Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers separating from rest of NBA in Power Rankings
By Phil Watson
team. 29. . 7-13. Previous: . San Antonio Spurs. 19
Last week: Lost to Lakers 114-104, lost to Minnesota 113-101, beat Clippers 107-97
Next week: Sunday at Detroit, Tuesday vs. Houston, Friday vs. Sacramento
After finally breaking an eight-game losing streak on Nov. 23 with a road win at New York, the San Antonio Spurs returned home for a less-than-stellar 1-2 homestand.
San Antonio did bounce back to take the final game, beating the Clippers for its first win over a team better than .500 this season. After a road game Sunday in Detroit, the Spurs will come home for three more games, including their first meeting of the season with the Rockets.
From a health standpoint, the Spurs are getting better, with only Chimezie Metu still out with a foot injury.
Despite the lackluster performance last week by the team, LaMarcus Aldridge had a solid week, averaging 23.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 blocks in 33.5 minutes per game over the three games, shooting 50.0 percent overall and hitting 2-of-5 from 3-point land.
team. 34. . 8-12. Previous: . Portland Trail Blazers. 18
Last week: Won at Chicago 117-94, beat Oklahoma City 136-119, beat Chicago 107-103
This week: Tuesday at Clippers, Wednesday vs. Sacramento, Friday vs. Lakers
After losing four in a row and 10 of 12, the Portland Trail Blazers were finally able to flip the script last week, blowing out the Bulls in Chicago, handling the Thunder easily and completing a season sweep of Chicago with a home-court win on Friday.
Gary Trent Jr. is listed as to day-to-day with his hamstring injury that kept him out all of last week, while Portland still waits for bigs Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic to return from major injuries.
New addition Carmelo Anthony seems to be fitting in just fine, topping the 20-point mark twice last week and recording his first double-double since Feb. 4, 2018, when he was with Oklahoma City, in Friday’s win over the Bulls, finishing with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Damian Lillard seemed to get back into form after missing a couple of games, averaging 22.7 points, 7.7 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals in the three games, logging 31.2 minutes a night and shooting 46.5 percent overall and 37.5 percent (9-for-24) from 3-point range.