The Strength of Schedule Western Conference Power Rankings are a points based ranking method developed by thePeachBasket. In short, points are awarded for wins and losses. The better the team you beat, the more points you earn. It’s simple and takes the opinion out of Power Rankings. It’s math and its brought to you by thePeachBasket, Voice of the Fan!(tm)
I have been doing these strength of schedule Western Conference Power Rankings for a few seasons now. I will one day share the sheet I use to pull information from the games including the formulas that do the magic. For the most part, the rankings make sense. In short, there aren’t ever any real big surprises. Until this week! No, seeing the Jazz still at #1 is no surprise. They have the best record in the Association at 22-5 and are beating all comers. Seeing the Lakers are #3 is also not a huge surprise. They are still dominating and come in at 21-7 after a 3-1 week that included two overtime games. The real surprise is seeing the Phoenix Suns jump up to #2!
The Suns 17-9 record is certainly good, but is only good enough for 3rd place in the Pacific Division behind the Lakers and Clippers. So, how are they so high in our Power Rankings this week? Read on and discover the magic of spreadsheet formulas! The Los Angeles Clippers round out the top four in the powerful Western Conference coming in at #4.
Biggest Movers
The Dallas Mavericks have not been great this season. At least not consistently. They have already endured a 6 game losing streak and remain under .500 for the season at 13-15. However, they had a good week going 3-1. So there’s that! They move up 3 spots this week and every Mavericks fans hopes this is the start of good news for their team. The only team the Mavericks lost to this week happen to make this list as well, that’s the Portland Trailblazers. After a less than stellar start to the season the Blazers are charging. They had a perfect 4-0 week and moved up 2 spots.
The Phoenix Suns matched the Blazers with a perfect 4-0 week that saw them leap over both LA teams to the #2 spot. Quality Wins over quality teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers count for a lot in the SOS WC Power Rankings. The Suns beat both Eastern powerhouse teams in week 8; they deserve the #2 spot!
 | Dallas Mavericks | +3 |
 | Portland Trailblazers | +2 |
 | Phoenix Suns | +2 |
Biggest Droppers
The Sacramento Kings have a lot going for them. They have a great foundational player in De’Aaron Fox and are enjoying success this season they haven’t seen in a while. However, a bad week is waiting for every team in the Association and the Kings had theirs in week 8. They went 0-3 and dropped 4 spots. The Houston Rockets saw a resurgence after trading James Harden. Sadly for them, it was fools gold as the team has failed to keep that momentum. Week8 saw them go 0-4 with more than a few blowouts.
 | Sacramento Kings | -4 |
 | Houston Rockets | -4 |
