NBA Power Rankings Week 20: What history will Milwaukee Bucks make?

Last week: Lost at Clippers 124-97, lost at Houston 140-112, lost to Sacramento 104-101, beat Lakers 105-88

This week: Monday at Atlanta, Wednesday at Brooklyn, Friday at Dallas, Saturday vs. Atlanta

By blowing out the Lakers — of all teams — on Saturday, the Memphis Grizzlies stopped the bleeding. That would be a five-game losing streak that dropped them back below the .500 mark and was their second-longest of the season behind a six-game slide from Nov. 17-29 that dropped them to 5-13 early in the year.

Memphis still holds a 2½-game lead over the Pelicans for the eighth spot in the Western Conference, with the Spurs, Trail Blazers and Kings all lurking as well. At seven games back of seventh-place Dallas, it’s likely the Grizzlies will be locked in a struggle for eighth as a best-case scenario.

Ja Morant continued to lead the rookie pack, averaging 18.8 points, 8.8 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game over the four games last week, shooting 49.2 percent overall and hitting 6-of-18 from long range. Against the Lakers, Morant went off for 27 points and six rebounds while matching a career-high with 14 assists.

Last week: Won at Utah 131-111, lost to Clippers 102-92, lost to Detroit 113-111, lost to Golden State 115-99

This week: Tuesday vs. Toronto, Friday vs. Portland

If Monday’s 20-point win at Utah was going to be the springboard to push the Phoenix Suns into the playoff race, they missed the memo. Instead of building off a 2-1 road trip that ended with wins at Chicago and over the Jazz, Phoenix returned home to take losses to the Clippers (acceptable), the Pistons (not so much) and the Warriors (seriously????).

The Suns are 13th in the Western Conference, 5½ games behind eighth-place Memphis and rapidly running out of time. While they will likely break through the 25-win barrier that has eluded them since 2014-15, dropping consecutive games at home to Detroit and Golden State is not the type of progress Phoenix had been looking for.

Ricky Rubio exacted a bit of revenge on the Jazz in the win Monday, scoring 22 points with 11 assists, seven steals and six assists. The seven thefts were one off a career-high and the most Rubio has had in a game since getting eight for Minnesota at New York on Dec. 16, 2015.

For the week, he averaged 15.5 points, 10.5 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 steals in 31.2 minutes per game, shooting 47.6 percent overall and hitting 5-of-13 from 3-point range. But the Suns’ toughest loss may have been Kelly Oubre Jr., who could have a torn meniscus. But Phoenix seems to be hedging on a diagnosis at this point.