Ten Straight Wins Put the Spurs on Top in Week 4

The top of the Week 4 Power Rankings changed hands the plain way. San Antonio won every game it played this week, all four of them on the road, and left the formula nothing to argue with. The Spurs are No. 1 at 10–2, winners of ten straight, and the week's biggest climbers, up six spots from No. 7.

A perfect week, played entirely on the road

Friday in Sacramento: 124–109. Saturday in Portland: 125–103, decided by the third quarter. Monday in Phoenix: 122–96. Wednesday in Chicago was the only game that ever wobbled — the Bulls led by 20 in the first half and still lost, 124–119.

Four wins by an average of 17 points. San Antonio's last-10 line now reads 10–0, the only perfect one in the league, and the +11.2 point differential beside the Spurs' name is one of the three best marks in basketball. November streaks usually get padded at home. This one was built in four visiting locker rooms.

Wembanyama is the short version of the argument

In Portland, Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points in 24 minutes on nine-of-13 shooting, put 13 of them into a 45-point third quarter, and watched the fourth from the bench with the lead at 33. Two nights later in Phoenix he went for 40 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks in 25 minutes, on 15-of-19 shooting.

That is how a differential gets built. A star who ends games early does not just rest — every quarter he sits is a quarter the other team spent chasing a game that was already gone, and the margin column is a fifth of this formula.

Boston climbed just as far and stayed second

Boston did nearly everything San Antonio did. The Celtics also went 4–0, all of it on the road. They also climbed six spots. They also sit at 10–2, with the same +11.2 differential, on a five-game winning streak of their own. The entire difference between No. 1 and No. 2 this week is one line in the form column: San Antonio's last 10 is perfect, and Boston's is 9–1.

Boston's week bent the middle of the table, too. The Celtics won by 39 in Charlotte and by 20 in Milwaukee, then went into Philadelphia on Tuesday and won by 22 — the result that did the real damage below them — before closing the week with a five-point win in Toronto. If the tie at the top breaks next week, it will break on a week exactly like this one.

Philadelphia fell seven spots with a 10–3 record

The week's biggest fall belongs to a team that won twice. Philadelphia dropped seven places to No. 9 because the formula prices how the losses look, and the 76ers' two losses were loud: by 24 at Cleveland on Friday, then by 22 at home against Boston. The wins over Chicago and Toronto could not repair the differential, which shrank from +5.8 to +1.8 in a single edition.

Portland's hold on No. 1 lasted exactly one week. A 2–2 turn, including the Saturday home loss to San Antonio, dropped the Trail Blazers six spots to No. 7. Memphis slid five places to No. 11, its differential cooling from +10.8 to +6.0 as the early-season shine came off.

The rest of the table

The Lakers own the league's best record at 11–2 and sit third, seven straight wins deep. Minnesota is fourth with the league's best point differential, +13.4 — the team the formula rates a little higher than the standings do. Golden State climbed five spots to No. 6, which sets up tonight: the Warriors visit San Antonio for the NBA Cup with Stephen Curry out, against the team that just took the league's top spot.

At the bottom, the numbers stop being polite. Utah has lost ten straight and owns the league's only winless last-10 line. Milwaukee is 1–11. Chicago and Sacramento have one win each. Three weeks into the season, the bottom of this table is already playing a different sport from the top of it.

How this list is made

One honest note on the list itself: nobody voted on it. The rankings are computed from verified results — season record counts 40%, last-10 form 25%, point differential 20% and strength of schedule 15% — and the inputs are printed beside every team on the rankings page, so any placement can be checked against its own numbers. Early in a season the samples are small and the table swings hard. That is the math being honest, not the math being broken.

The full Week 4 table — all 30 teams, with records, form lines and differentials — is on the NBA Power Rankings page, and a new edition lands every Friday morning.