NBA 2018-19: Western Conference Power Rankings Week 9

The 'Wild West' is definitely living up to its reputation. No team is pulling away from the pack and its sort of a logjam at the moment as everyone keeps beating up on each other. Some of the early surprises of the season are unsurprisingly perhaps slipping, with the Grizzlies and Clippers cooling down significantly after hot starts.

The Mavericks behind Luka Doncic are the team to keep an eye on, and they are rapidly climbing up the standings. Elsewhere the euphoria after getting rid of Jimmy Butler seems to have worn off for the Timberwolves, losers of four straight with the last one coming against the lowly Suns, who are all but guaranteed to finish at the bottom of the West.

All the ups and downs makes it very difficult to have any semblance of continuity in these lists, but here are top 5 teams in the West after Week 9.

#5 Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers are slumping. The surprise story of the NBA season has undergone a major dip in form off late, which is very concerning. They went 1-3 this week, with their only win coming against the lowly Suns.

They got whacked in a 123-99 loss to the Raptors and were embarrassed in a 38 point blowout loss to the Spurs. They played much better against the Thunder in Oklahoma City but still came away with a loss, which made it 6 losses in the last 10 games.

Their defense has been pretty bad off late, allowing at least 110 points in 8 of their last 9 games with the only exception being against the slow-paced Grizzlies which isn't saying much. Now, Lou Williams is out for a few weeks and they've got the surging Mavericks, Blazers, and Nuggets to deal with this week. Dallas is hot on their heels, and it might only be a matter of time before the Clippers fall out of the Top 5.

#4 Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder had a minor hiccup as they went 2-2 this week. Losses to the Nuggets and Pelicans were sandwiched by wins against the Jazz and the Clippers. Despite some wobbling, OKC remains 1st in Defensive Rating and continue to get excellent performances from Paul George.

PG13 is having a career year and probably deserves some MVP consideration, with career highs across the board. Russell Westbrook is helping the cause by averaging a triple-double again and the acquisition of Dennis Schroder looks better each passing day.

The worry for OKC is their outside shooting and it starts with Russ himself. Westbrook is shooting 24.8% from beyond the arc and it isn't stopping him from jacking up a lot of them. OKC as a team ranks 29th in the league in 3 Point % and that's probably going to be their downfall.

Kyle Korver would have definitely helped the cause, but they weren't able to get him. I'd look for OKC to get some shooters on board in the coming months. Next up for OKC are the Bulls, Kings, and Jazz.

#3 Los Angeles Lakers

Boy, have the Lakers rebounded after that rough start. Winners of 7 of their last 10, the Lake Show has surged up the Western Conference standings. LeBron continues to play at the highest level at least on the offensive end and in Kyle Kuzma, he seems to have found an ideal sidekick.

They went 2-1 this week, with the only loss coming to the Rockets as James Harden just went berserk with his 50 point triple-double. They continue to be solid on both ends of the floor and have almost cracked the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. They did lose out on the Trevor Ariza sweepstakes, which would have given this team some much-needed experience and it never hurts to have more 3 and D guys.

The Lakers don't really have any glaring flaws, but they aren't particularly outstanding at anything either, which is a slight concern perhaps. The schedule for the coming week is pretty kind, with matchups against the Wizards, Nets, and Pelicans.

#2 Golden State Warriors

The defending champs went 2-1 this week, but are finally at full strength with Draymond Green's return from a toe injury. It didn't help a whole lot in that blowout loss to the Raptors without Kawhi, which is why they don't go higher than 2 on the rankings.

The manner of defeat is a concern, but we've seen that they're a different animal in the playoffs, so I'm not too bothered in the long run. Steph Curry continues to play at an MVP level and looks set for a 2nd 50-40-90 campaign and there is a slight chance he might go 50-50-90 which is just outrageous.

KD is also having an excellent season, averaging 29 points a game, which would be second only to his MVP campaign when he averaged 32 a game. All this makes it pretty obvious why the Warriors remain 1st in Offensive Rating, but that defense has slipped significantly, although Draymond's return should help in that regard. The Warriors are in the midst of a rough patch in their schedule, with games against the Grizzlies, Jazz, and Mavericks coming up.

#1 Denver Nuggets

I have got to hand it over to Mike Malone and his team. Ravaged by injuries, the Nuggets somehow someway keep winning, which is remarkable. Paul Millsap, Will Barton, and third-leading scorer Gary Harris are all out and they just keep winning.

They've beaten the Raptors in Toronto with Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry on the floor and this week, they beat the Thunder and the Grizzlies to go 2-0. The injuries might end up being too much for this team to handle, but right now they are doing incredibly well to hold on to the top spot in the West.

Nikola Jokic especially has shone since Millsap went down. The Joker averaged 25.5 Points, 13.5 Rebounds and 7.5 Assists against Memphis and OKC and he'll have to keep this up because Denver doesn't have a whole lot else apart from him and Jamal Murray. If you thought facing the Grizzlies and the Thunder was tough, it doesn't get any easier for the Nuggets, with the Raptors, Mavericks, and Clippers coming up this week.