NBA 2018-19 Power Rankings: Week 1 (Western Conference Edition)

The first week of NBA Western Conference action has already yielded some unforgettable moments. LeBron James secured his first points as a Laker, both on the road and at home, with thunderous dunks. Both games were well-contested and the Spurs-Lakers game at the Staples, in particular, was one hell of a show.

The Pelicans and the Nuggets currently boast of undefeated records. Will they make the top two spots, or do we continue to give the benefit of doubt to the incumbent elite of the Conference? Read on to find out.

#5 Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers were selected by a number of writers to miss the playoffs this summer. Dame, who has always had a chip on his shoulder through the course of his basketball career, is as fired up as ever in response to these predictions, while Jennifer should note that McCollum is trying as hard as ever.

The Blazers started their season off by spoiling LeBron's Lakers debut with a double-digit victory before inflicting a similar defeat on the San Antonio Spurs. An overtime loss by a single point to the Wizards in DC will hurt, but being placed #5 on this list should take some of the sting, off that defeat.

Nurkic is impressive as ever, while sophomore Zach Collins legitimately looks capable of competing with the Serbian for a starting berth based off his start to the season. So far, Nik Stauskas and Seth Curry have proved to be better than Pat Connaughton and Shabazz Napier, and the Blazers should breathe easy in November when their fixture list eases up a bit.

#4 New Orleans Pelicans

It's only been three games into the season so far, but the Pelicans have been at least as good as a number of people predicted them to be to start the season off. Adding Julius Randle as the third big in a rotation that already consisted of the best big man in the game and one of the best sharpshooting bigs today means the Pelicans have three frontcourt mismatches they can deploy at any given time.

Other than having the league's best frontcourt, the Pelicans are pushing the pace like few teams in NBA history have. Their starting five of Elfrid Payton, Jrue, E'Twaun Moore, Mirotic and AD are all willing runners, and the spacing on this lineup is a terror for teams on the transition.

Forcing defenses to react early in the shot clock will continue to pay off for the rest of the season, and has taken the Pelicans up to the 4th spot on our Western Conference Power Rankings for Week 1.

#3 Denver Nuggets

If you'd told me that after four games of the regular season, the Nuggets would emerge out of the gate as one of the best defensive teams in the league while dropping points galore on every one of their opponents in dominant fashion, I'd have laid a tenner against this and lost.

The Nuggets' Achilles heel, for the past couple of seasons, has been their inability to maintain high levels of defense through the length of 48 minutes of game time.

They seem to have remedied at least the effort bit this season. In addition, having Jokic hedge screens in the pick-and-roll has made him less of a liability on defense, while he's playing MVP caliber offense when he's needed to, or when he feels like it.

The Nuggets have a top-5 starting lineup in the league. If you were sleeping on them up until this point, don't stay the same for long.

#2 Houston Rockets

It's only been four games so far, but the indications from the Rockets' start to the season do not bode well. The loss of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute has clearly capped their ability to contain teams from the perimeter, while new additions James Ennis and Carmelo Anthony have been unimpressive offensively.

Their core quartet of Paul, Harden, Capela and Eric Gordon are there and thereabouts, close to their optimum levels of play. Paul, however, will be unavailable for their next couple of games on the account of the 'Spitgate', and will look to power the #1 seeds from 2017-18 in a manner similar to last season.

The only reason the Rockets are still #2 on these rankings is because the aim of this exercise is to stay as free of reactionist outlooks as possible.

#1 Golden State Warriors

We gotta keep it real here, folks. Barring major injuries to Steph and KD, the Warriors are going to sit atop this perch for the next eight months, irrespective of what happens on the court. After all, there is no guarantee of eliteness quite like having five All NBA caliber players in the primes of their career on the same team pitted against the rest of the league.

The Warriors are 3-1 so far, and really, none of their results have been surprising in the least bit. The solitary loss they've suffered so far has been to the Nuggets in Denver - Mile High City is universally acknowledged as the toughest road trip in the NBA, and is usually a guaranteed loss on the second night of back-to-backs.

KD and Steph have both started the season off blisteringly. Draymond is still the definition of top-notch NBA defense. Only Klay has looked rusty thus far, but this isn't the first season in his career that he's gotten off to a slow start, and the 28-year-old should be in fine form by next month at the very worst.

SK High Hoops - Write and win amazing prizes. Click here to know more!