Monday, Jan. 4
Butler's Bulls rising
Despite Curry being limited to 14 minutes of court time in the Warriors' past three games, they indeed secured the league's highest-ever winning percentage to take into a new year last week at .938, thanks to a record of 30-2 that has since been hiked to 31-2.
Curry's Dubs also managed to post a record of 72-12 over the past calendar year, good for second all-time behind the 74 wins recorded by the Chicago Bulls in the calendar year of 1996.
So make it 10 consecutive Mondays in the regular season with no change at the top in ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings. On this Rankings Monday, in fact, there is no notable change to report until we get to the No. 5 spot, with consistently inconsistent Chicago currently on an upswing that hikes them a heady eight rungs, placing the Bulls at the top of the league's second tier underneath the widely acknowledged elite foursome of Golden State, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Cleveland.
Further discussion about the thinking that went into arranging this week's ladder can be found, as always, via Stein Line Live. Profuse thanks to Micah Adams and all of our friends within the NBA wing of ESPN Stats & Information, as well as the Elias Sports Bureau, for the priceless data assistance they provide to help your faithful Committee of One with all of our calculations. You can comment on the latest 1-to-30 order below.
| 2015-16 Power Rankings: Week 10 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 | 
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Last Week: 1 | No NBA team has ever managed to get through an entire season without a single two-game losing streak. But when the Warriors, though Steph-less, can rack up 35 assists in Houston on the second night of a back-to-back while missing four of their top nine players, you really start to think this team might be the first that ever pulls it off. | |
| 2 | 
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Last Week: 2 | For all the focus on Tim Duncan's donut, or the fact Timmay has totaled just 70 points in the last 10 games he's played, don't lose sight of the big picture. The Spurs, while trying to be extra careful with Duncan's recent knee issues, just became the first Western Conference residents to start 20-0 at home since the Ralph Sampson-led Rockets in 1985-86. | |
| 3 | 
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Last Week: 3 | The media's obsession with Golden State, as well as the tendency to focus on Cleveland and San Antonio on those rare occasions our eyes do stray, has surely been a welcome development for Billy Donovan, giving the rookie coach extra time to settle in out of the spotlight. Very quietly: OKC is 13-2 since Dec. 6 ... and a tidy 16-2 overall against the West. | |
| 4 | 
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Last Week: 4 | LeBron James checked in for his 31st birthday last week at more than 5,000 points ahead of all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the same age. Yet for the purposes of his immediate goal -- bringing that first crown to long-suffering Cleveland -- far more relevant is the way LeBron's Cavs have sneaked up to No. 3 in defensive efficiency. | |
| 5 | 
| 8 Last Week: 13 | The fuss over Jimmy Butler's recent exploits is completely understandable, given Chicago's surge to No. 2 in the East with Derrick Rose out of lineup. The transaction-minded among us, mind you, are surely wondering more about Bobby Portis' increased minutes lately ... and what that means trade-wise for Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Pau Gasol, etc. | |
| 6 | 
| 1 Last Week: 5 | Fair warning: Now that we've dribbled into 2016, brace yourself for repeated reminders about All-Star Weekend in one of The Committee's favorite cities on Earth. It's just 39 days away now ... and kudos to us for having mentioned the looming All-Star festivities in only the first two of this season's 11 Raptors rankings comments thus far. | |
| 7 | 
| 1 Last Week: 8 | What is it about the Heat and the holidays? Dwyane Wade sports a Christmas Day record of 10-1. And the franchise as a whole just moved to 6-0 all time on New Year's Day by routing their old friends from Dallas. But home wins over the Pacers and Knicks this week would sure be handy now, with only one home game on the schedule between Jan. 8 and Jan. 29. | |
| 8 | 
