Updated: February 13, 2006, 11:25 AM ET

Power Rankings: Spurs back on top, Knicks still at bottom

Week:
 
Team:

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

For the first time in 14 weeks -- for the first time since Nov. 14 -- there's a new No. 1 in my weekly NBA Power Rankings.

NFL

It's the only other team this season that knows how it feels to look down on the rest of the league.

San Antonio, not Dallas, is the team from Texas that bumps the Detroit Pistons. The Mavericks were a likely candidate after a 13-game win streak and a 36-point spanking of Miami, but the Spurs have capitalized on Dallas' setback Friday at Denver to claim the league's longest active win streak -- with nine consecutive victories, a 6-0 start on their annual eight-game eviction by the rodeo and just one 20-point game from Tim Duncan in that span. There's a reason we've been saying any team but Detroit would trade their problems for San Antonio's.

Read on to see where your team ranks and click here to send me feedback. You can also click here for my latest around-the-league notebook edition of the Daily Dime.

  • SportsNation: Rank them yourself!

    • 2005-06 Power Rankings: Week 15
    RANKTEAM / RECORD TRENDINGCOMMENTS
    1
    2
    Last Week: 3    		Spurs have found more than cohesion and momentum on their Rodeo Road Trip. They've also found the old Manu, who sure looked like his All-Star self in Indy.
    2
    Dallas
    39-11
    --

    Last Week: 2    		The anti-Heat? Dallas is 6-1 in its showdowns with San Antonio, Detroit, Phoenix and Miami, averaging 105.7 ppg and holding those teams to a mere 89.7 ppg.
    3
    2
    Last Week: 1    		Yes, even Dr. Detroit (as one loyal reader calls me) can drop the hammer. Pistons plunge two spots after letting me down in Atlanta and another two-loss week.
    4
    Phoenix
    33-17
    --

    Last Week: 4    		For all their success sans Amare, Suns aren't celebrating yet, knowing they don't have enough separation from Clips to believe they've sewn up a top-three seed.
    5
    New Jersey
    27-22
    --

    Last Week: 5    		If you have to bid farewell to a 12-game home winning streak, you can accept it a little easier when the hottest team in the league is the one that halts it. Maybe.
    6
    Miami
    31-20
    1
    Last Week: 7    		It's about time you brought some heat, Heat. Now to see if you turn Sunday into a real turning point or if it makes you even more lax for the rest of the regular season.
    7
    NO/Oklahoma City
    27-23
    2
    Last Week: 9    		I'm officially an all-in believer in Hornets' playoff dream. They just went 2-0 without CP3 thanks to the the ever-underrated Speedy and Snyder's unexpected surge.
    8
    2
    Last Week: 6    		Sam I Am was snubbed so completely that almost no one even mentions him as a snubbee. And Clips might just deserve two All-Stars given how well they've done.
    9
    Denver
    28-25
    2
    Last Week: 11    		No team has endured trade-rumor uncertainty longer than Nugs, but putting the first blemish on Dallas' perfect month might be what revives K-Mart and Co.
    10
    Indiana
    25-23
    2
    Last Week: 12    		After a season and a half on the Artest roller-coaster, 22 straight days at home give O'Neal-less Pacers a well-deserved chance to steady themselves for once.
    11
    3
    Last Week: 8    		Nervous time? Hughes will sit longer than expected and a home loss to shorthanded GSW looked too familiar after the two second-half swoons in the LBJ Era.
    12
    Memphis
    27-23
    2
    Last Week: 10    		We've seen some defensive slippage, but Grizz are still one of three teams holding foes under 90 ppg. That's why I doubt Grizz will slip much further.
    13
    4
    Last Week: 17    		Red-hot Wiz love that Le Commish put Arenas in the AS Game. But they didn't mind the snubbed Arenas who went for 45 after finding out the coaches didn't pick him.
    14
    1
    Last Week: 13    		Class act that he is, Redd is taking his All-Star snub better than I am, quietly keeping banged-up Milwaukee above .500 for the fourth successive month.
    15
    Houston
    21-30
    1
    Last Week: 16    		Problems? To leapfrog five teams into the playoffs, Houston must keep improving that 8-16 home record. And March is the time to do it, with 11 of 15 games at home.
    16
    3
    Last Week: 19    		The good news: With Artest, Kings are winning at home again (eight straight). The bad news: Kings play 14 of next 22 on the road between now and the end of March.
    17
    Utah
    25-26
    1
    Last Week: 18    		If you're thinking (hoping?) Boozer is being showcased, think again. He missed almost a year, so Jazz couldn't trade him before the deadline if they wanted to.
    18
    4
    Last Week: 14    		The schedule should help Lakers from here: 20 of their final 32 games are at home. Of course, at 1-5 in February, it suddenly looks like Kobe needs a lot of help.
    19
    Chicago
    22-28
    1
    Last Week: 20    		They've addressed some longstanding road woes and Gordon recently scored 30-plus in three straight, but Bulls ain't going to the playoffs if they stay sub-.500 at home.
    20
    2
    Last Week: 22    		Time will tell us if this was the right move. But since Warriors refused to part with Diogu in an Artest deal, the rookie bruiser is playing just 10.6 mpg in February.
    21
    6
    Last Week: 15    		Perhaps we were premature with the ''relax'' advice. Too many losses and too much unhappiness lately have plunged Sixers into another worrying slide.
    22
    1
    Last Week: 21    		I'm not expecting a very chipper KG at All-Star Weekend. Not when, even after the injection of new blood, he's been powerless to prevent a 1-6 tumble this month.
    23
    Toronto
    19-32
    --

    Last Week: 23    		Maybe Kobe did get some help from that Raps defense on the way to Eighty-One. Toronto just gave up 125 points to Spurs . . . who were playing without Duncan.
    24
    Boston
    20-31
    3
    Last Week: 27    		It's been that kind of season: Perkins posts four straight double-digit rebound games after only six all season . . . then suffers a dislocated shoulder in practice.
    25
    Atlanta
    15-34
    3
    Last Week: 28    		OK, OK. Even I can give it a (week's) rest on the Passing Over Paul stuff when Hawks are the only team besides Mavs and Wiz to have wins over Spurs and Pistons.
    26
    Seattle
    20-31
    --

    Last Week: 26    		Doubt he'd admit it, but I'm guessing Allen would prefer a trade this month to a team with real playoff possibilities as opposed to one All-Star Weekend in Houston.
    27
    Orlando
    19-30
    4
    Last Week: 23    		And then there was one: Magic's 1-7 slide makes you think that Chicago is the only team outside the East's top eight capable of making a playoff push.
    28
    1
    Last Week: 29    		Even if Bobcats didn't just post the first three-game win streak in club history without him, Okafor resting that ankle for the rest of the season isn't the worst idea.
    29
    4
    Last Week: 25    		After a 7-4 stretch in which three of the losses were close ones to good teams -- Mavs, Nuggets, Spurs -- Blazers are suddenly getting blown out everywhere they go.
    30
    --

    Last Week: 30    		Larry's first Spurs team went 21-61. But that team knew it was getting David Robinson in Year 2. Knicks might not win seven more, and no Admiral is on deck.
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