NBA Power Rankings Week 21: Milwaukee Bucks won’t match Warriors

Last week: Lost to Indiana 116-111, won at Charlotte 104-103, lost at Brooklyn 139-120

This week: Sunday at Cleveland, Tuesday vs. Dallas, Friday vs. Denver, Saturday vs. Minnesota

Time is ticking away on the San Antonio Spurs’ bid to extend their streak of consecutive playoff appearances to an NBA-record 23. With a 1-2 mark last week, San Antonio is now just 6-12 in its last 18 games and trails the eighth-place Grizzlies by 4½ games in the Western Conference, with three teams in between the Spurs and Memphis.

The Spurs are on pace to finish 35-47, which would be their first losing season since the team went 20-62 in 1996-97, the season then-general manager Gregg Popovich took over the head coaching duties 18 games into the season after firing Bob Hill. Since 1997-98, San Antonio’s worst regular-season record came in 2017-18, when the Spurs were 47-35.

DeMar DeRozan bounced back from a slow spell with a big night in Friday’s loss at Brooklyn, finishing with 24 points, nine assists and five rebounds on 10-of-13 shooting. In three games last week, he averaged 15.3 points, 8.7 dimes and 5.3 boards in 34.8 minutes a night, shooting 55.9 percent.

Last week: Lost to Toronto 123-114, beat Portland 127-117

This week: Sunday vs. Milwaukee, Tuesday at Portland, Saturday at Dallas

It may be too little, too late for the Phoenix Suns in terms of the playoff race, but with their win Friday night over the Trail Blazers, the Suns reached the 25-victory mark for the first time since 2014-15. Baby steps for a team that had lost four straight since losing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a knee injury.

Aron Baynes had a huge night in the win over Portland, dropping a career-high 37 points to go with 16 rebounds. He also more than doubled his previous career-best of four 3-pointers in a game, knocking down nine to tie the franchise record set initially by Quentin Richardson on Dec. 29, 2004, and tied by Channing Frye on April 11, 2011.

Devin Booker, meanwhile, posted consecutive 20/10 games last week, with 45 points, 22 assists, nine rebounds and two steals in 76 minutes. He shot 38.2 percent overall and was 5-for-17 from deep, scoring 23 points with 12 dimes and five boards in the victory over the Blazers.