When the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers all failed to get through the first week of the regular season unbeaten, that enabled the reigning champs from San Antonio to retain the No. 1 ranking despite a loss in Phoenix on the same night Kawhi Leonard returned to the lineup.
Golden State and Miami are this week's big movers, jumping up to No. 2 and No. 7, respectively, after their impressive starts.
A more detailed look at this week's order can be found on Stein Line Live. And you can comment below on this week's 1-to-30 ladder, which was compiled with the usual helpful dishing from ESPN Stats & Information and the Elias Sports Bureau.
| 2014-15 Power Rankings: Week 1 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |
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Last Week: 1 | Quite a week looming for the champs. Tim Duncan is in fine form and Kawhi Leonard has finally returned from three weeks' worth of eye issues, but Thursday night calls for a visit to Houston after going 0-4 against the Rockets last season followed by this season's first TD-Anthony Davis duel at home. | ||
| 2 | 3 Last Week: 5 | Scoring 70 points in his first two games since scoring a richly deserved max contract extension would suggest Klay Thompson doesn't mind the raised expectations that come with a deal like that. And finally stepping up to pay Thompson realistically edges the Dubs past Miami for Team of the Week status. | ||
| 3 | 3 Last Week: 6 | Even if you think they should have won in San Antonio, it's hard to quibble too much with the Mavs' start. Dirk and Monta have it going already, Tyson Chandler looks right back at home, Dallas manufactured a nice win in New Orleans ... and please tell me you've seen the new Run DMC video. | ||
| 4 | 2 Last Week: 2 | I've heard all the rationalizations. The Cavs get everyone's best game now. The Knicks played better (and harder) than anyone ever expected. The incessant hype in Cleveland these days took an emotional toll on LeBron & Co. Sorry, Cavs. No pardons here for losing the opener to such vulnerable visitors. | ||
| 5 | 2 Last Week: 3 | Something tells me trying to talk about how good Jimmy Butler looked in his return or how inviting the early schedule is -- with an NBA-record eight straight games against nonplayoff teams from 2013-14 to open the season -- ain't gonna fly. Any D-Rose setback, no matter how seemingly minor, makes us all weep. | ||
| 6 | 2 Last Week: 8 | A 3-0 start looks especially tasty on paper for a franchise that somehow won just two of its first 18 season openers. Saturday night's 71-69 special in Charlotte was particularly grit-and-grindy, but go ahead and grade 'em yourselves Friday when Marc Gasol's Grizz make their ESPN season debut at OKC. | ||
| 7 | 9 Last Week: 16 | The wins over Washington and Toronto were both at home. The Wiz, furthermore, had neither Bradley Beal nor Nene. But the Chris Bosh-led Heat, as they're now known, are the East's last remaining unbeaten and just did something the LeBron-led Heat did only once by getting off to a 3-0 launch. | ||
| 8 | 4 Last Week: 4 | Maybe it's a good thing that the Clips have to see their hated rivals by the Bay so soon, because this is a team already in need of a jolt. Most Underwhelming Team of the Week, to be precise, heading into Wednesday's Golden State trip after following up two nervy wins with a home L to the Kings. | ||
| 9 | 3 Last Week: 12 | After a favorable early schedule allowed the Rockets to ease into the season, there will be no ducking those nagging what-if thoughts Tuesday night when the second stop of a back-to-back takes them from the friendly confines of Philly to South Beach and a dreaded date with a very dialed-in Chris Bosh. | ||
| 10 | 1 Last Week: 9 | It's a touch too early for full-on frustration, but the Raps squandered an immediate opportunity in the race to see who can establish themselves as the East's clear-cut No. 3 by missing 15 free throws and playing more sub-standard D in what turned out to be their 16th straight loss to Miami. | ||
| 11 | 3 Last Week: 14 | High on the list of Week 1 surprises is how quickly Isaiah Thomas found his niche in the Suns' crowded backcourt. Have to say, though, that losing so handily in Utah, even on a back-to-back, took the shine too quickly off beating the Spurs with Thomas, Dragic and Bledsoe all on the floor at the end. | ||
| 12 | 1 Last Week: 11 | Word is Paul Pierce, irritated as he looked during Saturday night's bizarre ejection scenes, is already feeling quite comfortable in the nation's capital. It surely doesn't hurt, in this stretch without Bradley Beal, that the schedule isn't too daunting until two dates with the Cavs (Nov. 21 and 26). | ||
| 13 | 6 Last Week: 7 | Had to go back and double-check it when someone asked if I remembered that the Blazers jumped out to a 22-4 start last season. And now they'll need a freakish 21-2 surge to match that after a bumpy Halloween weekend and Damian Lillard's unexpectedly s-l-o-w start. Dame's really shooting .268 from the field? | ||
| 14 | 1 Last Week: 15 | That Team USA elected not to take him to Spain doesn't appear to have thrown off Hawks sharpshooter Kyle Korver. He's off to a tidy 8-for-10 opening salvo from 3-point range for the Hawks, who also have to like the look of Al Horford's first two games' worth of comeback contributions. | ||
