NBA power rankings for start of January

By Rick Morris

NOTES: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Milwaukee (3-2-3)

2 Toronto (2-1-1)

SECOND TIER

3 Indiana (9-13-5)

4 Denver (8-5-2)

5 Golden State (1-7-4)

6 Philadelphia (10-6-6)

7 Oklahoma City (6-4-7)

THIRD TIER

8 Houston (14-15-17)

9 Portland (4-12-13)

10 San Antonio (15-20-18)

11 Boston (11-11-9)

12 LA Clippers (5-3-10)

13 LA Lakers (13-8-8)

14 Sacramento (19-18-16)

FOURTH TIER

15 Charlotte (20-21-21)

16 Miami (24-23-23)

17 Utah (18-22-20)

18 Dallas (21-14-11)

19 Memphis (7-10-12)

20 Detroit (16-9-14)

21 Minnesota (22-17-22)

FIFTH TIER

22 Brooklyn (23-26-24)

23 Orlando (17-19-19)

24 New Orleans (12-16-15)

SIXTH TIER

25 Washington (25-24-25)

SEVENTH TIER

26 Atlanta (29-27-29)

EIGHTH TIER

27 Chicago (26-28-27)

28 Phoenix (28-30-30)

29 New York (27-25-26)

30 Cleveland (30-29-28)

BIGGEST RISERS: Houston (9 spots), San Antonio (8 spots), Miami (7 spots), Charlotte (6 spots), Portland (4 spots), Atlanta and Utah (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: New Orleans (9 spots), Dallas and Memphis (7 spots), Detroit (6 spots), LA Lakers (5 spots), Orlando (4 spots), New York (3 spots)

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

1 WEST 199

2 EAST 256