NBA Power Rankings [Dec. 11th]: Boston Celtics top

The Boston Celtics, a team that will be in action on Monday night, will stay on top of our NBA Power Rankings heading into the week. They went 2-1 over the last week, which included a loss to the Golden State Warriors.

However, no one underneath the Celtics has a strong enough resume to replace them at this point in the season. In what is our eighth edition of this season’s power rankings, the following includes the results up to and including Sunday, December 11th, 2022.

Top Ten NBA Power Rankings [8th Edition]

1. Boston Celtics: 21-6 (no change since last week’s rankings)
2. New Orleans Pelicans: 18-8 (+3)
3. Milwaukee Bucks: 19-7 (-1)
4. Memphis Grizzlies: 17-9 (+2)
5. Cleveland Cavaliers: 17-10 (-1)
6. Denver Nuggets: 16-10 (+2)
7. Phoenix Suns: 16-11 (-4)
8. Sacramento Kings: 14-11 (-1)
9. Brooklyn Nets: 16-12 (new entry)
10. Philadelphia 76ers: 14-12 (new entry)

New Orleans is the hottest team in the NBA

The New Orleans Pelicans are the big mover in this eighth edition of our NBA Power Rankings. With seven straight victories, the Pelicans have moved up seven spots in the last two weeks. In the last week specifically, they defeated the Phoenix Suns twice, results that were a factor in Phoenix’s downward trend. In terms of “who’s hot” right now, the Memphis Grizzlies are not far behind the Pelicans. The Grizzlies have won five straight and appear to be in very good form.

One of the more surprising results of the last week came from the Milwaukee Bucks. On Sunday, they lost to the Houston Rockets, one of the worst teams in the NBA this season. The Bucks only scored 92 points in the game against Houston, a really low points total in the NBA in this day and age, where teams are routinely scoring more than 110 points. As for longer-termed form, let’s not forget that Milwaukee started the season 9-0 but they have gone just 10-7 since that time.

Big games coming up this week

Brooklyn and Philadelphia re-entered our power rankings after missing out on the top ten for several weeks. The teams we dropped out were the Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers. The Warriors actually beat Boston this week, which was a major point in keeping them in the top ten. However, they lost their other two games to Utah and Indiana, two teams not in our current top ten.

There are some big games coming up this week. Sacramento will face the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday. New Orleans and Phoenix will also meet up in a game that will be played on Saturday. These games and all other games will factor into next week’s power rankings, rankings that we always publish after the Sunday games are concluded.