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The Los Angeles Clippers have dropped four consecutive games for the first time since February of 2011 and it's costing them in a majority of NBA Power Rankings.
Vinny Del Negro's squad slipped two spots to No. 5 in Marc Stein of ESPN's power rankings this week. Stein notes that point guard Chris Paul referred to the Clippers' losses to the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks as "terrible" and says he can't disagree with that.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports has the Clippers taking the biggest tumble this week, dumping them all the way down to No. 10 after being ranked No. 2 last week. Spears calls the team's home loss to the New Orleans Hornets (without Anthony Davis) "embarrassing." Indeed.
NBA.com's rankings, by John Schuhmann, have Lob City falling out of the No. 2 spot in last week's rankings and landing at No. 5. Schuhmann adds that an easy slate of games on the horizon could help the Clippers bounce back from their current skid.
SB Nation's own Seth Rosenthal also has the Clippers dropping from No. 2 to No. 5 and suggests that the team's defense has betrayed it during the current four-game skid.
The Los Angeles Lakers split last week's slate of games, with wins over the Nets and Dallas Mavericks and a pair of losses to the Sacramento Kings and No. 1 ranked Memphis Grizzlies.
Stein has them down a spot from last week's poll, slotting them at No. 8 and adding that "the season doesn't really start until Steve Nash comes back".
The Lakers are locked at No. 9 for the second consecutive week in Spears' poll, while Schuhmann has them dropping a spot to No. 8 in this week's rankings at NBA.com. Seth Rosenthal has the 7-7 Lakers slipping one spot to No. 9 in his rankings and notes that the Mike D'Antoni era has been a rather action-packed week of ups and downs.