Updated: December 24, 2012, 7:31 PM ET

Power Rankings: Home of the Clips

Week:
 
Team:
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Monday, Dec. 24

When your faithful NBA Power Rankings committee (of one) moved to Southern California during the same summer its beloved Buffalo Braves relocated to San Diego, it did not adopt the Clips as its new favorite team. The Braves will hold that distinction here, as an entity unto themselves based on a 9-year-old's logic, now and forever.

However …

The committee graciously thanks the Clippers for their December hot streak. Reason being: L.A.'s franchise-record 13 wins in a row eclipsed the 11 consecutive W's strung together by the Braves early in the 1974-75 season … but in the process brought the Braves more turn-back-the-clock pub than they've enjoyed in a long, long time.

The best way to express that gratitude, of course, is by bumping the Clips up to No. 1 in ESPN.com's weekly NBA rankings. Yet it's a distinction they've undeniably earned thanks to a 12-0 record this month and an average victory margin of a whopping 16.5 points in that span. The Clips have been so hot that the Oklahoma City Thunder -- after finally losing Thursday night in Minnesota after 12 wins in a row of their own -- couldn't avoid a dip to No. 2 entering a Christmas Day showdown with the defending champions, No. 3 Miami Heat.

The rankings were compiled with the usual Ricky Rubio-esque dishing from ESPN Stats & Information and the Elias Sports Bureau. Click here to rank the teams yourself.

Also, check out John Hollinger's daily Power Rankings.

2012-13 Power Rankings: Week 8
RANKTEAM / RECORD TRENDINGCOMMENTS
1
1
Last Week: 2		The Clippers are only the second team since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976-77 to take a 13-game win streak into a Christmas Day game, with Boston having done so twice (14-gamer in 2010-11 and a 19-gamer in 2008-09) in the KG Era. They're also No. 1 in average point margin at +9.6.
2
1
Last Week: 1		The Thunder will show up for Christmas in Miami without their double-digit win streak but blessed with the solace of four nights off before their rematch with the Heat. It'll actually be just the sixth time in history the two NBA Finals teams meet on Dec. 25 ... with the Finals loser 4-1 so far.
3
Miami
18-6
2
Last Week: 5		After looking admittedly bored at times by the scheduling that called for one road game in a span of 32 days, Miami has quietly won four in a row by a combined 72 points to rev up for Christmas with OKC. Can't even begin to explain LeBron's 250 straight minutes without a foul, though.
4
--

Last Week: 4		They've looked weary on the road lately, even after the spot of rest Pop infamously manufactured for his stars in Miami, but the Spurs still got to 20 wins before their 30th game for the eighth time in the past 12 seasons. Dallas is the only team close in the same span, having done so six times.
5
1
Last Week: 6		Good stat: With Mike Conley at 13.8 ppg, Memphis is on the cusp of joining OKC and Portland on the short list of teams sporting four different players averaging at least 14 a game. Bad stat: On a squad already starved for shooting, Rudy Gay is at a career-worst 41.8 percent from the floor.
6
3
Last Week: 3		They were never going to go 41-0 at home, so you can pardon last week's MSG losses to Houston and Chicago. Bigger concern: New York's 3-point conversion rate has dipped dramatically over the past five games. And poise tends to abandon them -- starting with Woody and Melo -- in a hurry.
7
Denver
15-13
2
Last Week: 9		Andre Iguodala's December woes are offset, at least slightly, by JaVale McGee's hints of progress this month: 12.0 ppg, .701 shooting and 2.7 bpg in just 19.4 mpg. Christmas, though, doesn't really arrive for the Nuggets until January, with 15 of their first 18 games in 2013 at home. At last.
8
--

Last Week: 8		I'm sure Larry Drew would rather have a contract extension than Trimester props, but we'll get back to serious Hawks issues next Monday. Couldn't resist hat-tipping Reebok, in the Christmas spirit, for bringing back Dominique Wilkins' Pump Twilight Zone sneaks to honor one of our faves.
9
2
Last Week: 7		David Lee is assembling a legit All-Star case for a franchise that hasn't had an All-Star since Latrell Sprewell in 1997. But first let's see how the Dubs, after reaching darling status, respond to the first real heartbreaks of their great start: Last week's painful endings against the Kings and Lakers.
10
Chicago
15-11
--

Last Week: 10		Reasonably good December for the Bulls. They're 8-4 for the month, losing only to quality teams (Pacers and Clips at home; Griz and Hawks on the road) and ranking in the top five in all the categories Thibs treasures: Scoring defense, defensive efficiency and defensive FG percentage.
11
4
Last Week: 15		Kobe Bryant has scored at least 30 points in his past eight games. And he enters his record 15th Christmas Day game needing 29 points to surpass Oscar Robertson's Christmas record for total points scored (377). So it's probably safe to say we all know what's going to happen.
12
Houston
14-12
5
Last Week: 17		Since a frustrating loss at Toronto on Dec. 16, James Harden's Rockets have played about as well as they can play, ripping through the Knicks, Sixers and Griz and improving to 7-1 when Harden scores 30 or more. Beardsanity managed only three 30-point games in his three seasons in OKC.
13
Indiana
16-12
--

