Current NBA Power Rankings: Hawks take top spot

By Marc Stein | ESPN.com
Monday, Jan. 5

Hawks Are #1

The Hawks have taken flight to the top of the East and to #1 in this week's Power Rankings.

Tags: NBA, Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors

We can admit it.
ESPN.com's NBA Power Rankings committee (of one) might well be guilty of getting caught up in Hawks Hoopla.
The Golden State Warriors had a strong case on this Rankings Monday to reclaim the top spot in our weekly power poll, thanks to the Warriors' ongoing presence in the top five of both the league's offensive and defensive efficiency charts and a league-best nightly average point margin of plus-10.2. Even without injured Andrew Bogut for the past 11 games, Golden State really catches the eye with its continued presence at No. 1 in DE.
Yet we simply couldn't resist the Hawks when it came to pinpointing a new No. 1 in the wake of Chicago's recent home loss to a Brooklyn squad not known for beating upper-echelon teams. No team in the East has a better record against the West (8-2) or a better record against teams at .500 and up (10-5) than Atlanta. The Hawks are likewise a glittering 18-2 since Thanksgiving and essentially inched past the Warriors for the most coveted perch on our list by going into Portland on Saturday night and beating our No. 4 team on the road ... on the second night of a back-to-back.
Playing out of Atlanta, St. Louis or Milwaukee, this club has never won more than 57 games in a season. Relying on the San Antonio principles instilled in coach Mike Budenholzer over nearly two decades at Gregg Popovich's elbow, these Hawks are on pace to win 62 games with their drive-and-kick, spread-the-wealth offense.
You'll find the Hawks firmly entrenched in the top 10 of offensive and defensive efficiency, which are generally strong indicators of a team's playoff worthiness. You also have to wonder whether potential buyers on the market for the NBA's only franchise currently for sale will start to line up, given that Budenholzer clearly has a good thing going with the group almost universally known now as Spurs East.
We'll delve further into this week's ladder on Stein Line Live. You can also comment below on our 1-30 order, which as always was assembled with the usual helpful dishings we get from ESPN Stats & Information and the Elias Sports Bureau.