| 15 | 6 Last Week: 21 | The big takeaway after spending a night with the Knicks in Cleveland is that Derek Fisher belongs. Everyone said he was a coaching natural, but he looks even more comfortable and commanding than I expected, which is reflected in the response he's gotten out of this group since the home opener shellacking. | ||
| 16 | 7 Last Week: 23 | Who had a better weekend than Boogie Cousins, Rudy Gay and the Sacramento Kings? It's too soon to outright recant some of the pessimism found in this comment cyberspace last week, but the wins and stat lines they uncorked against the Blazers (home) and Clips (road) add up to a loud response. | ||
| 17 | 4 Last Week: 13 | Michael Jordan took over the team Twitter feed. Then Kemba Walker scored a contract extension. Week 1 started with such promise for the reborn Hornets, only for a near-loss at home to the Bucks and a fourth-quarter benching of Lance Stephenson to bring a quick halt to the honeymoon. | ||
| 18 | 1 Last Week: 19 | Anthony Davis' eye-popping Week 1 numbers let you know what he thinks about our fears he's been overhyped. The gaudy production, though, wasn't as filling as it should have been, because the Pels hosted and lost their first measuring-stick game of the season with Dallas in town Saturday night. | ||
| 19 | 9 Last Week: 10 | Didn't even have the chance to share how I've never really been curious to see what the Thunder would look like with Russ piloting them solo before he stunningly joined KD on the sideline, too. OKC's only solace: Just six of its 15 games this month come against .500+ teams from last season. | ||
| 20 | 2 Last Week: 18 | Interesting bit of trivia to file away as LeBron's Cavs wind through their first extended road trip: Cleveland's final stop on this four-game excursion is Friday night in Denver, which happens to be the team against which King James has enjoyed his least success. The Nuggets are 12-8 all time against LBJ. | ||
| 21 | 2 Last Week: 19 | Brook Lopez is poised to make his long-awaited return Monday night. And Mikhail Prokhorov is coming to town. Throw in the flashes of bounce-back we've seen from Joe Johnson, Deron Williams and Kevin Garnett and there's almost enough here to get us to gloss over the Boston debacle. Almost. | ||
| 22 | 3 Last Week: 25 | For all the bad flashbacks to last season's late-game failings that came with a one-point loss in Game 3 of 82, Minnesota did enough good things in Week 1 to make me think it's going to exceed all those preseason over/unders in the mid-to-high 20s. Too many vets still here to sink that low. | ||
| 23 | 1 Last Week: 22 | Come Friday, Indy will have played three of its first six games against the Sixers, Bucks and Celtics. This is what passes for sunny skies these days for the poor Pacers, though we have to say -- if you can look past the small sample size -- that Roy Hibbert has looked more like himself so far. | ||
| 24 | 4 Last Week: 28 | Not ready to co-sign suggestions that Utah will be this season's Suns, since it was no easy trick for the Desert Cinderellas to go from the depths of their lowly preseason projections all the way to 48 wins. But consider me sold on the Alec Burks extension, which might have proved even more expensive in the summer if Burks keeps Burks-ing. | ||
| 25 | 2 Last Week: 27 | The Celts were never going to stay as hot as they looked ringing up 121 points on Brooklyn in Boston's highest-scoring season opener since 1990. And we can only hope they're not going to stay as off-target as they were in making unwanted NBA history by shooting 1-for-25 from deep in Houston. | ||
| 26 |
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Last Week: 26 | Maybe O.J. Mayo's preseason was no mirage. He shot well then and hasn't stopped, looking like a different player (especially physique-wise) while the masses inevitably focus on Jabari and Giannis. Brandon Knight and Larry Sanders were also solid in what, all things considered, ranks as an OK first week. | ||
| 27 | 7 Last Week: 20 | Haven't seen the renovations at The Palace firsthand, but instinct tells me arena-goers will notice the upgrades in the building faster than they'll spot the progress in Detroit's on-court makeover. Stan Van Gundy himself admits he doesn't yet "have a handle on what this team can do offensively." | ||
| 28 | 1 Last Week: 29 | Vooch! Who wants to read about Victor Oladipo's injury or Elfrid Payton's tough baptism when Nikola Vucevic is racking up 15 points, 23 boards and 4 blocks as just the fourth player in recorded history to hit those levels in a season opener? The others: Bob McAdoo (1973), Bill Walton (1974) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1975). | ||
| 29 | 5 Last Week: 24 | After each of the Lakers' three 0-3 starts since moving to L.A. in 1960, they rallied to win the fourth game and went on to make the playoffs. But this is the first time, despite everything Kobe's trying, that they've started a season with four straight L's since going 0-7 in Minneapolis in 1957-58. | ||
| 30 |
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Last Week: 30 | As much as we'd like to focus on the good early work from ROY candidate Nerlens Noel -- yes, folks, he's eligible -- it's hard not to start looking at the schedule for when that first win might come. Wednesday against Orlando or Boston's visit Nov. 19 are as inviting as it gets. | ||
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