NBA power rankings for start of January

By Rick Morris

Previous rankings are in parentheses, from start of December to present.

FIRST TIER

1 Oklahoma City (5-2)

2 Indiana (1-1)

3 Miami (2-5)

4 San Antonio (3-4)

5 Portland (4-3)

SECOND TIER

6 LA Clippers (7-7)

7 Houston (6-6)

8 Phoenix (13-9)

9 Golden State (9-10)

10 Dallas (10-11)

11 Atlanta (12-13)

12 New Orleans (16-12)

13 Minnesota (14-14)

14 Washington (17-21)

15 Toronto (21-23)

16 Denver (8-8)

17 Memphis (15-17)

18 Charlotte (19-19)

19 Detroit (20-18)

20 Boston (23-15)

21 LA Lakers (11-16)

22 Chicago (18-20)

THIRD TIER

23 Orlando (22-25)

24 Brooklyn (25-24)

25 Sacramento (27-26)

26 Philadelphia (24-28)

27 New York (28-27)

28 Cleveland (26-22)

FOURTH TIER

29 Utah (30-30)

30 Milwaukee (29-29)

BIGGEST RISERS: Toronto (8 spots), Washington (7 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Denver (8 spots), Cleveland (6 spots), Boston and LA Lakers (5 spots)

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

1 SOUTHWEST 50

2 NORTHWEST 64

3 PACIFIC 69

4 SOUTHEAST 69

5 CENTRAL 101

6 ATLANTIC 112

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 183

2 EAST 282