NBA Power Rankings: Milwaukee Bucks riding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s balky back

Last week: Won at Phoenix 121-114, beat Minnesota 119-112, beat San Antonio 134-121

This week: Sunday vs. Golden State, Tuesday vs. Houston, Friday at Cleveland

So the season after officially blowing up the Grit-‘n’-Grind era with the trades of Marc Gasol last February and Mike Conley in the offseason, of course it makes sense the young Memphis Grizzlies — getting zero minutes from veteran Andre Iguodala — are approaching the midpoint of the season in eighth place in the Western Conference after winning four straight games.

One thing Memphis fans are being treated to is the whole Jonas Valanciunas experience — which means to say a week in which he averaged 18.3 points per game — scoring 30, four and 21 points respectively over the three games. He also hung up 7.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 blocks in 26.4 minutes a night, shooting 60.6 percent overall and canning 4-of-9 from 3-point range.

Last week: Lost at Dallas 118-110, lost at New Orleans 123-108, lost to Indiana 116-105, won at Detroit 108-99

This week: Monday at Boston, Wednesday vs. Washington, Friday at Philadelphia, Saturday vs. Cleveland

With their win Saturday night at Detroit, the Chicago Bulls put an end to a six-game losing streak, even though they made it interesting by allowing the Pistons to whittle an 18-point lead down to just two in the fourth quarter before recovering to close out the victory. That left the Bulls with a 1-3 week.

Zach LaVine had a dominant week despite the three losses, averaging 30.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.8 steals in 37.3 minutes per game while shooting 49.5 percent overall and hitting 35.3 percent on 8.3 3-point attempts per game. LaVine had his second 40-point game of the season Friday, scoring 43 in the loss to the Pacers.