Current NBA Power Rankings: Hawks flying high

By Marc Stein | ESPN.com
Monday, Jan. 12

Hawks Flying High

Hawks remain #1, Steve Kerr trying to avoid the Stein Power Rankings jinx and what's wrong with the Cavs and Knicks.

Tags: NBA, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers

ESPN's NBA Power Rankings committee (of one) has always tried to dismiss the notion of a Power Rankings jinx.
But even we thought we might have set the Atlanta Hawks up for a hard fall last Monday, when we promoted them to the No. 1 slot for the first time all season, mere hours before the Hawks played the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center.
Shows you what we know.
The Hawks not only beat the Clippers comfortably but went on to sweep all four of their games last week, thus extending their stay at the top of the rankings to a second straight Monday despite the ongoing excellence coming from Golden State and Portland. Since Thanksgiving, Atlanta is 22-2 -- with the league's top-rated defense in that span -- and a perfect 8-0 against teams at .500 or better. It's a run that features wins over Chicago, Houston, Portland and Washington, as well as two victories each over Cleveland and the Clippers.
These are the same Hawks, incidentally, whose leading scorer is Jeff Teague at a mere 17.4 points per game. The only players on the roster to ever make an All-NBA team are big man Al Horford and veteran sage Elton Brand.
Atlanta, Golden State, Portland and Chicago are the league's only four teams in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Memphis is tied for a surprising ninth in offensive efficiency and ranks No. 11 in defensive efficiency. It's no coincidence that those five are found in the top five of these rankings, which were compiled, as always, with the usual helpful assisting we get from ESPN Stats & Info and the Elias Sports Bureau. We'll delve further into this week's ladder on Stein Line Live. You're also invited to rank the teams yourself here.

