NBA power rankings for start of March

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Previous periods’ rankings in parentheses, start of season to present.

FIRST TIER

1 San Antonio (4-3-5-3-1-1)

2 Miami (2-1-3-6-4-4)

3 Oklahoma City (3-5-1-1-2-2)

4 LA Clippers (5-7-4-2-3-3)

SECOND TIER

5 Memphis (6-4-7-4-7-6)

6 Denver (12-18-14-9-9-7)

7 Indiana (7-17-12-8-11-8)

8 New York (10-2-2-7-6-5)

9 Atlanta (13-9-8-11-13-12)

10 Brooklyn (14-6-11-10-10-9)

11 Chicago (9-11-9-13-8-10)

12 Boston (8-12-16-16-17-13)

13 Golden State (23-8-9-6-5-5-11)

14 Utah (18-16-15-15-12-14)

15 Houston (16-15-21-14-15-15)

16 LA Lakers (1-14-19-20-19-17)

17 Milwaukee (19-13-13-17-14-16)

THIRD TIER

18 Dallas (11-19-20-22-20-19)

19 Portland (17-23-17-12-16-18)

FOURTH TIER

20 Toronto (24-27-24-21-22-21)

21 Detroit (26-25-26-23-21-22)

22 Philadelphia (15-10-18-19-18-20)

23 Cleveland (21-28-28-28-28-27)

24 Washington (29-30-30-30-29-28)

25 New Orleans (22-29-29-27-26-23)

26 Phoenix (25-22-23-25-24-26)

27 Sacramento (28-26-25-24-25-25)

28 Minnesota (20-20-10-18-23-24)

29 Orlando (27-24-22-26-27-29)

FIFTH TIER

30 Charlotte (30-21-27-29-30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Cleveland and Washington (4 spots), Atlanta (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Minnesota (4 spots), New York (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 SOUTHWEST 64

2 NORTHWEST 70

3 ATLANTIC 72

4 CENTRAL 79

5 PACIFIC 86

6 SOUTHEAST 94

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 220

2 EAST 245