NBA Power Rankings: Up is down, down is up after crazy start

Last week: Lost to Denver 108-100, won at Sacramento 122-112, won at Dallas 121-119

This week: Monday at San Antonio, Wednesday at Oklahoma City, Saturday vs. Philadelphia

The Portland Trail Blazers have bounced back from a homecourt loss to the Nuggets in the opener to post back-to-back road wins, including handing the Mavericks their first loss. But they’re doing it despite giving up eight more free throw attempts per game, being bullied on the offensive glass and turning the ball over more than their opponents.

How is Portland getting it done? Their efficiency inside the arc. Portland is making 33.3 2-point buckets per game, the most in the NBA, and shooting 55.9 percent on those attempts, which is helping to offset their 33.8 percent shooting from deep thus far. Making 87.3 percent from the line as a team doesn’t hurt, either.

It’s no surprise it’s Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum fueling the attack, although neither has gotten it going from 3-point range — McCollum is 4-for-13 and Lillard just 7-for-24. But Dame is putting up 31.7 points, 6.0 assists, 4.0 boards and 1.7 steals in 36.7 minutes a game thus far. Hassan Whiteside is averaging a double-double (14.7 points, 14.0 boards), but already has nine turnovers.

Last week: Lost to Milwaukee 117-111, won vs. New Orleans 126-123

This week: Monday vs. Oklahoma City, Wednesday at Washington, Friday at Brooklyn, Sunday at Miami

The Houston Rockets will follow up a three-game homestand with a four-game road trip and based on the first two contests, James Harden and Eric Gordon might be thrilled with a change of scenery.

Gordon is 9-for-32 overall (28.1 percent) through two games while hitting 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from deep. Harden is 10-for-42 (23.8 percent) overall and 3-for-26 (11.5 percent) from long range. As a team, Houston is at 41.3 percent and 31.2 percent, respectively. So it’s fairly remarkable the Rockets have split those two games.

Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple-double … uh-gain … with 52 points, 26 rebounds and 20 assists through two games and he’s been a solid 4-for-10 from 3-point range. The other question is whether 34-year-old P.J. Tucker can stand up to his 38.5 minutes per game pace.

Last week: Lost to Minnesota 127-126 (OT), won vs. New York 113-109, lost at Memphis 134-133 (OT)

This week: Wednesday vs. Indiana, Friday vs. Houston, Saturday at Detroit

The Brooklyn Nets are already no strangers to playing games down to the wire, losing in overtime to both the Timberwolves and Grizzlies and needing to fend off the Knicks Friday night after squandering a 19-point lead. In their two OT losses, the Nets came back from 18 down against Minnesota and from a 14-point deficit Sunday night in Memphis.

Kyrie Irving continues his blistering pace, averaging 37.7 points per game after dropping 50 on the Timberwolves in the opener. He’s also getting 6.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals, while shooting 45.6 percent on a whopping 26.3 shots per game. He’s at 41.2 percent from deep on 11.3 attempts nightly.

Joe Harris is picking up where he left off last season, as he’s 10-for-19 from downtown (52.6 percent), while Caris LeVert is averaging 19.7 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting. But Brooklyn is having some problems in defensive coverage, allowing opponents to hit 43.6 percent from 3-point range thus far.