BDL's Most Interesting Power Rankings: The Spurs just keep coming (Ball Don't Lie)

[Yahoo! Sports - NBA -]

Let's face it — the best and most powerful teams in the NBA don't really change from week to week. A handful of results in the middle of winter can only mean so much to a franchise's championship hopes. What does shift regularly, though, is how much interest a squad can hold over the course of a season. Every Monday, BDL's Most Interesting Power Rankings track the teams most worthy of your attention. THE TOP 15 1. San Antonio Spurs (20-5; last week : 2): Imagine how it must feel to be the Golden State Warriors. After winning your first 24 games, you finally lose one ... and that means you've only got a four-game lead for the top spot in the conference. As the Warriors chased history by showing us the future, the Spurs moved forward by reaching back to the past. San Antonio still plays the beautiful game — no team passes the ball more, and only Golden State averages more assists and adjusted assists (which includes "hockey" assists and passes that lead to free throws), per NBA.com's SportVU player tracking data — but the Spurs are making hay this year by slowing things down, running offense through two excellent frontcourt players (MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, shooting 56 percent in December ) and snuffing out opposing offenses at a historic level . According to NBA.com's stat tool, the Spurs' league-leading defense has allowed a microscopic 91.9 points per 100 possessions , which would be the second-best full-season defensive efficiency mark in the last 19 years behind ... the 2003-04 Spurs . According to Basketball-Reference.com, which uses a different method to calculate possessions, the Spurs are giving up 93.8-per-100 , which would be the top full-season defensive rating since before the introduction of the 3-point shot . Some of that might be due to a soft early schedule ; as NBA.com's John Schuhmann noted, most of their work against the league's top offenses still lies ahead . Then again, the Atlanta Hawks had a top-10 offense until they played San Antonio on Saturday ... and then the Spurs held them to 25 first-half points en route to a 25-point blowout . Objects in the rear-view mirror are always closer than they appear, and no matter how Golden State bounces back, these Spurs — now 12-0 at home, with 10 of their next 13 at AT&T Center — are closer still. 2. Golden State Warriors (24-1; last week: 1): Even on the second night of a back-to-back, after going to double-overtime in Boston and not arriving in Milwaukee until after 3 a.m. , Stephen Curry gets loose: Despite having finally tasted defeat, the Warriors remain not only favorites to defend their title , but also the league's most explosive offense. They'll likely stick around the top of these rankings, even if they don't face dramatic circumstances, by virtue of their joyful, energizing style. And if should-be All-Star Draymond Green's right — if the end of the streak takes a weight off Golden State's shoulders, allowing them to play more freely — then the Dubs' encore ought to be must-see TV. 3. Oklahoma City Thunder (16-8; last week: 4): The Thunder have won five straight, including a 37-point devastation of the Memphis Grizzlies and a comfortable win over Atlanta that saw Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both score 20 points and dish 10 assists in the same game for the first time . After a shaky start, Oklahoma City's 9-2 in its last 11 games, outscoring the opposition by 10.3 points per 100 possessions in that span — behind only San Antonio and Golden State, per NBA.com — thanks in part to finding what looks like an intriguing small-ball lineup. The five-man unit of Durant, Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Dion Waiters and Anthony Morrow has shared the floor for 34 minutes this season; 32 have come in the last 11 games, in which the group has racked up 108 points and outscored opponents by 49 points . A small sample, yes, but the ingredients make sense. Ibaka can anchor against centers and handle himself switching onto guards, while serving as a screener, dive man and pick-and-pop floor-spacer. Durant's long and stout enough to handle spot defensive duty against opposing fours and fives, and a terrifying release valve spotting up around a Westbrook-Ibaka pick-and-roll.

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