NBA power rankings for start of 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)

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

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

SECOND TIER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THIRD TIER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOURTH TIER

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

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

BIGGEST RISERS: Sacramento (6 spots), Golden State (5 spots), Minnesota (4 spots), Philadelphia (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Cleveland (6 spots), Detroit (4 spots), Boston and Toronto (3 spots)

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

1 SOUTHWEST 61

2 NORTHWEST 66

3 ATLANTIC 75

4 PACIFIC 79

5 CENTRAL 91

6 SOUTHEAST 93

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 206

2 EAST 259