Los Angeles soon could be celebrating another NBA title - but this one won't come from anyone wearing purple and gold.
Sports Illustrated's latest NBA Power Rankings the Los Angeles Clippers - yes, the Clippers! - atop its weekly poll.
The Clippers are riding a seven-game winning streak, and that's even before they find out whether free agents Danny Granger and Glen Davis will contribute significantly to their late-season and postseason runs.
According to Sports Illustrated, "Los Angeles has the best net rating (7.7) for the season, along with the top offense and third-ranked defense over the last month. Doc Rivers' team has the NBA's the best point guard, Chris Paul; a power forward, Blake Griffin, who ranks in the top 10 in points, rebounds and Player Efficiency Rating; and a pogo stick of a center, DeAndre Jordan, who leads the league in rebounding and field-goal percentage. Add a shooting guard, Jamal Crawford, who can catch fire when healthy, a slew of capable bench scorers and a title-winning coach, and there isn't much to dislike about this veteran-laden team desperate to break through in the postseason."
The top three teams for most of the season - the Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder - all have slumped in the past week or so. The Pacers have lost four straight. The two-time defending champion Heat lost three in a row before a ho-hum victory over the Washington Wizards on Monday night.
The Thunder inexplicably lost 114-110 to the Lakers, the same team the Clippers humiliated 142-94 less than a week earlier that marked the worst loss in Lakers history.
Other weekly power rankings are less sold on the Clippers as the NBA's No. 1 team right now, but only slightly.
ESPN's Power Rankings list the Clippers at No. 2 behind another team that emerged from the Lakers' rubble of a season - the Houston Rockets.
The Clippers are No. 3 on Yahoo! Sports's Power Rankings, behind the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets.
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