia 76ers have won six in a row, and three of those wins have come against some of the stiffest competition the Eastern Conference has to offer in the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Boston Celtics. Philly now looks pretty well locked into third place in the East, as they're four games back of the second-place Toronto Raptors, and 3.5 games up on the fourth-place Pacers.
The Utah Jazz may have lost to the lowly Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, but they had won five in a row before that, and have the Association's fifth-best record since December 19th, 2018 at 28-13.
Fallers
The Indiana Pacers have lost four in a row and have a pretty brutal schedule down the stretch; they play seven of their last nine games against likely playoff teams.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have gone a lackluster 5-11 since February 14th and have sunk into a four-way tie for fifth in the Western Conference. Sure, they're only three games out of third place, but they're not playing like a team that truly has any hope of getting homecourt advantage in a first-round playoff series.