2014-15 Power Rankings: Week 11
RANK	TEAM / RECORD	TRENDING	COMMENTS
1	Atlanta 29-8	-- Last Week: 1	The Hawks are up to 22-2 since their 7-6 start and have climbed from 26th overall in defensive efficiency to No. 5. Hollinger's strength of schedule table says Atlanta has had an easier ride than all but four teams ... but a league-leading 13 wins over .500-or-better teams tells a different tale.
2	Golden State 29-5	-- Last Week: 2	The Dubs must be wondering what they have to do to reclaim No. 1. Andrew Bogut is back and Golden State just became the first team to sweep a six-game homestand with an average winning margin of 20-plus points since a shooter named Steve Kerr and his Chicago Bulls did so in 1995-96.
3	Portland 30-8	1 Last Week: 4	Question: Do we dock Portland points because a league-high 21 of its 30 wins have been recorded against sub-.500 teams? Answer: Can't dock too many when the Blazers are 21-2 against losing teams and Golden State is 19-1. Especially when you factor in the Blazers' injuries along the front line.
4	Memphis 26-11	2 Last Week: 6	The Grizz have been chasing Jeff Green for at least a year and, according to committee sources, thought they might get him as part of the Courtney Lee deal in January 2014. Now they've got their SF and welcomed Z-Bo back after a nine-game absence (4-5) with two triple-doubles in two tries.
5	Chicago 26-12	2 Last Week: 3	The best part about Pau Gasol finding the Fountain of Youth, as the fourth-oldest player to ever post a 40-and-15 game, is that his 46 and 18 (to be precise) shifted the focus away from Derrick Rose's 31.7 percent shooting in his last 10 games, which took D-Rose's PER (yikes) below 15.
6	Houston 26-11	3 Last Week: 9	We probably haven't said enough about James Harden essentially becoming a 27-6-6 guy. If The Beard can hit those benchmarks for an entire season, he'll join LeBron (eight times), Michael (three), Larry (three) and Kobe (once) as the only players to do it since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976-77.
7	San Antonio 23-15	-- Last Week: 7	This is the first time in a long time -- going all the way back, in fact, to 2009-10 -- that the Spurs will lose more than 15 games before the All-Star break. Their 23 wins in 38 games is actually tied for the lowest win total through 38 games in the Tim Duncan era, matching a 23-15 start in 2000-01.
8	Los Angeles 25-13	-- Last Week: 8	Perhaps no two days this season illustrate the up-and-down nature of these Clips more than Saturday's rout of the Mavs ... followed by a humbling L on the same floor to Miami. You heard Jamal Crawford's take, right? Says the reigning Sixth Man of the Year: "We're consistently inconsistent."
9	Dallas 26-12	4 Last Week: 5	Cause for concern? The Mavs aren't quite sure. They're 1-8 against the rest of the West's top eight, which certainly doesn't sound good, but six of those eight losses were on the road. Also: Dirk & Co. were 3-12 against the West's top eight after Jan. 1, 2011 ... during their title-winning season.
10	Phoenix 22-18	2 Last Week: 12	A promising week, thanks to the acquisition of Brandan Wright, could have been a great week had the Suns not suffered a total fourth-quarter collapse in San Antonio, followed by double-overtime heartbreak in Memphis. Clinging to the West's No. 8 seed, Phoenix is now 0-4 in OT games.
11	Toronto 25-11	1 Last Week: 10	The good news: Toronto is 2-0 against the Hawks. The bad news: Both wins were recorded during the Hawks' 7-6 start. The worst news: Toronto (104.8) is better than only Miami (106.5) and Cleveland (106.0) when it comes to defensive efficiency among teams currently playoff-bound.
12	Washington 25-12	2 Last Week: 14	Not much time for the Wiz to enjoy John Wall's first-ever W over Derrick Rose (in six tries) since it was followed by a Sunday trip to Atlanta that left Washington with a 31-point scar. Where would the Wiz be if they weren't so good (6-1 to lead the league) in games decided by three points or fewer?
13	Oklahoma City 18-19	2 Last Week: 11	The Thunder need to go 32-13 from here if you believe it'll take 50 wins to snag the No. 8 seed in this ridiculous West. I personally think it'll take closer to 45, but OKC is still trying to process its first back-to-back L's by 20-plus points (roadies in Golden State and Sacramento) since November 2008.
14	New Orleans 18-18	1 Last Week: 13	Only seven players have ever managed a PER of 30-plus in a single season. Anthony Davis, at a robust 31.12, is on track to become just the fourth all time at 6-foot-10 or taller, joining Shaq, David Robinson and Wilt. He'd also be the youngest at 21; T-Mac topped the 30 mark when he was 23 in 2002-03.
15	Milwaukee 20-19	-- Last Week: 15	The East standings on this Monday morning were quite astonishing. It shows the young Bucks (A) one spot ahead of sixth-seeded Cleveland and (B) at 23 road games already (12-11). Which is just one less than league-leading Orlando and Phoenix ... heading into a home game in, uh, London.
