Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers separating from rest of NBA in Power Rankings

Last week: Lost at Boston 103-102, lost at Philadelphia 97-91, beat Denver 100-97 (OT)

This week: Monday vs. Chicago, Wednesday at Portland, Friday at San Antonio

The Sacramento Kings battled hard last week, giving both the Celtics and 76ers everything they could handle in a pair of road losses before coming home and rallying from a 17-point halftime deficit Saturday afternoon to beat the Nuggets in overtime.

Buddy Hield tied Saturday’s game at 90-90 with 22.9 seconds left in regulation before Richaun Holmes blocked Jamal Murray‘s floater at time expired. In overtime, Sacramento took the lead for good on a pair of Harrison Barnes foul shots with 2:42 left before Barnes hit a floater off glass to make it a 98-95 lead for the Kings with 52.7 seconds left.

The Kings are still without Marvin Bagley III, out since opening night with a fractured thumb, and De’Aaron Fox is likely out with an ankle injury until after the New Year, but was able to get some shots up on Friday, per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.

Hield had a big week overall for Sacramento, averaging 28.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 39.8 minutes per game in the three games, shooting 44.3 percent overall and 37.0 on a whopping 15.3 3-point attempts per game. He had a career-high 41 points in the Monday loss at Boston, a game in which Hield set franchise records with 11 3-pointers and 21 3-point attempts.

Last week: Lost to Portland 117-94, lost at Golden State 104-90, lost at Portland 107-103

This week: Monday at Sacramento, Wednesday vs. Memphis, Friday vs. Golden State

On paper, the Chicago Bulls have three games they should at least be competitive in this week, but things have seldom gone according to plan for the Bulls this season.

Chicago has gotten very thin at the 3 spot, with Otto Porter still out with a left foot injury and Chandler Hutchison joining the injured list with a sprained shoulder. Bulls coach Jim Boylen countered that with a three-guard starting unit in Portland Friday night, with point guards Tomas Satoransky and Kris Dunn deployed with Zach LaVine.

The team is playing faster this year, as is much of the NBA, but ranking 11th in pace and 29th in offensive rating is not exactly the desired combination. The Bulls are in the top half of the NBA — 14th — with a defensive rating of 107.1.

Speaking of LaVine, he stayed pretty toasty last week, averaging 27.3 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks in 34.7 minutes per game, shooting 44.3 percent overall and knocking down 40 percent from deep (10-for-25).