NBA power rankings for mid-December

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Toronto (2-1)

SECOND TIER

2 Denver (8-5)

3 Milwaukee (3-2)

4 Golden State (1-7)

5 Indiana (9-13)

6 Philadelphia (10-6)

THIRD TIER

7 Oklahoma City (6-4)

8 LA Lakers (13-8)

9 Boston (11-11)

FOURTH TIER

10 LA Clippers (5-3)

11 Dallas (21-14)

12 Memphis (7-10)

13 Portland (4-12)

14 Detroit (16-9)

15 New Orleans (12-16)

16 Sacramento (19-18)

17 Houston (14-15)

18 San Antonio (15-20)

19 Orlando (17-19)

20 Utah (18-22)

21 Charlotte (20-21)

22 Minnesota (22-17)

FIFTH TIER

23 Miami (24-23)

24 Brooklyn (23-26)

25 Washington (25-24)

SIXTH TIER

26 New York (27-25)

SEVENTH TIER

27 Chicago (26-28)

28 Cleveland (30-29)

29 Atlanta (29-27)

30 Phoenix (28-30)

BIGGEST RISERS: Indiana (8 spots), Dallas, Denver and Golden State (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: LA Clippers (7 spots), Detroit and Minnesota (5 spots)

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

1 WEST 205

2 EAST 280