Thunder Vault to Top Spot in NBA's Power Rankings

Despite a two-game slide, Oklahoma City still vaulted to the top of the NBA.com Power Rankings. To be fair, the back-to-back losses happened after eight straight wins, including two over the Denver Nuggets, one over the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the last against the Boston Celtics.

The last two games were certainly disappointing for the Thunder, but the jump to the top of the standings was warranted. At 23-11, Oklahoma City is third in the Western Conference, but all of the top three teams are separated by a game and a half. Minnesota and Denver are ahead of the Thunder by a slim margin, but Oklahoma City beat them both since the last round of power rankings.

The Thunder's loss to Atlanta was expected on a cross-country back-to-back with plane troubles following an emotional win, but the loss in Brooklyn was inexcusable. However, both of those games shouldn't overshadow what Oklahoma City has been able to accomplish this season, and that's reflected in the power rankings.

Oklahoma City still ranks fourth in offensive net rating, seventh in defensive net rating, third in overall net rating and sixth in pace. This team hadn't really dropped a bad game all season and was used to taking care of business. As long as the losses don't start to mount, two stinkers at the beginning of January isn't the end of the world.

In the same span that the Thunder took over the top spot, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was awarded Western Conference Player of the Month and Chet Holmgren was named the Western Conference Rookie of the Month. Oklahoma City's award-winning duo has led the Thunder to a hot first half of the season and the team's first No. 1 ranking in years.

The Thunder will have plenty of chances to get back on track in January playing a loaded schedule with five back-to-back sequences. It's time to figure out just how high this team's ceiling is.