Nuggets snubbed in latest NBA power rankings after leading for over a month
By Ben Handler
Ever since beating the Celtics in early March, the Denver Nuggets have held the top spot in the weekly NBA.com power rankings. NBA analyst, John Schuhmann compiles the ranking each week, and he’s given Denver the top spot for over a month now.
New #1 team in the power rankings
But that finally changed on Monday when the latest rankings were released. Schuhmann had the Celtics overtaking the Nuggets and reclaiming the number one spot in the rankings this week.
The Celtics are certainly worthy, as they’ve cruised to an NBA best 62-16 record. They’ve opened up a 15 game lead in the Eastern Conference standings, and boast a +12.0 NET rating, which is top 5 in league history.
Boston has also won five straight games, and has been dominating the competition regardless of which players are in and out of the lineup. But there is one team in the NBA that the Celtics have no beaten this season, the Denver Nuggets.
Denver went into Boston in mid January and pulled out a tight win over the Celtics 102-100 in TD Garden. The teams met once more in March and the Nuggets triumphed once again in Denver. While the Celtics have been better on balance over the course of the regular season, and especially lately, the Nuggets still have the upper hand in the head to head matchup.
Nuggets #2 in the rankings
The Nuggets didn’t fall far in the rankings, just down a spot to number two - still the highest ranked team i the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Dallas Mavericks rounded out the latest top five in that order.
Biggest riser and faller
The biggest risers in this weeks rankings were the Philadelphia 76ers, who have won five games in a row and saw the reigning MVP, Joel Embiid return to the lineup after a two month absence due to a meniscus injury. They climbed eight spots, all the way from 19th last week to 11th this week.
The big fallers of the week were the Cleveland Cavaliers who fell six spots, from 12th to 18th. The team simply hasn’t looked right without a fully healthy Donovan Mitchell.