The OP did make the reasonable point that if the ocean had absorbed all the heat "lost" hypothesised to account for the flat temperature curve for the last 17 years, the rate of sea level rise should not have decreased. Rather the opposite.
"Empirical Mode Decomposition" is a algorithm for sorting signals from noise. Using the method shows a decrease in rate of sea level rise during the last decade.
Whether it's more reliable than any other method, I cannot say.