2014-15 Power Rankings: Week 10
RANK	TEAM / RECORD	TRENDING	COMMENTS
1	Atlanta 25-8	3 Last Week: 4	This is the latest in a season that the Hawks -- on pace to win a franchise-record 62 games -- have topped the East since this committee (of one) started covering the NBA in 1993-94. The same season, as noted last week, when the Hawks stunningly dealt Dominique Wilkins for Danny Manning on deadline day.
2	Golden State 26-5	-- Last Week: 2	Splash Brothers Update: Steph Curry ranks second among PGs in PER at 26.9, trailing only Russell Westbrook's gaudy 31.7 (in 12 fewer games thanks to Russ' hand injury). Among SGs, meanwhile, Klay Thompson is fourth at 19.8, behind James Harden (27.2), Dwyane Wade (24.5) and Jimmy Butler (22.5).
3	Chicago 24-10	2 Last Week: 1	While Carmelo Anthony is ailing in NYC after snubbing the Bulls in free agency, Pau Gasol is having a turn-back-the-clock season teeming with blocked shots. Jimmy Butler, meanwhile, is up to 21.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 40.0 MPG ... plateaus only LeBron James has reached in the past 10 seasons.
4	Portland 26-8	1 Last Week: 3	Saturday night's home L to Atlanta snuffed out any Portland hopes of ascending to No. 1. The consolation: Damian Lillard begins the week ranked sixth in the whole league in win shares at 5.8, behind only James Harden (7.0), Anthony Davis (6.7), Chris Paul (6.3), Jimmy Butler (6.1) and Steph Curry (6.0).
5	Dallas 25-10	3 Last Week: 8	The Mavs were a mere 20th in defensive efficiency when Rajon Rondo arrived, allowing 105.1 points per 100 possessions. In the seven games since, Dallas has been in the upper third. P.S. Dirk Nowitzki is just 13 points shy of passing Moses Malone for seventh on the NBA's career scoring chart.
6	Memphis 24-9	1 Last Week: 7	You look at the standings and see the Grizz at a robust 24-9 despite playing without Z-Bo (knee) for the past seven games and you have to applaud. Yet you also can't ignore that the Spurs, stuck down at No. 7 in the West, have almost the same nightly point differential as Memphis (plus-3.8 compared with plus-3.7).
7	San Antonio 21-14	2 Last Week: 9	You've all heard the stat by now, but it still bears repeating because of the rarity of it all: San Antonio's 8-10 record in December marked just the third losing month in Tim Duncan's career. Pop said early on that it was the worst month he'd ever seen, schedule-wise; five OT games didn't hurt his case.
8	Los Angeles 23-11	2 Last Week: 10	Atlanta totes seven straight W's over West teams, including four in a row on the road, into Staples Center on Monday. The Clips, sitting at a modest 8-9 against .500-or-better teams, could use a statement W. Spencer Hawes is finally back from injury to add a contrast to rebound machine DeAndre Jordan.
9	Houston 23-10	3 Last Week: 6	The Rockets, for the record, insist they did not promise a starting spot to Josh Smith as various rival contenders vying for Smith believed. But Kevin McHale has since moved him to the bench after four starts. Houston surely had to gamble on J-Smoove at a bargain price, but the addition has been less than seamless.
10	Toronto 24-10	5 Last Week: 5	No one has ever referred to DeMar DeRozan as a defensive specialist. But there's no disputing the notion that the Raps regressed defensively in December without him and need the jolt of energy DeRozan's projected return this week will provide, even if Toronto went a passable 11-7 without him.
11	Oklahoma City 17-17	3 Last Week: 14	Scariest No. 8 Seed Of All Time Update: OKC is 9-2 and outscoring the opposition by 15.7 points per 100 possessions when both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are in uniform. Overall, though, OKC is just 1-7 against last season's West playoff teams and 3-9 in games decided by six or fewer points.
12	Phoenix 20-16	-- Last Week: 12	As good as the Archie Goodwin detonation over Jonas Valanciunas made folks feel in the desert, Phoenix has to wonder how much damage has been done by its 1-6 record in games decided by three or fewer points. The No. 8 Suns' lead over No. 10 OKC, as of Monday morning, was down to two games.
13	New Orleans 17-16	-- Last Week: 13	Did you know that Anthony Davis (PER: 31.4) is now 4-for-4 in his NBA career on go-ahead shot attempts in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime? Or perhaps we should pose the question in the manner preferred by Bill Simmons and frustrated Pels fans: Does Monty Williams know that stat?
14	Washington 22-11	3 Last Week: 11	John Wall (17.2 PPG, 10.3 APG) is on pace to join Rod Strickland (1997-98) as the only PGs in team history to average 15-plus PPG and 10-plus APG in a single season. What he surely wants right now, though, is a win over Chicago on ESPN this Friday night thanks to his career mark of 0-5 in head-to-heads with Derrick Rose.
15	Milwaukee 18-17	1 Last Week: 16	Four straight road wins to give the East a whopping six teams with winning records away from home. Continued growth from Giannis Antetokounmpo and, of late, John Henson. The young Bucks are just playing right through the Jabari Parker (injury) and Larry Sanders (personal matters) distractions.