| 1 Last Week: 9 | Were we guilty of being seduced too much by Paul George's Eastern Conference Player of the Month effort in November when doling out our recent First Trimester Awards? Fair question. PG-13 endured a pretty pedestrian December (down to 21.4 PPG on .371 shooting) before welcoming himself to 2016 with that R-rated late detonation that doomed Detroit. | |
| 9 | 
| 3 Last Week: 6 | If you see win shares as a useful metric -- or if you're simply an #EvenTheHawks devotee eager to trumpet the solid play coming from Paul Millsap this season like our pal our pal Bob Rathbun -- consider that Millsap was tied for third in the East (4.8) as of Monday morning, behind only Toronto's Kyle Lowry (5.0) and Cleveland's LeBron James (4.9). | |
| 10 | 
| 7 Last Week: 17 | At the time of his quad injury, Blake Griffin's Clips were outscoring the opposition by 5.0 points per 48 minutes with No. 32 on the floor, while being outscored by 6.3 points per 48 minutes when Griffin-less. But they couldn't have responded much better to last week's mostly Blake-related demotion, flourishing on the road before feasting on Philly. | |
| 11 | 
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Last Week: 11 | The joy derived from seeing Dirk Nowitzki climb to No. 6 on the all-time scoring charts, followed by Dallas' dismantling of the Warriors sans Steph Curry, perished over the weekend thanks to a back-to-back that inflicted two types of suffering. The Mavs' position in the standings, though, continues to surprise as much as anything in this wacky West. | |
| 12 | 
| 5 Last Week: 7 | Remember that line about how the Celts were about to be favored in 28 of their next 32 games? They must have giddily consumed that comment and bought in too much, because they just followed up a disappointing loss in Kobe Bryant's Garden swan song with a home loss to Brooklyn that brought the Atlantic Division Cinderellas down to Earth. In a hurry. | |
| 13 | 
| 2 Last Week: 15 | Not Cleveland. Not Chicago. Not any other East team you wish to nominate. Scott Skiles' Magic awoke Sunday having led in the fourth quarter for more minutes than any other team in the conference. And, yes, rest assured they'd be thrilled to snag that No. 8 seed, even if it means a series against LeBron's Cavs, who've now won the teams' last 13 meetings. | |
| 14 | 
| 2 Last Week: 16 | The Griz are 5-6 in the 11 games Zach Randolph has played since Dave Joerger asked him to start coming off the bench, with Z-Bo averaging 11.5 points and 6.4 rebounds in 24.6 minutes per game in that role. Far splashier than the recent lineup shuffling, obviously, was the manner in which the ever-candid Matt Barnes bid farewell to his rough 2015. | |
| 15 | 
| 3 Last Week: 12 | The degree of difficultly opposition-wise hasn't exactly been easy, but the Rockets have indeed squandered every ounce of momentum they hoped to bottle from that Christmas Day W over mighty San Antonio. Although that's the only loss the Spurs have suffered in their past 12 games, Houston is 0-4 since and right back in the bottom five in defensive efficiency. | |
| 16 | 
| 6 Last Week: 10 | Slippage at home, especially on D, is hardly the ideal prep for a four-game roadie out West. Charlotte is also suddenly worrying about Nicolas Batum's health (toe) on top of the ongoing debate about how much they really miss Al Jefferson (knee). Nagging at us, though, is this question we couldn't resist posing about Hornets owner Michael Jordan. | |
| 17 | 
| 3 Last Week: 14 | Gotta give it up to Reggie Jackson. We were among those asking, in the wake of Jackson's $80 million contract, if he was indeed one of the game's top 15 PGs. The relevant question about Jackson now is whether both he and Andre Drummond are All-Star bound despite the fact a winning record doesn't even guarantee the Pistons a playoff spot as we speak. | |
| 18 | 
| 4 Last Week: 22 | He's received very little notice with Alec Burks and Derrick Favors joining Rudy Gobert on Utah's painfully long list of unavailable front-liners, but check out Gordon Hayward's December numbers. He bounced back from a so-so start to the season shooting-wise, in spite of all the injuries around him, by averaging 20 PPG and shooting .425 from deep. | |
| 19 | 
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Last Week: 19 | Quite a weekend roller coaster for the increasingly up-and-down Knicks. Friday night in Chicago, their eight-point close accounted for the meekest fourth quarter in team history in the shot-clock era. Two days later, Atlanta came to Madison Square Garden, held Carmelo Anthony to 11 points and got routed anyway thanks to the Arron Afflalo Show. | |
