LOS ANGELES – The Clippers got Chris Paul back from his thumb injury, going 1-2 last week with losses to the Warriors and Spurs before ending the week with a win against the Hornets.
Here are the resulting power rankings from NBA.com, ESPN.com, SI.com and CBSSports.com, along with a brief explanation for the choices. Click on the ranking under each publication’s name to see the full explanations for each team.
NBA.com
Clippers No. 10 (Last week: No. 7) – “Blake Griffin (72 points on 56 percent shooting over the last two games) seems happy to have his point guard back. Chris Paul's return didn't get the Clippers back on track defensively and he shot just 10-for-32, but (as it always is) it was their minutes with him off the floor that gave them problems as they lost to the Spurs on Friday and needed overtime to beat the Hornets on Sunday...” – John Schuhmann
ESPN.com
Clippers No. 9 (Last week: No. 11) – “Chris Paul is back after missing more than a month and just announced his return with a vintage CP3-esque performance, racking up 15 assists against zero turnovers in Sunday night's overtime escape against Charlotte. Maybe we've been too tough on the Clips lately, keeping them out of the top 10 while Paul was healing, but we've decided to move them back into the upper third … (Some good trivia as a bonus if you're in the mood: Blake Griffin is up to eight 40-point games for his career after the havoc he wreaked on the Hornets -- but strangely all eight have been at home.)" – Marc Stein
SI.com
CBSSports.com
Clippers No. 14 (Last week: No. 13) – "Blake Griffin's back. Chris Paul's back. The band's back together for one more tour. Question is, are they going to put out a new album or just play the same hits? Because we've heard how those songs end.” – Matt Moore