Brooklyn Nets jump ahead of Knicks in Power Rankings

Not in every pundit's eye, but in most, the Nets have finally moved ahead of the Knicks in power rankings. Although the Knicks are a couple of games ahead in the standings, but the Nets 3-1 start on their circus road trip seems to have impressed the majority of pundits (Marc Stein and Marc J. Spears excepted.) Even John Hollinger's daily rankings has them ahead, in ninth, on Monday.

In fact, the lowest anyone ranks the Nets is No. 10. Everyone else has them in single digit territory. David Aldridge didn't rank teams this week.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com (9)

The Nets could be a very impressive 4-0 on their trip thus far if they had anybody to stop Chris Paul in the fourth quarter on Saturday. But while their defense continues be an issue, their offense has regained some traction, scoring 115 points per 100 possessions over their last seven games. And that's with Joe Johnson banged up and with Gerald Wallace shooting worse than Josh Smith

Marc Stein, ESPN (10)

The Nets clearly thrive off bulletin-board material. Deron Williams has been a different player since Bill Simmons took such strong issue with his contract. And they're off to a 3-1 start on their very own, Chicago-esque eight-game Circus Road Trip after doom was predicted in this cyberspace.

Marc J. Spears, Yahoo! Sports (10)

The Nets’ remaining schedule can aid their quest to land the East's second seed as four of their final 12 games are against winning teams. But nine of their remaining games are on the road.

Kurt Helin, NBC Sports (8)

They had a good week, beating Dallas on the road and almost knocking off the Clippers (damn that Chris Paul). They are the only playoff team in the East other than the Heat playing well right now, but will that continue on a Western road swing this week

Wes Szafran, Star-Ledger (8)

Ninth in the league in offensive rebounds.

Matt Dollinger, Sports Illustrated (8)

The Nets are coming on strong at the right time, particularly Deron Williams. Brooklyn's star point guard is having his best month of the season, averaging 24.5 points on 49.4 percent shooting and dishing out 7.2 assists. Throw in Brook Lopez, who dropped a season-high 38 on the Mavericks and is averaging 20.4 points this month, and you have a team that suddenly looks dangerous in the playoffs. Brooklyn leads Atlanta by two games for home-court advantage in the first round, but could rise up the playoff ladder before the season is done.

Mitch Lawrence, New York Daily News (8)

Deron Williams looks like the D-Will of old, meaning his showdown with the Clippers' Chris Paul on Saturday in Los Angeles is going to be worth the price of admission.