NBA power rankings for mid-January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Golden State (1-7-4-5)

2 Milwaukee (3-2-3-1)

3 Toronto (2-1-1-2)

4 Denver (8-5-2-4)

5 Indiana (9-13-5-3)

6 Philadelphia (10-6-6-6)

SECOND TIER

7 Portland (4-12-13-9)

8 San Antonio (15-20-18-10)

9 Boston (11-11-9-11)

10 Houston (14-15-17-8)

11 Oklahoma City (6-4-7-7)

12 Utah (18-22-20-17)

13 LA Lakers (13-8-8-13)

14 Brooklyn (23-26-24-22)

15 LA Clippers (5-3-10-12)

16 Sacramento (19-18-16-14)

17 Charlotte (20-21-21-15)

18 Miami (24-23-23-16)

19 Minnesota (22-17-22-21)

20 Dallas (21-14-11-18)

21 Detroit (16-9-14-20)

22 Washington (25-24-25-25)

23 Orlando (17-19-19-23)

24 New Orleans (12-16-15-24)

25 Memphis (7-10-12-19)

THIRD TIER

26 Atlanta (29-27-29-26)

FOURTH TIER

27 Phoenix (28-30-30-28)

28 Chicago (26-28-27-27)

29 New York (27-25-26-29)

30 Cleveland (30-29-28-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Brooklyn (8 spots), Utah (5 spots), Golden State (4 spots), Washington (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Memphis (6 spots), Oklahoma City (4 spots), LA Clippers (3 spots)

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

1 WEST 212

2 EAST 253