NBA 2018-19: Western Conference Power Rankings Week 10

Another week goes by and yet there aren't too many conclusions that can be drawn regarding the Western Conference as it continues to be up and down. The Dallas Mavericks were one of the hottest teams in the West a few weeks back and now see themselves down at 11th, while the Houston Rockets are now the team on the rise having won 6 of 7 on the back of James Harden going nuclear.

Elsewhere, the Phoenix Suns of all teams surprisingly won 4 in a row before losing in a triple OT thriller to the Wizards. The top 5 teams in the power rankings, however, remain the same, with some juggling as far as their position, but there are teams hot in their pursuit, waiting for any slip-ups and there have been a few, but not enough for one of them to fall out. Here are the top 5 teams in the West:

#5 Los Angeles Lakers

Jrue Holiday, LeBron James and Anthony Davis

The Lakers bump down 2 spots on the Power Rankings after a disappointing week, with losses to two sub .500 teams in the Washington Wizards and the Brooklyn Nets. LeBron stunk it up in the loss to the Wizards with just 13 Points in what was his worst game as a Laker which ensured a surprising loss considering just how undermanned the Wizards were with injuries and trades.

He bounced back the very next game, with 36 Points against the Nets, but the Nets held on thanks to former Laker D'Angelo Russell. A win over the Pelicans stopped the rot, but this was a very odd stretch after the positive signs over the past couple of weeks.

All the Anthony Davis to Los Angeles talk might have served as a distraction, but the Lakers cannot afford to stink it up as they have recently, considering the games coming up with the Grizzlies, Clippers and the Golden State Warriors at the Oracle on Christmas Day.

#4 Los Angeles Clippers

Is the Clippers slump finally over? Maybe, maybe not. After 4 straight losses, albeit to very good teams in the Raptors, Thunder, and Blazers, the Clippers steadied the ship with back to back wins over the Mavericks and Nuggets to close out the week.

They got a break against Denver, as Jokic was ejected from the game in the 3rd quarter after scoring 19 Points in 20 minutes, but they were already up 11 Points so maybe it wouldn't have mattered at the end of the day.

Lou Williams returned from injury against the Mavericks and it's probably not a surprise that they've started winning again with him back in the fold. While Tobias Harris has undoubtedly been their best player, Danilo Gallinari is playing some of the best basketball of his career right now and has scored at least 20 Points in 4 straight games. He'll have to keep it up, as it doesn't get any easier for the Clippers with the Warriors and Lakers coming up this week.

#3 Golden State Warriors

Steph Curry, Draymond Green and, Jonas Jerebko

The Warriors haven't quite been the Warriors despite getting fully healthy, but they're still winning games. They blew out the Grizzlies to start off the week, before getting stifled by Utah's defence, a game in which they shot just 40% from the field.

They closed out the week with a hard-fought win over the Mavericks. Draymond Green seemed to get out of his shooting funk against Dallas and Golden State would be hoping that it's a sign of things to come. He was 1/16 from deep post-Halloween and has been shooting a lousy 22% from beyond the arc for the season.

Another guy who's shot has been off so far is Klay Thompson and it's now becoming a big concern if you ask me. Klay went 1/13 from the 3 point line this week and for a guy who has never shot less than 40% from 3, Klay currently sits at 33%.

It's gone on far too long for it to be just him being in a slump and it's something to keep an eye on as the season goes on. As for what's coming up next for Golden State, they've got 3 tough outings against the Clippers, Lakers, and Blazers.

#2 Oklahoma City Thunder

In season's past, if Russell Westbrook had an off-night, the Thunder were as good as dead, but that's no longer the case. Paul George has been amazing and it's good to see him getting more recognition for his exploits this season. George was excellent this week, leading the Thunder to 3 wins over the Bulls, Kings, and Jazz.

He had back to back 40 Point games for the 1st time in his career to close out this week and in my opinion, has taken over as the best player on the Thunder. Against the Jazz, OKC was down 79-70 when Westbrook went to the bench with 4 fouls and while in years past that would probably mean the end for the Thunder, it's no longer the case now.

PG13 scored 18 points in the final 6 minutes of the 3rd to put OKC up 93-81 and swung the momentum of the game by himself. This year is probably going to have the tightest MVP race that I can recall in a long time, with 4-5 really deserving candidates. Up next for the Thunder are the Rockets, Timberwolves and the Suns.

#1 Denver Nuggets

Well, it had to end sooner rather than later. The Nuggets remarkable 4 game winning streak finally came to an end against the Clippers. I still am not quite sure how Denver managed to beat the Grizzlies, Thunder, Raptors, and Mavericks one after the other with all the injuries.

They finally lost to the Clippers after losing Nikola Jokic to an ejection in the 3rd quarter and that was one too many guys missing for them to stand a chance to win the game. The big man was on a tear during their unlikely winning run, averaging 27.2 Points and 13.2 rebounds over those 4 games and if he had played the entirety of the Clippers game, maybe they would have won that one too.

The schedule does get kinder the coming weeks, and with guys set to come back from injury in the near future, the Nuggets have a good chance of staying top for quite a while.