Power Rankings: Clippers still No. 1 By Marc Stein | ESPN.com

Monday, Jan. 7

Select One Preseason 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Team: Select One Atlanta Boston Brooklyn Charlotte Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit Golden State Houston Indiana LA Clippers LA Lakers Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minnesota New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Portland Sacramento San Antonio Toronto Utah Washington Week:Team:

ESPN.com's NBA Power Rankings committee (of one) has never and will never believe in ties.

Even on those Mondays when it would really come in handy.

And this is certainly one of them. You could make a convincing case for the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs to fill the top slot in our latest weekly compilation, prompting one longtime friend of the committee to ask: Why not just let all three teams share No. 1?

Sorry. We don't do that here.

So the next best option, we reasoned, was leaving the order of last Monday's top three just as it was, opting to give the Clippers one week's worth of latitude at the top after they followed up a whopping 17 consecutive victories with back-to-back road losses to Denver and Golden State but then atoned for those L's with Staples Center wins over the Lakers and Warriors.

The rolling Thunder and steady Spurs, meanwhile, clearly have no intentions of letting up, primed to pounce on any further slips. Three more West teams are likewise on the rise, with Golden State (No. 4), Denver (No. 6) and Houston (No. 8) all moving into season-high positions.

The rankings, as always, were compiled with rampant assisting rom ESPN Stats & Information and the Elias Sports Bureau. Click here to rank the teams yourself.

Also, check out John Hollinger's daily Power Rankings.