The Milwaukee Bucks, a team that went 2-1 over the last week, have emerged as the top team in our newest NBA power rankings. These power rankings include the games up to and including December 18th, 2022.
The Bucks had victories in the last week over Golden State and Utah. Milwaukee also suffered a 41-point thrashing at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies, our new third-ranked team, however, when the whole season is looked at, the Bucks are the best team thus far.
As we approach the middle parts of the season, we'll put more of an emphasis on recent trends as opposed to overall records. That doesn't mean that an overall record doesn't matter, in fact, it's still our primary criterion.
However, what happened two months ago counts a little less relative to what has happened much more recently. If you look at our list below and see that the teams are not ranked by an overall record in a perfect manner, it's because of this consideration. We don't use a computer program to compile our power rankings but, instead, use our brains and familiarity with the teams.
- You can check out last week's power rankings here: previous edition.
Top Ten NBA Power Rankings: 9th Edition
- Milwaukee Bucks: 21-8 (+2)
- Brooklyn Nets: 19-12 (+7)
- Memphis Grizzlies: 19-10 (+1)
- Boston Celtics: 22-9 (-3)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 20-11 (no change)
- Denver Nuggets: 18-11 (no change)
- Philadelphia 76ers: 16-12 (+3)
- New York Knicks: 17-13 (new entry)
- New Orleans Pelicans: 18-11 (-7)
- Sacramento Kings: 16-12 (-2)
We dropped the Phoenix Suns out of the top ten for the time being. They went 2-1 on the week but suffered a loss to the Houston Rockets, one of the weaker teams in the NBA.
Furthermore, we dropped the Boston Celtics down three spots to No. 4. Boston went 1-3 over the last week with two home losses to the Orlando Magic, a team that is just 11-20 on the season. Boston had a terrible week, however, their previous accomplishments are still keeping this team among the best.
The New Orleans Pelicans were our big dropper for the week. The Pelicans lost all of their games and all of them were to teams that were not in our current top ten. They did have three road games on the week but the standard to stay at the very-very top has to be to win the majority of those games.
New York Knicks: 7-game win streak active
The New York Knicks, the sixth-place team in the Eastern Conference, are the hottest team within our top ten. They, the Knicks, currently enjoy a 7-game winning streak heading into Monday. New York has two decent wins in their current winning streak, one over Cleveland and another over Sacramento. It will be interesting to see if they can keep up the momentum as it has been a very long time since New York was relevant in the NBA.
Big Games Upcoming: Which Top Teams Play One Another?
Looking at the schedule for the NBA for the upcoming week, there is a good game on Monday between Milwaukee and New Orleans. On Tuesday, Memphis will face the Denver Nuggets. Then on Wednesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers will face the Milwaukee Bucks. Later in the week, the Bucks will face the Brooklyn Nets, which looks like the game of the week at this point.
