NBA Power Rankings: Battle for seeding priority of OKC Thunder and peers

Week 22 of NBA power rankings finds teams fighting for seeding and struggling to build momentum. Here’s how the OKC Thunder and all 30 teams rank.

An interesting takeaway at this stage in the season is point differential performance in the two conferences. All but five western teams have positive differentials. However, in the East, only six squads have a positive differential. And, the Pistons who were positive for all of one week have already shifted back to a negative differential. This perhaps more than any stat points out the disparity of strength in the two conferences.

The rankings represent games played in week 22 of action. For this week I dig deeper into seeding and the key games on tap which will affect where each club could finish the season.

Additionally, the typical key stat categories are present with emphasis on the big three (offense, defense, and net differential). The other area affecting ranking is how teams performed in terms of who they won or lost against. Are the teams tanking, elite and is it a statement win?

Remaining schedules are dissected for insights on games already played (road vs. home and east vs. west performance) as well as the remaining strength of schedule and notably how many contests are against top offenses, defenses, and plus .500 clubs.

The closing slide provides excerpts and links to the national media power ranking lists.

Let’s do it!