NBA Power Rankings Week 21: Milwaukee Bucks won’t match Warriors
By Phil Watson
81. . 44-18. Previous: . Toronto Raptors. 5. team
Last week: Lost at Denver 133-118, won at Phoenix 123-114, won at Golden State 121-113
This week: Sunday at Sacramento, Monday at Utah, Saturday vs. Detroit
The Toronto Raptors became the second NBA team this season to clinch a playoff berth, locking it up with their win Thursday at Golden State. At 44-18, the Raptors had the tiebreaker advantage over the ninth-place Wizards (2-0 head-to-head with one left to play) and extended the franchise-record streak of postseason berths to seven.
Prior to this run, Toronto had just five playoff appearances. The defending champions are now two games ahead of the Celtics for the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference, but a run at first-place Milwaukee seems unlikely. The Bucks are 8½ games out in front and, while we’re not quite to magic number territory yet (it’s still 12), Toronto is running out of time in that race.
Norman Powell, starting in place of injured Fred VanVleet the last four games, has been on fire. He scored a career-high 37 points with three rebounds and three steals in the win at Golden State Thursday and for the week averaged 29.0 points, 3.7 boards, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals in 38.9 minutes per game. He shot 56.6 percent overall and was 7-for-20 from 3-point land.
Boston Celtics. 4. team. 18. . 42-20. Previous:
Last week: Lost to Brooklyn 129-120 (OT), won at Cleveland 112-106, lost to Utah 99-94
This week: Sunday vs. Oklahoma City, Tuesday at Indiana, Thursday at Milwaukee, Friday vs. Washington
The banged-up Boston Celtics have lost three of their last four games, with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward all missing time just since the team got Kemba Walker back from a five-game absence with a knee injury.
The Celtics could come to really regret their loss to the Nets on Tuesday when they gagged up a 13-point lead with 4:14 left in regulation, allowing Brooklyn to score 51 points in the fourth quarter and another 11 in overtime.
Marcus Smart scored 29 points with three rebounds in Friday’s homecourt loss to the Jazz and for the week averaged 20.3 points, 4.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks in 35.1 minutes per game, but shot only 35.8 percent overall and only 29.4 percent on 11.3 3-point attempts a night.