Nylon Calculus Power Rankings: Hawks Fly Into the Top Spot, Cavs, Pelicans Reach Top Ten

Jan 23, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) and forward Paul Millsap (4) react late in the game as the Hawks win their team record 15th consecutive game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Philips Arena. The Hawks defeated the Thunder 103-93. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

This week’s power rankings reflect the weirdness of last week; players were hurt on surging teams, good Eastern teams continued to look remarkably like bad Eastern teams, the Knicks won, like, a few games, and Utah beat Golden State. It was a strange week, and the power rankings built to reflect it show a lot of really drastic movement in one direction or another; more teams have moved two or more spots than any week prior, and the average rate of change is almost 50% higher than normal.

Most importantly though, despite their loss to the Pelicans to snap a 19-game winning streak, it’s time to celebrate the triumphant Hawks, who have finally climbed to the top of our Power Rankings. CA-CAW, indeed.

Before we get into the rankings I have a quick programming note: because the “Top 5, Bottom 5” format was too depressing/repetitive, I’m now going to break down the teams by “Top 10” and then “Other teams of note.”

To the Rankings!

The Top Ten

1. Atlanta Hawks: CA-CAW, The Hawks have finally climbed into the number 1 spot, behind an incredible 19 game winning streak, and the absolute ineffable brilliance of everyone on that team. The Warriors stumbled a bit, losing to both Chicago and Utah in a row, and that was all Atlanta needed to catapult themselves into the number 1 spot. It’s been a long time coming. This team is easy to love, man.
2. Golden State Warriors: The Warriors are still awesome. Their loss to the Bulls was unfortunate, but the Bulls are known for getting up in these big games, but their loss to Utah was just downright strange. The Dubs will be back soon, I’m sure. This is, all things being equal, still (probably) the best team in the league, unless Atlanta decides otherwise.
3. Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers took a big hit, but it’s not even like they had a bad week, they just performed at a step down from their otherworldly last week, and their loss to the Pelicans cemented that a bit. This team is still awesome, and probably firmly the 3rd best in the league.
4. Memphis Grizzlies: The Grizzlies are back and they’re ready to grind. Memphis struggled mightily on the heels of Z-Bo’s injury and even following his return, and they struggled a bit to integrate Jeff Green fully, but following their 20+ point destruction of Dallas a few nights ago, Memphis has been on a tear, shutting teams down and executing with precision and a borderline religious fervor. Tell the Grizzlies they’re not title contenders, I dare you.
5. Dallas Mavericks: I have no idea what to make of the Mavericks, and I’m a damn Mavs fan. They look bad, and their winning percentage is way down since the Rajon Rondo trade, but they’re one of only four teams with a top 10 offense and defense since that trade went down, and no matter how you slice it most of the metrics still see them as a title contender. It’s hard to believe when you watch them, but count them out at your own risk.
6. Cleveland Cavaliers: I said last week that the Cavaliers were eyeing a return to the top ten, and they executed to that end with a righteous fury. Since returning from injury LeBron looks like his old self, Kyrie has been incredible, and JR Smith and Timofey Mozgov seem to be doing what they were brought in to do; the Kyrie-Smith-LeBron-Love-Mozgov lineup has been unreal, burninating the countryside in significant minutes. This team was a bummer for a while, but they’re starting to announce their arrival now.
7. Milwaukee Bucks: The Young Bucks keep climbing! This Bucks team is thrilling, The Greek Freak is starting too turn out how we all dreamed he would, and the Bucks have built a top 4 defense out of the ridiculous length of all the young players. They’ve played at a top 10 level over their last 25 games beating some serious opponents, and while I under no circumstances expect them to stick in the top 10, it’s cool to see it this week at least.
8. Toronto Raptors: The Raptors had a prolonged rough patch where they couldn’t even put together a bottom 10 defense, but they started putting the pieces back together last week and are continuing that trend now. This may not be an elite team anymore, but it’s still a darn good one that can score, score, and score some more.
9. Portland Trailblazers: The weight of the injuries to this team is finally starting to have an effect. LaMarcus has — predictably — not been the same since tearing a ligament in his thumb, Robin Lopez is getting more desperately missed at every game, and even Batum, who’s been mediocre, is badly needed now. The biggest effect of all the injuries is that it’s forcing the otherwise awesome Damian Lillard to carry too much of the offense, and his shooting is starting to struggle. This team is serious is everyone is healthy, but this may not be the year for that, sadly.
10. New Orleans Pelicans: The Pelicans put together some serious, serious wins this week, demolishing the great Clippers and ending the unstoppable Hawks’ winning streak. Anthony Davis is a god among men, and it’s really, really nice to see the rest of the team start to play to his level. They’re still way behind, but the 8th seed might still be in play for them if they can keep playing like this.