| 20 | 
| 2 Last Week: 18 | Shame on us for not anticipating Marcin Gortat's Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors by at least mentioning him in this space last Monday. Don't blame us, though, for eagerly awaiting Wednesday's Cavs-Wizards encounter after John Wall's recent lament about Kyrie Irving's All-Star vote total even after missing Cleveland's first 24 games. | |
| 21 | 
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Last Week: 21 | The folks from ESPN Stats & Info looked it up, so it's gotta be true: Milwaukee's 8:40 without a basket in the opening quarter of an eventual Saturday night win at Minnesota marked the longest such drought to start a game since New Orleans, then fielding Chris Paul and still known as the Hornets, went bucket-less for the first 9:18 on Dec. 20, 2006. | |
| 22 | 
| 1 Last Week: 23 | It's fair to start asking whether the Damian Lillard injury has unexpectedly enabled the Blazers to unearth another useful contributor for the future. Cavs slayer Allen Crabbe is averaging nearly 17 points per game in the seven outings Lillard has been forced to sit with foot issues ... after Crabbe averaged 2.8 points per game in his first two seasons. | |
| 23 | 
| 3 Last Week: 20 | Something tells me NBA fantasy owners aren't paying much attention to the standings, which still find New Orleans in the league's bottom five in terms of total wins despite the gradual returns to health of Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday. Something tells me they still harbor a deep fondness for Anthony Davis, whose six 30-point, 10-rebound games lead the league. | |
| 24 | 
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Last Week: 24 | Quite surreal for the Committee to be flying to Omri Casspi's homeland precisely when Casspi was having the duel of his life with Steph Curry ... resulting in a flurry of texts/messages/alerts that smothered us upon arrival. You should be zero percent surprised that we won't rest now until Casspi is booked as a 3-point contest participant in Toronto. | |
| 25 | 
| 3 Last Week: 28 | For a 10-win team widely considered to be in the same tier as the Lakers and Sixers, Brooklyn sure has managed to spring some surprises, starting with that season sweep of Houston, but also including a near-win at Golden State, as well as, of more recent vintage, Saturday's surprising success in Boston to set up an interesting rematch Monday at home. | |
| 26 | 
| 1 Last Week: 27 | LeBron James will be in Minneapolis on Friday for an ESPN game, providing ample justification to keep our focus on Karl-Anthony Towns and his heady PER of 22.0. That's nearly four PER points better than Rookie LeBron and topped by only four rooks since 1966: David Robinson (26.3), Shaquille O'Neal (22.9), Tim Duncan (22.6) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (22.5). | |
| 27 | 
| 2 Last Week: 25 | History bizarrely tells us Denver's furious comeback from 26 points down to force OT in Oakland isn't as shocking as it sounds. Golden State has now won 83 games in a row, including the playoffs, when leading by 15 or more at any point ... dating to an April 2014 home loss to the Nuggets. PS: Hearty get-well wishes to 2014 Team USA quote machine Kenneth Faried. | |
| 28 | 
| 1 Last Week: 29 | Your latest flurry of Kobe Bryant headlines: Kobe awarded hunk of Garden parquet on final trip to Boston. Lakers win two in a row without Kobe to spark fears of blowing their chances at the No. 1 pick. Severity of Kobe's latest bout with shoulder trouble uncertain. Franchise deliberating whether to retire Kobe's No. 24 ... or his No. 8 ... or both. | |
| 29 | 
| 3 Last Week: 26 | You wouldn't want to be Jeff Hornacek right now. His bosses are clearly trying every measure they can conceive not to fire him, but the effort witnessed in the Eric Bledsoe-less Suns' road L's to the Kings and Lakers to open 2016 -- replete with lows defensively and offensively -- would suggest the coach is by no means safe yet. | |
| 30 | 
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Last Week: 30 | The Sixers have been semi-respectable since the acquisition of Ish Smith, going 2-3 in Smith's first five games, all of them on the road. But don't go overboard. They remain on a 7-75 pace while ranking as the league's only team, in the wake of the Lakers' unexpected win streak, to sport a negative nightly point differential in the double digits (-12.3). | |
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