Last Week: 13		Fair or not, I fear Roy Hibbert's offensive struggles will somehow affect his DPOY campaign. But Hibbert has finally hiked his season shooting above 40 percent ... while Paul George has strung together double-doubles in three of his past four games after none in the previous 21 games.
14
--

Last Week: 14		It's been that sort of season for Kevin Love on the health front. Best all-around game to date for the star Wolf in Thursday's TNT triumph over OKC to halt the Thunder's 12-game win streak ... only for a poke in the eye in that one to knock Love out of Sunday's visit to Madison Square Garden.
15
Utah
15-14
1
Last Week: 16		For all the hassle Utah gets about its road woes, this should be a happy time after those recent wins in Brooklyn and Orlando. The mood, though, is dampened by the news that Mo Williams -- one of the keys to Utah's improved 3-point threat -- is suddenly out indefinitely with a thumb injury.
16
4
Last Week: 12		Before his weekend eruption against Boston and Cleveland, Monta Ellis shot 13-for-51 over four games to drag his shooting percentage below 40 percent, just like backcourt mate Brandon Jennings. Which certainly dulls the shine off their standing as the league's highest-scoring guard duo.
17
6
Last Week: 11		D-Will is shooting an unsightly 39.7 percent from the floor. Joe Johnson has picked it up lately but isn't faring much better at 42.9 percent. Throw in the Nets' league-leading six losses in games they led by at least 13 points and you quickly grasp why the pressure is mounting on Avery Johnson.
18
Boston
13-13
--

Last Week: 18		Good thing Paul Pierce erupted offensively when he did. If banged-up Boston didn't at least manage a split of its weekend at home against the Cavs and Bucks, this would have been the first time since 1993 that both the Celtics and Lakers dragged into Christmas with sub-.500 records.
19
Orlando
12-15
--

Last Week: 19		Jacque Vaughn's post-Dwight Magic were starting to generate comparisons to the 1999-2000 overachievers who went 41-41 under Doc Rivers with headliners like Ben Wallace and Darrell Armstrong. But they'll have to be even grittier now after losing Big Baby Davis to a shoulder injury.
20
--

Last Week: 20		Another surprise entry for the Damian Lillard files: The committee (of one) did a spot on an England-based radio show Sunday night and fielded a question from a listener via text. Not about Surrey's own Joel Freeland, though. A question about Damian Lillard. On English radio!
21
Dallas
12-16
1
Last Week: 22		The last time Dallas limped into Christmas below .500, back in Dirk Nowitzki's second season, Mark Cuban emerged without warning a few days later to buy the team and lead a franchise resurrection. Even with Dirk back now, it sure looks like he and Cuban need a new savior from somewhere.
22
3
Last Week: 25		The longest active win streak in the East belongs to the five-in-a-row Raps. So, then, does Team of the Week status. Three key factors: Better team defense with Andrea Bargnani sidelined, more team harmony with Jose Calderon at the controls ... and, yes, some beatable opposition.
23
2
Last Week: 21		Six straight losses on the road. Seven straight games on the road, all in the Western Conference, starting the day after Christmas. And still no target date in sight for Andrew Bynum's return, which makes the fact that Jrue Holiday missed only four games (sprained foot) Philly's good news.
24
Phoenix
11-17
--

Last Week: 24		The correlation will inevitably be drawn: Michael Beasley hasn't been granted more than 19 minutes in the past seven games and the Suns won four in a row in the heart of that stretch. Phoenix has been competitive all month, actually, apart from two dates with the rankings-topping Clips.
25
2
Last Week: 23		Only because I know my Andre Drummond-obsessed editor expects these kinds of tidbits on Mondays ... even on a holiday: Drummond's 11 points, 14 rebounds and 5 swats Friday against Washington made him the first rook to hit those levels in one game since Dwight Howard in 2005.
26
--

Last Week: 26		DeMarcus Cousins has to bear a huge share of responsibility for his ongoing troubles, but the bigger issue remains that the Kings, as a franchise, are in disarray. So Kings fans, among their many worries these days, must surely fear what happens if he gets dealt to a strong organization.
27
--

Last Week: 27		The Cavs obviously become watchable with Kyrie Irving back, but they also suffer from just about the slimmest margin for error in the whole league and can't get healthy. The latest example: As soon as Dion Waiters returns, board machine Andy Varejao goes down with a bruised knee.
28
1
Last Week: 29		During that 7-5 start, I flirted with declaring that the Bobcats have proved they're no longer the NBA's undisputed doormat. After 15 straight L's -- and with the 18.5 wins that Bovada.lv established as Charlotte's over/under coming into the season looking a long way away -- I'm glad I held off.
29
1
Last Week: 28		Any lingering feel-good factor from their Dec. 4 win over Miami has been well and truly extinguished by back-to-back losses to Detroit. The same Pistons who showed up for that home-and-home set with a six-game losing skid of their own. Worse yet: The Wiz are down to 88.8 ppg.
30
New Orleans
5-22
--

Last Week: 30		Just wondering: Has "Horicans" become the standard way to address these guys now? I've been seeing that one a lot lately. And just so you know: We'd love to talk about something else here besides the new nickname, but the Hornets/Future Pelicans ain't giving us much to work with.
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