NBA power rankings for start of April

By Rick Morris

 

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

 

TOP TIER

1 Golden State (2-1-1-1-1-1-1)

SECOND TIER

2 Atlanta (10-4-2-2-2-2-2)

THIRD TIER

3 Houston (6-9-6-6-5-4-5)

4 San Antonio (5-13-11-10-8-8-7)

5 Cleveland (13-11-14-12-11-10-6)

6 LA Clippers (8-10-8-4-9-6-8)

7 Memphis (1-5-4-3-3-3-3)

8 Portland (4-3-3-9-6-5-4)

FOURTH TIER

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

10 Toronto (3-2-9-5-4-11-11)

11 Dallas (7-7-5-7-7-7-9)

12 Oklahoma City (22-17-15-16-14-12-12)

13 Washington (9-6-7-8-12-14-14)

14 New Orleans (18-14-16-14-15-15-13)

FIFTH TIER

15 Phoenix (12-12-12-13-16-16-15)

16 Milwaukee (14-15-13-15-13-13-16)

SIXTH TIER

17 Brooklyn (20-16-22-20-22-20-23)

18 Miami (16-18-18-17-18-22-21)

19 Boston (24-23-25-24-20-18-18)

20 Utah (23-22-24-22-23-19-19)

21 Charlotte (28-25-20-18-17-21-20)

22 Indiana (19-21-23-25-19-17-17)

SEVENTH TIER

23 Detroit (29-27-19-19-21-23-25)

24 Denver (17-19-17-21-24-25-22)

25 Sacramento (15-20-21-23-25-24-24)

EIGHTH TIER

26 Orlando (21-24-26-26-26-26-26)

27 LA Lakers (27-26-27-27-28-28-27)

NINTH TIER

28 Philadelphia (30-28-28-28-27-29-28)

29 Minnesota (25-29-29-29-29-27-30)

30 New York (26-30-30-30-30-30-29)

 

BIGGEST RISERS: Brooklyn (6 spots), Miami (3 spots)

 

BIGGEST FALLERS: Indiana (5 spots), Memphis and Portland (4 spots)

 

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

 

1 SOUTHWEST 39

2 PACIFIC 74

3 SOUTHEAST 80

4 CENTRAL 85

5 NORTHWEST 93

6 ATLANTIC 104

 

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 WEST 206

2 EAST 269