NBA Power Rankings Week 20: What history will Milwaukee Bucks make?
By Phil Watson
18-42. Previous: . New York Knicks. 25. team. 27.
Last week: Lost at Houston 123-112, lost at Charlotte 107-101, lost at Philadelphia 115-106, beat Chicago 125-115
This week: Monday vs. Houston, Wednesday vs. Utah, Friday vs. Oklahoma City
The New York Knicks accomplished a couple of things with their win Saturday over the Bulls. The first and most obvious was snapping their six-game losing streak, the team’s longest since interim coach Mike Miller took over the team in December. But the second was surpassing last season’s win total by picking up their 18th of the campaign.
The Knicks will take their seventh consecutive losing season; that was assured with their loss at Philadelphia on Thursday, but they won’t tie the franchise record of 65 losses set in 2014-15 and tied last year. On the health front, Taj Gibson and Frank Ntilikina were back for the win against the Bulls, but Dennis Smith Jr. is out at least two games with a concussion.
Julius Randle went for 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes against the 76ers on Thursday and for the week averaged 21.8 points, 10.3 boards and 3.5 dishes in 30.7 minutes per game while shooting 49.2 percent overall. He was 3-for-9 from 3-point range and shot a very solid 85.7 percent on 7.0 free throw attempts per game.
Chicago Bulls. 24. team. 24. . 20-40. Previous:
Last week: Beat Washington 126-117, lost to Oklahoma City 124-122, lost at New York 125-115
This week: Monday vs. Dallas, Wednesday at Minnesota, Friday vs. Indiana
The flickering playoff hopes of the Chicago Bulls could be close to being a death rattle after a 1-2 week left the Bulls still 6½ behind the eighth-place Nets in the Eastern Conference with two teams between them and Brooklyn. With losses to the Thunder and at New York, Chicago has now dropped 10 of its last 11 games.
It won’t get easier this week with visits from the Mavericks and Pacers, but they do get a chance to get a road win against the second-worst home team in the NBA at Minnesota (7-21 on their own court).
Rookie Coby White cooled off a little at New York Sunday, but in three games still averaged 30.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 31.7 minutes per game, all off the bench, He shot 55.4 percent overall and hit 57.7 percent on 8.7 deep balls a night. White scored a career-high 35 points with seven boards and three dimes in 33 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to the Thunder.