Other Teams of Note:

• Detroit Pistons: The Pistons keep falling behind some mediocre play after Brandon Jennings got hurt. It’s weird to think that Jennings was the key to this team after dumping Smith, but he really was. It’s too early after the injury to say that they’re actually bad: this team has played well in stretches, Drummond looks awesome, and Stan Van Gundy can definitely coach this roster of shooters into something potent. They’re hard to place right now: they could be a top 5 team in the East by talent, or they might not deserve the playoffs. We’ll see.
• San Antonio Spurs: It seems weird that they shot all the way to the top 5 only to plummet almost 10 spots in the next week, but the automatic boost they got from Kawhi’s return is no longer in effect, and they’re played weirdly middling ball for what we expect from them lately; their loss to the Clippers was brutal, and they haven’t been beating bad teams by as much as they should. This team will probably be fine, but they’ve still got a lot of issues to work out in the second half of the season.
• Houston Rockets: The Rockets had started a surge up of their own, only to have it derailed by Dwight’s knee injury and getting killed by the Jenning-less Pistons. Dwight’s injuries this season have been a massive bummer, and probably put a sad cap on what could have been a contending team this season.
• Utah Jazz: Beating the Warriors automatically makes you a borderline top-15 team, I guess. I dunno, I just follow the formula, but it seems like that might legitimately be how it works. That’s maybe unfair to the Jazz though, who have been sneaky good and have had a positive point differential over their last 25 games. They’re starting to play like a .500 team, which is a big win for that group of youngsters.
• Oklahoma City Thunder: Having the Thunder at 17 may seem like blatant disrespect, but this team has lost 4 of its last 5 and they massively underperformed in the one game they did win against that stretch, in which a Ricky Rubio-less Timberwolves could have very easily won, barring the last second Thunder surge. The Thunder are struggling, really struggling, and the playoffs are seeming like an increasingly distant pipe dream for a team that’s far too talented to not make the postseason.
• Washington Wizards: It’s starting to feel like the dastardly influence of Randy Whittman, his horrible play calling late, his lack of an intelligent defensive scheme, and his affinity for bad midrange shots as opposed to decent 3-point ones (the team has shot better from 3 than midrange in half as many attempts in quite a few recent games) is killing this team. They’ve barely had a positive point differential over their last 25 games, despite their impressive record (Woooo, Eastern Conference!) and they’re getting worse as the games go on. Marcin Gortat has struggled in particular, but it’s hard to figure out what exactly can be done to fix this team. They need something though.
• Chicago Bulls: They’re probably not 20th, but, like…what if they are? They haven’t even been a winning team over their last 10 games, or even their last 15, and even though they get up for the big ones, everyone’s hurt, and they’re as likely to lose to the Lakers or the Magic (actual recent losses!) as they are to win against the Warriors. This team can be awesome, but they’re not really playing like it lately, and it might be time to start wondering if coach Thibs running his players into the ground is doing more harm than good.
• Minnesota Timberwolves: For the first week, the Timberwolves have found themselves climbing out of the bottom 3! Ricky Rubio is back, and they played a tight, competitive game against the still-solid Mavericks in his first game back. This is still a terrible team by most accounts, but replacing Zach LaVine (dead last in RPM among point guards) with an actual, star-caliber player could make a huge difference, especially with the newly emerged Andrew Wiggins playing aside him. This team is bad, but maybe not embarrassing anymore.
• New York Knicks: The Knicks have won four of their last six, so it seems so sad to keep them in last place…but the Sixers had a win streak of their own, looked just a mite better in the midst of it, and have been less pathetic over their last 20 game sample. The difference, though, is that the Knicks might be rounding a corner on their badness, while the Sixers definitely aren’t. I mean, the Knicks probably aren’t either, but you never know.