16	Cleveland 19-15	1 Last Week: 15	If LeBron is ready and rested for the season's second half after this two-week tuneup, David Blatt can presumably live with whatever happens while he's out now that he has management's public backing. Still waiting to play his first game as a 30-year-old, LeBron has never missed more than five in a row.
17	Miami 15-20	-- Last Week: 17	After two successive springs delivered Heat versus Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, Miami suddenly finds itself dueling with Indy for the East's No. 8 seed. Maybe going on the road for six games will spark the Heat, who've been better away (8-8) than they've looked on the Biscayne Bay (7-12).
18	Brooklyn 16-17	3 Last Week: 21	The Nets would be over .500 and in possession of a legit healthy cushion for a playoff spot ahead of what passes for the chasing pack if not for an 0-3 mark against Miami. Brooklyn is otherwise 12-3 against sub-.500 teams compared with 4-11 against the .500-or-better set after the recent surprise win in Chicago.
19	Utah 12-22	1 Last Week: 20	We're starting to get those increased doses of Rudy Gobert next to Derrick Favors in support of Gordon Hayward. And we're starting to see these kids, in a conference the brochure says will devour its young, scratch out a few W's. Six in the past eight games, to be exact, with only a couple of cupcakes in that stretch.
20	Indiana 13-22	1 Last Week: 19	With George Hill (groin) ailing anew, Indiana has been able to field its first-choice starting lineup -- Rodney Stuckey, Solomon Hill, David West and Roy Hibbert alongside G. Hill -- just three times. And when we say first-choice starting five, of course we mean in the wake of Paul George's devastating leg fracture.
21	Detroit 10-23	4 Last Week: 25	All that second-guessing of the decision to waive Josh Smith with $30 million-ish left on his contract, instead of sending him away Allen Iverson style until a trade could be found, gets drowned out pretty quickly when you start out 5-0 post-Josh. So what if the opposition in those games is a combined 64-110?
22	Denver 14-20	2 Last Week: 24	Kenneth Faried is in the midst of his best six-game run since he was wearing the red, white and blue of Team USA in September. Yet poor showings in Charlotte and at home against the Lakers in the last days of 2014 seemed to be reheating Brian Shaw's seat until Saturday night's bounce-back rout of Memphis.
23	Sacramento 14-20	5 Last Week: 18	The timing of the Mike Malone firing, which had so many people puzzled when it happened, only looks worse now with the Kings cratering under Ty Corbin. For all the undeniable philosophical differences between coach and management, Malone was reaching Boogie Cousins. Can Corbin?
24	Los Angeles 11-23	2 Last Week: 26	No. 24 just became one of only three players in history, along with Wilt and J-Kidd, to post multiple triple-doubles in a single season at age 36 or older. Until Sunday, furthermore, Kobe had missed all five of his potential go-ahead shots with less than 15 seconds to go in the fourth quarter or overtime this season.
25	Charlotte 11-24	3 Last Week: 22	The Hornets technically remain within sight of playoff contention no matter how far under. 500 they sit. The reality, though, is that Charlotte -- unlike Detroit after Stan Van Gundy's liberated crew just reeled off five straight double-digit wins -- is far from upbeat after losing Al Jefferson (groin) for a month.
26	Orlando 13-24	3 Last Week: 23	A home defeat to Detroit to close out the calendar year, followed by two more losses at home to Brooklyn and Charlotte to launch 2015, is the last thing Orlando's bid to hang around the top eight needed. Next up is a four-game trip ... followed (ugh) by a Houston/Memphis/Oklahoma City homestand.
27	Boston 11-20	5 Last Week: 22	The saddest part about Rajon Rondo's triumphant return wasn't solely that Celts fans hadn't seen that Rondo for the last several months of his Boston stay. Almost as bad: Rondo's return happened so soon after the trade and might have been the last game of consequence at TD Garden this season.
28	Philadelphia 4-28	-- Last Week: 28	The lowest total of home wins for any team in a single season is the five mustered by the infamous 9-73 Sixers of 1972-73. These Sixers -- mired at 0-14 in Philly but with a Jan. 21 date to host the Knicks drawing closer -- will have to go 6-21 at home for the rest of the season to avoid establishing a new low.
29	Minnesota 5-27	1 Last Week: 30	Do the promising numbers we're seeing lately from Andrew Wiggins and Shabazz Muhammad bring any semblance of winter warmth to 'Sota? Starting with his first-ever game in Cleveland, Wiggins has scored 20-plus five times in the past six games. In the rook's first 26 games, it happened just four times.
30	New York 5-31	1 Last Week: 29	After a 1-15 December and a 1-21 skid overall, only one thing can salvage 2014-15 for the Knicks: landing the No. 1 pick in the 30th anniversary draft since lucking into Patrick Ewing. In the meantime, with the Knicks not even cracking 90 points these days, who could dare argue with sitting Melo?
Biggest Jump: 4 Biggest Drop: 5