NBA power rankings for start of January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Golden State (1-1)

SECOND TIER

2 San Antonio (2-2)

THIRD TIER

3 Cleveland (3-3)

4 Oklahoma City (6-4)

FOURTH TIER

5 Atlanta (12-16)

6 LA Clippers (13-8)

7 Chicago (7-5)

8 Toronto (8-9)

9 Orlando (16-12)

10 Miami (5-11)

11 Dallas (9-13)

12 Indiana (4-6)

13 Boston (15-10)

14 Detroit (19-15)

15 Memphis (11-14)

16 Charlotte (10-7)

FIFTH TIER

17 Washington (23-22)

18 New York (20-21)

19 Houston (22-17)

20 Portland (21-19)

21 Utah (14-18)

22 Sacramento (25-25)

23 New Orleans (27-28)

24 Milwaukee (26-26)

25 Denver (24-23)

26 Minnesota (18-24)

27 Brooklyn (28-27)

28 Phoenix (17-20)

SIXTH TIER

29 LA Lakers (29-29)

SEVENTH TIER

30 Philadelphia (30-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Atlanta (11 spots), New Orleans and Washington (5 spots), New York, Orlando and Sacramento (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Charlotte (9 spots), Phoenix (8 spots), Indiana (6 spots), Boston and Utah (3 spots)

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

1 EAST 213

2 WEST 249