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

Last week: Lost at Chicago 109-89, beat Atlanta 128-103, lost at Milwaukee 104-90

This week: Monday vs. Orlando, Wednesday at Charlotte, Friday vs. Charlotte

At least in terms of close games, there was absolutely no drama for the Detroit Pistons last week. The Pistons lost by 20, won by 25 and lost by 14 in games that featured copious amounts of developmental time for the young players (also known in some circles as “garbage time”).

Blake Griffin has been back for four games thus far, but is struggling to find his shooting stroke, hitting only 40.3 percent overall and going 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from 3-point land so far.

The Pistons might have a chance to get well this week, facing an Orlando Magic squad that is without offensive hub Nikola Vucevic for at least four weeks to go with a home-and-home with the Hornets and a home game with the scuffling Spurs.

Andre Drummond had some struggles last week, but did come through with 23 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Atlanta. For the week, he averaged 13.7 points, 15.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.3 blocks in 32.6 minutes per game, shooting 50 percent overall and missing both of his 3-point attempts to fall to 0-for-10 on the season from deep.

Last week: Lost at Dallas 117-110, lost at Washington 138-132, lost at Philadelphia 115-104, won at New York 111-104

This week: Monday vs. Lakers, Wednesday vs. Minnesota, Friday vs. Clippers

With their win Saturday night in New York, the San Antonio Spurs stopped their longest losing streak of the 21st century at eight games. It was also San Antonio’s worst stretch of losses since Gregg Popovich took over the head coaching role for the club in December 1996.

The Spurs hadn’t lost eight in a row since Nov. 15-30, 1996, just before Popovich relieved Bob Hill of the coaching duties. San Antonio may be hard-pressed to break the record of 22 consecutive seasons in the playoffs as well, a mark the club currently shares with the Philadelphia 76ers, who made the postseason every year from 1950-71, the first 14 of those as the Syracuse Nationals.

DeMar DeRozan broke out last week, going for a season-high 36 points with eight rebounds in the loss at Dallas last Monday. The mid-range specialist averaged 29.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 34.4 minutes per game last week, shooting 61.4 percent overall and 88.6 percent on 8.8 free throw attempts a game.

DeRozan did not attempt a 3-pointer last week, running his streak to seven straight games of declining looks from behind the arc. For the season, he is 0-for-4 from out there and is now 7-for-49 since coming to the Spurs last season. He had career-highs of 89 makes and 287 attempts from deep in 2017-18 with the Raptors. His 266 2-point attempts this season lead the NBA.