NBA Power Rankings: Who holds the edge between Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City?
By Quinn Everts
If you've only watched the Boston Celtics play basketball this season, you probably think they're the clear best team in the NBA. If you've only watched the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, you probably think they're the clear best team in the NBA. If you've only watched the Oklahoma City Thunder... you guessed it.
I'm not going to argue with any of those three imaginary people. Each of those teams has a legitimate case why they're the best in the NBA. Combined, they're 63-14 with 1.5 games separating each of them and they all average at least a plus-10 point differential per game. Pretty outrageous stuff from each team, which makes the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in this power rankings closer to a 1A, 1B and 1C.
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
Right now, the "1A" is the Oklahoma City Thunder. Does this include some recency bias after the Thunder shut down Houston in the NBA Cup semifinals? Maybe — but that certainly wasn't a one-off, as the Thunder have been stifling offenses all season long.
OKC's defensive rating of 103.1 would be the best defensive rating since the 2019-20 Milwaukee Bucks. That's five years ago! And that year barely even counted!
Blocks and steals aren't always a great indicator of how good a player or team is defensively, but when a team has the No. 1-ranked defense and is top four in both steals and blocks, it becomes obvious those things are actually impacting the game positively.
Oklahoma City plays chaotic on defense to make life miserable for opponents, but remains incredibly controlled on offense — they average the fewest turnovers per game at 11.8, and are still in the top 10 in pace!
Being this good while being an average 3-point shooting team (No. 19 in 3-point percentage) is hard to fathom. OKC does have good shooters but doesn't ever get into "chuck" mode on offense, which makes scoring consistency easier.
Picturing anyone in the West knocking off OKC is difficult. This team had its "growth" year last season and now it feels like a dynasty has officially begun.
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2. Boston Celtics
Celtics fans will likely make the argument that a dynasty can't begin until a team actually wins a championship, and... that's reasonable. Coming off a convincing Finals run, the 2024-25 C's look just as good as the championship team of last season.
Consistency is the name of the game for this team, which says a lot considering they shoot over 50 3-pointers per game which should cause some wild swings in production. But Boston has enough good shooters that it can sustain efficiency even while bombing a half-hundred 3s a game.
This team plays its game no matter the opponent, partly because this team knows that other teams are coming for its spot, not the other way around.
3. Cleveland Cavaliers
Discourse around the Cavs is funny; in year one with Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs looked overmatched in the playoffs and lost to the Knicks. In year two, the team won a playoff series and then Donovan Mitchell was out in the second round but the team put up a fight against Boston anyway.
Now we're in year three with this core, and there's so much talk about how this is a "regular season team" who will have difficult in the playoffs. I don't subscribe to this idea at all. I think Cleveland is the pretty clear second-best team in the East even as their offense comes back down to Earth after a roaring start.
For the record, "coming back down to Earth" means No. 11 over the past 10 games. But Cleveland was so much better than all other teams to start the season that it's still the best offense in the NBA for the whole season.
4. Dallas Mavericks
Don't look now... or do look now — the Dallas Mavericks are scorching hot. Over the past 10 games, the Mavs have the best offensive rating in the NBA and are 8-2 in those games, with the two losses being to OKC and an OT loss in Miami.
After dropping 143 points on the Warriors, Dallas tied Houston for No. 3 in the Western Conference. Luka Doncic has shaken off a slow start and has three triple-doubles in four games, including a 45-point triple-double against the Warriors last night.
Defensively, the Mavs have been fine. No. 11 in defensive rating on the season, there's enough defensive prowess on this roster to be passable when the offense is firing, which it has been doing a lot recently.
5. Houston Rockets
Are you nostalgic for an era of the NBA where even getting a shot off was a chore? Oh boy, do I have a team for you.
The Houston Rockets play defense how old NBA fans swear no one plays defense anymore. No. 2 in the league in defensive rating, everyone on this team flies around and cuts off passing lanes, stifling ball movement for even the best passing teams. Tari Eason and Amen Thompson have become the defensive stalwarts Houston hoped they'd be, and everyone pitches in on that end of the floor.
Can this team compete in later playoff rounds without a reliable, efficient No. 1 scoring option? We'll see. Winning every game 93-89 is cool in the meantime, though.