16	Detroit 13-24	5 Last Week: 21	Our pals over at numberFire.com say Detroit's playoff odds are up to 24.2 percent. Before waiving Josh Smith, those same friends rated the Pistons' playoff chances at 4.2 percent. For the record: No team in history has ever started 5-23 or worse through 28 games and reached the playoffs.
17	Cleveland 19-19	1 Last Week: 16	I actually thought the loud support David Blatt got from Cavs GM David Griffin on Jan. 4, which Blatt badly needed, might make a difference. I also understand LeBron is in the midst of his longest injury absence ever, but has anyone seen any evidence that the Cavs are playing a hint harder?
18	Utah 13-25	1 Last Week: 19	Starting with a mid-December trip to Florida, Utah's kids have shown some resilience, sweeping the Heat and Magic to launch a 5-4 road run that includes narrow L's to the Clips and OKC. Rudy Gobert's campaign for second or third behind Jimmy Butler in the MIP race, meanwhile, is getting real.
19	Miami 16-21	2 Last Week: 17	Maybe things aren't quite as dire as Chris Bosh made them sound with his whole "we're a few feet off" comment in this "game of inches." Maybe they've really found something in Hassan Whiteside, whose per-36-minute averages, as tweeted by our own Tom Haberstroh, are a ray of hope.
20	Charlotte 15-24	5 Last Week: 25	New year, new Hornets, new Kemba. Charlotte has won five in a row, four of them on the road, since the calendar flipped to 2015, with Kemba Walker averaging a sizzling 30.2 points on 49.5 percent shooting (40 percent shooting on 3s) during the streak to go with 6.0 RPG and 4.8 APG.
21	Sacramento 16-21	2 Last Week: 23	Boogie Cousins' return (and what it has done for Rudy Gay) is only key for the Kings as they try to stay within reach of the West's top eight. Darren Collison's play over his last 10 games, averaging nearly 19 points and six assists while shooting nearly 56 percent from the floor, hasn't hurt.
22	Denver 17-20	-- Last Week: 22	Has there been a quieter four-game win streak all season than Denver's? Last week's opposition, to be fair, was pretty pedestrian, but this little run has kept the Nuggets on the edge of playoff range amid the excitement about the young (and intriguing) Jusuf Nurkic replacing Timofey Mozgov.
23	Brooklyn 16-21	5 Last Week: 18	A week of nursing old wounds looms for the Deron Williams-less Nets, who (A) finally host Dwight Howard after it once appeared Dwight wanted to be traded to Brooklyn; (B) take on Lionel Hollins' old friends from Memphis and then (C) move on to a home-and-home against ex-Net Paul Pierce.
24	Indiana 15-24	4 Last Week: 20	Despite a league-leading eight losses by three points or less, Indiana has essentially been a .500 team (8-7) since an eight-game skid dragged 'em to 7-17. But that pace will have to be picked up if the Pacers are to reach the 36 wins numberFire.com projects will be needed for an East playoff spot.
25	Los Angeles 12-26	1 Last Week: 24	The focus will always be on Kobe Bryant and how much he's shooting, playing, etc. But I'm personally fine with that because these Lakers don't need to be winning. Not if they want any shot at keeping their pick from falling out of the top five, at which point L.A. must convey it to Phoenix.
26	Philadelphia 7-29	2 Last Week: 28	Stealing this one from our dear friend @AdamReisinger, who points out that Philly's stunning 3-1 week -- which included its breakout home W's over Cleveland and Indy -- has hauled the Sixers closer to No. 8 in the conference than the No. 6 Cavs are to East-leading Atlanta. Check it out!
27	Boston 12-23	-- Last Week: 27	A six-game trek out West looms after home dates this week with the Pelicans, Hawks and Bulls. Which means it's not unreasonable to suggest that the Celts could go winless for the rest of the month. So the real show, with this team, remains the prospect of more trades. Stay tuned.
28	Orlando 13-27	2 Last Week: 26	The first meaty story about Jacque Vaughn's job security is out in the wake of six straight L's for the Magic and a 3-10 funk since their Week 7 rise to No. 17. Makes it tough to spend too much time on Nikola Vucevic's league-leading 22 double-doubles, one more than Anthony Davis and John Wall.
29	Minnesota 5-31	-- Last Week: 29	How bad have the Knicks been? So bad that the Timberwolves have a 15-game losing streak of their own that nobody outside of the Twin Cities has even noticed. Sota just became the first Western Conference team to lose seven in a row to East foes since Sacramento (11) in 2009-10.
30	New York 5-35	-- Last Week: 30	Can't muster too much anger with Carmelo Anthony for wanting to play in London this week. Or in the All-Star Game in his city. The Knicks, according to numberFire, are now favorites to finish with the league's worst record for the first time all season at 42.6 percent. Let Melo live a little!
Biggest Jump: 5 Biggest Drop: 5