NBA power rankings for start of February

By Rick Morris

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

FIRST TIER

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

2 Indiana (1-1-2-1)

SECOND TIER

3 Portland (4-3-5-5)

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

5 Miami (2-5-3-4)

THIRD TIER

6 LA Clippers (7-7-6-7)

7 Houston (6-6-7-8)

FOURTH TIER

8 Phoenix (13-9-8-10)

9 Golden State (9-10-9-6)

10 Memphis (15-17-17-16)

11 Dallas (10-11-10-9)

12 Atlanta (12-13-11-13)

13 Toronto (21-23-15-11)

14 Chicago (18-20-22-14)

15 Denver (8-8-16-12)

16 Minnesota (14-14-13-17)

17 Washington (17-21-14-15)

18 Brooklyn (25-24-24-22)

19 Charlotte (19-19-18-23)

20 New Orleans (16-12-12-18)

21 New York (28-27-27-19)

22 Detroit (20-18-19-20)

FIFTH TIER

23 Utah (30-30-29-24)

24 Cleveland (26-22-28-26)

25 LA Lakers (11-16-21-27)

26 Sacramento (27-26-25-21)

27 Philadelphia (24-28-26-25)

28 Boston (23-15-20-28)

29 Orlando (22-25-23-29)

SIXTH TIER

30 Milwaukee (29-29-30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Memphis (6 spots), Brooklyn and Charlotte (4 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Sacramento (5 spots), Denver and Golden State (3 spots)

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

1 SOUTHWEST 52

2 NORTHWEST 58

3 PACIFIC 74

4 SOUTHEAST 82

5 CENTRAL 91

6 ATLANTIC 107

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 184

2 EAST 280