NBA Power Rankings Week 16: Toronto Raptors climb to 6th

NBA Power Rankings Indiana Pacers Domantas Sabonis — Indiana Pacers Domantas Sabonis. Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images)

Last week: Lost at Portland 139-129, beat Chicago 115-106 (OT), lost to New York 92-85

This week: Monday vs. Dallas, Wednesday at Toronto, Friday vs. Toronto, Saturday vs. New Orleans

Not a great week for the Indiana Pacers, who were just 1-2 and lost at home to the Knicks, their first loss at home to a team that is currently below .500 since dropping their opener to the Pistons back on Oct. 23. Indiana continues to get beaten on the glass, giving up 14 offensive boards to New York, which had a 19-4 edge in second-chance points on Saturday night.

Newly minted All-Star Domantas Sabonis did his part, averaging 22.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in 37.9 minutes per game, shooting 59.1 percent (he was 0-for-4 from 3-point range). Sabonis went for 27 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for his second career triple-double — both this season — in last Sunday’s loss at Portland. His first came seven days earlier at Denver.

NBA Power Rankings Oklahoma City Thunder Dennis Schroder — Oklahoma City Thunder Dennis Schroder (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Last week: Lost to Dallas 107-97, won at Sacramento 120-100, won at Phoenix 111-107

This week: Wednesday vs. Cleveland, Friday vs. Detroit

NBA scheduling … it’s damn interesting. While two teams will play two back-to-backs each this week, the Oklahoma City Thunder will play two games, both at home, after four full days off. That comes after the Thunder bounced back from a loss at home to the Mavericks last week to sweep a two-game road trip at Sacramento and Phoenix.

Dennis Schroder made his first start for the Thunder since April 10 — the regular-season finale in 2018-19 — in the loss to Dallas, playing in place of Chris Paul, who was away from the team after the death of Kobe Bryant and eight others on Sunday. Schroder had a solid week, averaging 23.0 points, 7.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 33.5 minutes per game.

He shot 45.8 percent overall and was 9-for-20 from 3-point range, while canning all 16 of his foul shots for good measure. Schroder had consecutive 24-point games Wednesday and Friday after returning to the bench and has scored at least 20 points in seven straight games.

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