The Oklahoma City Thunder, despite having the second-best record, are the very best team in the NBA and should only get better.

The Oklahoma City Thunder collected a 111-96 2024 NBA Cup semifinal win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday. The victory extended OKC's stay in Las Vegas for a few more days as it advanced to the NBA Cup finals. They will face the Milwaukee Bucks to determine who wins the NBA Cup grand prize. The 83rd game will not count towards the standings.

All-Star voting ended Monday, and for the first time, this Power Rankings host was given a ballot. The coming weeks will see a slow reveal of all the All-Star Weekend participants, with starters set to be announced Thursday night.

We're at the midway point of the NBA season, so let's take a look at how teams are doing. The clear runaway squads are the Cleveland Cavaliers (35-6) and Oklahoma City Thunder (35-7), who both have a 6 1/2-game lead over the second-place teams in their respective conferences.

The NBA saw "The Rematch" turn into "The Blowout" between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite missing their two top centers, OKC destroyed Cleveland in its best win yet. The contest served as a possible NBA Finals preview.

The Houston Rockets are closing in on the 30-win mark despite still being in the middle of January. Last season, the Rockets didn't win their 30th game until Mar. 12, which is a sign of the team's growth so far this year.