NBA Power Rankings: Milwaukee Bucks reclaim top spot after Week 5

Last week: Lost at Toronto 132-96, lost at Brooklyn 101-91, lost at Washington 125-118, lost to Chicago 116-115

This week: Monday at Miami, Wednesday vs. Detroit, Friday at Detroit, Saturday at Milwaukee

The Charlotte Hornets stumbled to four consecutive losses, matching their longest skid of the season, and tumbled down the Power Rankings as a result.

The loss Saturday night at home to Chicago was particularly galling. Up by eight with 45.4 seconds to go, the Hornets lost when Devonte’ Graham was stripped of the ball by Ryan Arcidiacano, allowing Zach LaVine to step out to the 3-point line and bury his 13th bomb of the night with 0.8 seconds remaining to beat Charlotte.

Even amid the losing last week, Miles Bridges played well, scoring a career-high 31 points in the loss at Washington on Friday. It was just the third game with 20 points or more for the second-year wing, who averaged 16.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks in 32.8 minutes per game over the four games last week.

He shot 49.1 percent overall and was 8-for-20 from 3-point range. This week won’t get any easier for the Hornets with a home-and-home with the Pistons sandwiched between tough road games at Miami and Milwaukee.

Last week: Lost at New York 123-105, lost at Miami 124-100, lost at Dallas 143-101, beat Portland 110-104

This week: Monday vs. Brooklyn, Wednesday vs. Orlando, Friday vs. Milwaukee

The Cleveland Cavaliers stopped the bleeding Saturday night with their win over Portland, ending a six-game losing streak that included five in a row by double-digits.

Last week, those losses got worse as their three-game road swing went on, from losing by 18 to the Knicks, to falling by 24 to the Heat and finally getting rocked by the Mavericks by 42 points — Cleveland’s worst loss since a 124-80 defeat at Sacramento on Jan. 12, 2014, per Basketball-Reference.

Jordan Clarkson helped turn the tide against the Trail Blazers with a season-high 28 points, an effort that came just one night after Clarkson put up a zero in the scoring column at Dallas, only the fourth time in Clarkson’s career — now in its sixth season — he had been held scoreless and the first he had played more than five minutes.

Clarkson was 6-for-9 in his 28-point outburst, hitting all six of his 3-point attempts and going 10-for-12 at the line. For the week, he averaged 13.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 21.7 minutes per game, shooting 48.4 percent overall and draining 10-of-18 from deep.