NBA Power Rankings: Are the Thunder still No. 1 after losing to West rivals?

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The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder dropped two games in a three-outing span, losing to the Western Conference rival San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves. It is their first sign of weakness — or, at least, the first sign that they are mortal — since the Indiana Pacers forced a Game 7 of the NBA Finals. It still is not enough to drop OKC from the top spot.

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Meanwhile, the New York Knicks won the third annual NBA Cup, their first title since 1973 (even if it wasn’t The Big One), surging since the last time we sorted all 30 teams into a perfect order.

(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

The Knicks must be the favorites in the East, given the Cleveland Cavaliers’ struggles and the relative playoff inexperience of the Detroit Pistons. But the 2024 champion Boston Celtics — with Jayson Tatum rehabbing his torn left Achilles tendon well ahead of schedule — are lurking.

Still, can anyone in the East challenge the West, where the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers and the Wolves are all serious challengers (or, at least, threats to the Thunder’s supremacy)? This edition of the power rankings indicates they can …

Previous rank: 30

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Poor Khris Middleton. “It’s hard in this league,” the veteran said of his leadership role, “especially when you lose so many games in a row before you win a game, and then [next game] you lay an egg. That’s not what you want to see. That’s not how you get better as a group, so come in tomorrow, and we get to look at this film, and we get to look at ourselves.”

Previous rank: 25

Is Malik Monk confused about being benched? “1,000%,” he said. “But it’s not my job to try to figure out why I’m not playing because I deem myself more than the whole. … Everybody knows I want to be out there, especially playing in front of this crowd in Sac, but there ain’t s*** I can do about it.” A new slogan in Sacramento, where no coach’s seat is hotter than Doug Christie’s.

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Previous rank: 29

The Pacers are searching…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-power-rankings-are-the-thunder-still-no-1-after-losing-to-west-rivals-184341945.html

Author : Ben Rohrbach

Publish date : 2025-12-23 18:43:00

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