NBA power rankings for mid-April

By Rick Morris

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

FIRST TIER

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

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

3 San Antonio (4-3-5-3-1-1-1-2-2)

SECOND TIER

4 Denver (12-18-14-9-9-7-6-5-4)

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

6 LA Clippers (5-7-4-2-3-3-4-6-6)

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

THIRD TIER

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

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

10 Golden State (23-8-9-6-5-5-11-13-14-9)

11 Houston (16-15-21-14-15-15-15-12-12)

12 Atlanta (13-9-8-11-13-12-9-10-11)

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

14 LA Lakers (1-14-19-20-19-17-16-15-15)

15 Boston (8-12-16-16-17-13-12-11-14)

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

FOURTH TIER

17 Dallas (11-19-20-22-20-19-18-18-17)

18 Milwaukee (19-13-13-17-14-16-17-17-18)

FIFTH TIER

19 Philadelphia (15-10-18-19-18-20-22-23-20)

20 Toronto (24-27-24-21-22-21-20-20-23)

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

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

23 Sacramento (28-26-25-24-25-25-27-27-21)

24 Washington (29-30-30-30-29-28-24-24-22)

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

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

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

28 Phoenix (25-22-23-25-24-26-26-26-28)

SIXTH TIER

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

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

BIGGEST RISERS: Toronto (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: none more than 3 spots

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

1 NORTHWEST 59

2 SOUTHWEST 62

3 ATLANTIC 68

4 PACIFIC 81

5 CENTRAL 91

6 SOUTHEAST 96

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 202

2 EAST 263