NBA Power Rankings: Rudy Gobert leads Utah Jazz up the charts

Last week: Beat Chicago 113-101, lost to Detroit 116-103, lost at Milwaukee 128-123, lost to Phoenix 123-119

This week: Monday vs. Lakers, Wednesday vs. Memphis, Friday at Orlando

The Boston Celtics have had trouble keeping guys on the court and that, in turn, has led to their roughest path of the season thus far. With a 1-3 week last week, Boston has lost three consecutive games and six of its last eight. Jayson Tatum, Daniel Theis and Kemba Walker each missed games last week, while Jaylen Brown has missed the last two.

Against the Phoenix Suns, Marcus Smart did what he could to get the Celtics a win, scoring a career-high 37 points while hitting 11-of-22 from 3-point range (also career-highs). For the week, Smart averaged 19.0 points, 5.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals in 34.3 minutes per game, shooting 42.1 percent overall and 46.3 percent on 10.3 3-point attempts a night.

Last week: Lost at Denver 114-104, beat Cleveland 128-103, beat Orlando 122-95, won at New Orleans 133-130

This week: Tuesday at Dallas, Wednesday at Atlanta, Friday at Miami

The LA Clippers opened a six-game road trip in strong fashion Saturday afternoon, coming back from 14 points down to win at New Orleans 133-130 for their third straight victory after a 10-point loss at Denver to open the week. In between, the Clippers went home to blow out both the Cavaliers and Magic by 25 and 27 points, respectively.

Kawhi Leonard put together a heckuva week, scoring a season-high 43 points in the win over Cleveland. In four games, Leonard averaged 36.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.8 steals in 32.2 minutes per game, shooting 55.8 percent overall and hitting 46.4 percent on 7.0 3-point attempts a night. With a back-to-back coming up Tuesday and Wednesday, however, Leonard is likely to sit out one of those games, either at Dallas (not likely) or Atlanta (nods emphatically).