NBA Power Rankings: Brace for impact out West By Marc Stein | ESPN.com

Monday, Jan. 25

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:

Maybe it wasn't our dumbest-ever blunder.

Amid increasingly loud calls to finally drop the Golden State Warriors out of the top spot in ESPN.com's weekly NBA Power Rankings, your stubborn Committee of One decided to keep the Warriors ahead of the scorching-hot San Antonio Spurs this time last week. The Warriors then duly responded with what might have been their most impressive week of the season, ensuring that they will have occupied the top spot 15 times of a possible 15 this season entering Monday night's eagerly awaited showdown with the Spurs in Oakland.

San Antonio's own headline-grabbing run has reached 13 consecutive victories, including no less than six by 25 points or more, but Golden State couldn't have done more over the past seven days to state its case to stay at the top, thrashing Cleveland and Chicago on the road by a combined 65 points before outpacing Indiana in coach Steve Kerr's first game all season on the bench after missing the first 43.

In the first 69 seasons of NBA basketball, only three teams (1970-71 Bucks, 1971-72 Lakers and 1995-96 Bulls) managed to outscore its opponents by 12 or more points per game. In season No. 70, both Golden State (plus-12.1) and San Antonio (plus-14.5) are doing it -- just one of the many reasons to look forward to their first clash of the 2015-16 campaign.

More on the Committee's thinking in assembling this week's ladder can be found, as always, via Stein Line Live. Thanks as always, furthermore, to all of our pals within the NBA wing of ESPN Stats & Information, as well as the Elias Sports Bureau, for the priceless data assistance they provide week after week in helping us with all of our calculations. You can comment on the latest 1-to-30 order below.