Power Rankings: Three Texas teams in top four
Updated: January 15, 2007, 1:12 PM ET
By
Marc Stein | ESPN.com
Week: Team:
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The ultimate power in the ESPN.com NBA Power Rankings is pretty concentrated.
The top four teams come from Texas and Arizona, with the Spurs back up to No. 4 and only No. 2 Phoenix -- thanks to the Suns' nine-game win streak entering a Martin Luther King Day trip to Memphis -- keeping the Lone Star State trio of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio from occupying the first three slots.
The Mavericks' ability to pull out a win Sunday in Toronto gave them 17 victories in their past 18 games and prevented Phoenix for reclaiming the No. 1 ranking that the Mavs have now held for three successive weeks.
Read on to see where your team ranks and click here to send in your feedback.
| 2006-07 Power Rankings: Week 11 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |  | -- Last Week: 1 | As if a 31-4 record since that 0-4 start isn't gaudy enough, check this out: Dirk is shooting .525 and averaging 30.8 ppg since switching back to the leather ball. | |
| 2 |  | -- Last Week: 2 | What's wilder? Suns going 27-3 since that 1-5 start? Or Suns establishing a 64-18 pace and still trailing Mavs by 1 ½ games for the league's best record? | |
| 3 |  | 2 Last Week: 5 | OK, OK. If you're going to exclude the game in which Yao played just six minutes and got hurt, Rockets have only two Ls (in 11 games) without him, not three. | |
| 4 |  | 3 Last Week: 7 | Don't waste your time. You can't convince me that Spurs' best week since November, including a total shutdown of Wiz, wasn't a direct response to their drop here to No. 7. | |
| 5 |  | 1 Last Week: 4 | Did they get too much credit? After halting Mavs' 13-game win streak minus Odom and Kwame, how did Lakes go to Memphis and Houston and lose by 10 and 25? | |
| 6 |  | -- Last Week: 6 | Gruesome as Phoenix was, Cavs are thanking Mr. Schedule Maker. They'll wind up playing five of the seven West teams with losing records on this seven-game trip. | |
| 7 |  | 4 Last Week: 3 | Make that 12-12 since its 12-1 start and three 50-point games surrendered: Redd, Kobe and now Ray Allen. Hence Utah finally loses its longstanding top-five status. | |
| 8 |  | 3 Last Week: 11 | New year, new lease on life for KG? With Blount and Foye surging, too, Wolves are 6-1 in 2007 and would have been 7-0 if not for that one-point home L to Clips. | |
| 9 |  | 11 Last Week: 20 | Don't really want to believe there's a connection, but the numbers make you wonder: Arenas is shooting .310 from the floor (23 for 74) since his birthday extravaganza. | |
| 10 |  | 2 Last Week: 12 | The good news: Pacers are unbeaten in '07 except when they play Dallas. The bad news: Pacers had chances to beat mighty Mavs twice and imploded both times. | |
| 11 |  | 2 Last Week: 9 | When does a 111-66 win feel empty? When A) you're playing Memphis and B) you've lost five of the previous six games, having blown big leads in four of them. | |
| 12 |  | 2 Last Week: 10 | Pistons have to wait until Tuesday before we see any new blood on the roster, but this already looks official: Chauncey is basically irreplaceable. Agreed? | |
| 13 |  | -- Last Week: 13 | Road losses to Lakers, Suns showed young Magic can play with top teams. The trouble is beating them: Orlando has one win over a winning team since its 13-4 start. | |
| 14 |  | 6 Last Week: 20 | Maybe Heat are trying their hardest to convince Riley to rush back from hip surgery . . . or maybe this 4-1 trip simply proves they feel liberated by Riles' absence. | |
| 15 |  | 1 Last Week: 16 | Raps are a modest 4-3 since Bosh's return. But they've done the Atlantic proud this month -- no easy trick, remember -- with home near-misses against Suns and Mavs. | |
| 16 |  | 1 Last Week: 17 | How much is Melo missed? In this favorable stretch of schedule, Nuggets are just 4-8 with Iverson. They might pay for it at season's end, with 13 of final 18 on the road. | |
| 17 |  | 3 Last Week: 14 | Warriors haven't slipped more than two games below .500 all season. But that might be coming soon judging by their last three games . . . losses by 23, 15 and 20. | |
| 18 |  | 3 Last Week: 21 | The lackluster play has lasted so long that you have to wonder: Do Clips have to make a trade so everyone on the team will stop waiting for one? | |
| 19 | New Jersey 16-20 | 3 Last Week: 22 | After their 5-2 rebound, Nets play 11 of their next 15 on the road. Yet you suspect they won't mind the part about getting some distance from the NYC tabloid circus. | |
| 20 |  | 5 Last Week: 15 | With Redd, Villanueva, Simmons and now Mo Williams all sidelined by injury, you could call them Hornets East. Which isn't what Bucks were going for, obviously. | |
| 21 | Charlotte 12-23 | 5 Last Week: 26 | Now that we finally know whose team this is -- Matt Carroll's, apparently -- Carroll can't miss and Bobs have won 5 of 7, beating Lakers/Pacers/Pistons along the way. | |
| 22 | NO/Oklahoma City 14-22 | 6 Last Week: 28 | First it was a blizzard of season-wrecking injuries, then an actual blizzard. The poor denizens of OKC haven't exactly been rewarded for their fervent Hornets support. | |
| 23 |  | 4 Last Week: 19 | It was a short stay in the teens, true, but Knicks left us no choice by responding to our praise by giving up 126 at home in a heavy loss to banged-up Bobcats. | |
| 24 |  | 1 Last Week: 23 | Maybe Blazers illustrate Sacramento's struggles better than anyone. Portland's only two wins in 2007? Home and home against Kings. Otherwise? Blazers are 0-6. | |
| 25 | Seattle 14-25 | 1 Last Week: 24 | As if the race for All-Star spots wasn't deep enough, Ray Allen rings up 54 to A) overshadow a reborn Collison and B) put one more name in the West hopper. | |
| 26 |  | 8 Last Week: 18 | Yikes. Remember when Arco Arena scared people? Now it's Kings themselves who look skittish: 1-4 at home in 2007 and 10-11 overall with four straight Arco defeats. | |
| 27 |  | -- Last Week: 27 | Sixers have played a league-low 13 games at home. Of course, given what the roster looks like these days, you don't hear many Philly folks pining for them. | |
| 28 |  | 1 Last Week: 29 | When someone reminds you that Phoenix gets Atlanta's No. 1 pick unless Hawks finish in the lottery's top three, this 3-14 slide becomes three times as troubling. | |
| 29 |  | 1 Last Week: 30 | Life is naturally better with Gasol, but not exactly worlds better. Grizz went 5-17 without him and are just 4-12 with the Spaniard back from his foot injury. | |
| 30 |  | 5 Last Week: 25 | We're running out of things to say about woebegone Celts, probably because they're running out of players and starting four guys who didn't play college ball. | |
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