NBA power rankings for mid-March

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Houston (3-3-3-3-2-1-1)

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

3 Toronto (9-7-6-5-3-4-3)

4 Boston (2-4-2-2-4-5-5)

5 Portland (13-8-13-13-10-11-6)

6 Cleveland (5-2-4-6-11-3-4)

SECOND TIER

7 Oklahoma City (18-19-10-11-9-13-7)

8 New Orleans (12-15-15-14-15-17-8)

9 Indiana (22-16-18-18-13-8-10)

10 Utah (19-13-20-23-19-16-13)

11 Denver (10-9-12-12-12-10-9)

12 LA Clippers (24-23-19-16-16-15-12)

13 Philadelphia (15-10-17-17-17-14-11)

14 Miami (20-18-11-8-14-19-20)

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

16 Minnesota (7-14-7-7-6-12-16)

17 San Antonio (6-5-5-4-5-9-17)

18 Milwaukee (16-11-14-15-8-7-15)

THIRD TIER

19 LA Lakers (21-21-29-27-21-20-18)

20 Charlotte (23-22-24-24-20-21-19)

21 Detroit (4-6-8-10-18-18-21)

FOURTH TIER

22 Sacramento (28-26-26-28-30-24-24)

23 Chicago (27-30-21-21-24-26-25)

24 Dallas (29-29-23-20-27-29-27)

25 Orlando (11-20-28-29-28-22-22)

26 Atlanta (30-28-30-30-29-23-23)

27 New York (17-17-16-22-22-25-26)

28 Brooklyn (26-25-25-25-26-27-28)

29 Phoenix (25-24-22-19-25-30-29)

30 Memphis (14-27-27-26-23-28-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Miami (6 spots), Dallas and Utah (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Milwaukee (3 spots)

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

1 WEST 223

2 EAST 252