John Schuhmann’s Week 4 Power Rankings at NBA.com moved the Golden State Warriors up five spots to No. 10. The reason is simple: Stephen Curry is on a heater, and at the time the rankings went up the Warriors had won seven straight — four of them after trailing by double digits.
The Win Streak Is Ahead of the Point Differential
No. 10 puts Golden State at the bottom of the top tier, behind the Spurs, Thunder and Timberwolves, who took the top three spots. The numbers next to the ranking explain why it isn’t higher: an offensive rating of 116.7 ranks sixth, a defensive rating of 112.1 ranks 13th, and the resulting net rating of plus-4.6 also ranks 13th.
Schuhmann’s main point is the defensive turnaround. The Warriors ranked 29th defensively over their 0-3 start but sixth on that end across the winning streak.
That split is the whole argument in miniature. The turn from an 0-3 start is real, and it is also recent enough that the full-season numbers have not caught up to it.
Tenth Is Where the Evidence Points
Schuhmann is closest to right, and the reason is the net rating. A plus-4.6 that ranks 13th describes a good team, not a top-five team.
The full-season defensive figure is still dragged down by the 0-3 start, and a streak in which the Warriors trailed four games by double digits says as much about late comebacks as about control. Curry has carried a disproportionate share of those finishes.
The case for moving them up got stronger Monday night. Golden State beat the New Orleans Pelicans 138-87 for an eighth straight win, improving to 8-3 — a 51-point margin, and the eighth win in a row after opening the season 0-3.
That came against an undermanned New Orleans side missing Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III and Yves Missi, and it cost Golden State Brandon Williams to a hamstring injury. A 51-point win will lift the net rating. It shouldn’t count for much more than that.
Houston and San Antonio Will Settle It
This week is the test, with the Warriors at Houston on Wednesday and at San Antonio on Friday. The Spurs are the top-ranked team in the exercise.
If Golden State wins both and the streak-era defense holds up against real opponents, a top-six ranking is fair. Lose both, and No. 10 was generous. Until then, Schuhmann has them about right: a good team on a hot streak that hasn’t yet beaten anyone strong enough to prove it is more than that.
Source: John Schuhmann of NBA.com
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