People LOVE Power Rankings in sports. It’s pretty stupid. So, of course, I have MY Stupid Power Rankings. I take 10 things from the NBA and WNBA (or not) in the past week and rank them accordingly. You don’t like them? Make your own rankings!
First week of February. Let’s go!
(PHOTO CREDIT: Kim Klement/USA Today.)
1) Fred VanVleet Sets Some Records
Fred VanVleet was not drafted. He had to earn his spot on the Toronto Raptors roster. Eventually, his minutes increased as the team saw his productivity on both sides on the floor. He became an integral part of the team and was pretty much their Sixth Man. Then he had an incredible playoff run that was topped off by outscoring Stephen Curry in the championship-clinching win over the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals.
He became a starter last season and averaged 17.4 points per game as the Raptors made an admirable run that ended in a heartbreaking Game 7 in the East semis against the Celtics. Still, that earned him an $85 million contract extension.
We all learned how good he is. And now he’s setting records. He scored 54 points last Tuesday, the most scored by an undrafted player in a game. And he also took the record for most points scored by a Toronto Raptor in a single game. What a story Fred has been.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Mark J. Terrill/AP.)
2) Sactown Kings Are Winning
The Kings swept the week, going 4-0 against the Pelicans, Celtics, Nuggets, and the Clippers. What’s more, De’Aaron Fox (who I just profiled earlier today) won Player of the Week from Feb. 1-7.
Are the Kings going to break this playoff drought? I’m honestly rooting for them to do so.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jerome Miron/USA Today.)
3) Steph/Luka Duel
This game they had on Saturday night was ALL OFFENSE. Stephen Curry couldn’t be stopped; he made 11 threes on the way to an incredible 57 points. But Luka Doncic did his best to keep up, going 42-7-11. Those 42 points are a career-high in regular season play (he went for 43 in the playoffs last summer). More importantly, Doncic made the extra pass to Maxi Kleber for a clutch three with 6 seconds left. What a shootout that was, though.
#DevinBooker. In his first game back.
FOR. THE. WIN. ‼️#NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/qVNMPcnJbE
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 2, 2021
4) Devin Booker Returns with a Game-Winner
But earlier in the week, the Mavs were stricken with a 6-game losing skid. One of their losses was to the Suns and it was a Devin Booker harpoon (he JUST returned to the line-up) that did them in.
ICE. IN. HIS. VEINS. pic.twitter.com/cZfzoodMbj
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 6, 2021
5) D’Angelo Russell Has Ice in His Veins
It has not been a great year for the Timberwolves. But D’Angelo Russell got the Oklahoma City Thunder with this three.
6) Jared Dudley’s eBook
I like Jared Dudley. He’s the first active player I ever interviewed. But books like these can hardly be nice. I do like that he was concise about playing in the bubble. Except for the part about Paul George, though. Dudley did acknowledge later that PG is an excellent player. But, hey, whatever it takes to get people reading, right?
(PHOTO CREDIT: Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today.)
7) The Super Bowl Was Not Great
It was a plastering by the Bucs defense. Kansas City, who won the whole thing last year, couldn’t get off the ground and seemed like they never had a chance at a repeat. Tom Brady won his 7th Super Bowl ring as well as his 5th Super Bowl MVP award (though the TB defense really should get more credit than that).
Well, I did have some good food so there’s that.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Juliana Carlos’s Instagram.)
8) Those LeBron James Hecklers
Juliana Carlos and her husband were thrown out during Lakers/Hawks last week after heckling LeBron James. She took off her mask to yell at the 4-time MVP. After that, she took to Instagram in a tirade. She ended by saying, “You’re going to let a 25-year-old girl intimidate you during a game?”
We all laughed that she had to SAY HER AGE. James responded by saying that “COURTSIDE KAREN WAS MAD MAD.” Juliana would apologize later and make her IG private.
This whole thing was just… embarrassing. And I didn’t even mention LeBron calling Juliana’s husband (if she’s 25 then the hubby has got to be 35 years her senior but who am I to judge?) “ol’ steroid ass.”
(PHOTO CREDIT: Quinn Harris/USA Today.)
9) Why Have The All-Star Game?
The players have been on record on not loving this idea. De’Aaron Fox called it stupid. LeBron James has no excitement for it. Giannis Antetokounmpo said they should follow LeBron’s lead. Kawhi Leonard knows this is a money grab.
There have been 24 games postponed due to health and safety protocols. Yet the NBA wants everyone to get together for the all-star game in Atlanta. Ya know, the same league that doesn’t want players hugging after they played a full-contact game of basketball. And they already said they weren’t going to have the game before the season started.
Blech.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Elsa/Getty Images.)
10) Kevin Durant Was Out, Then In, Then Out Again
A friend tried to explain this to me after I wrote this but it still makes no sense to me and that this is pretty dangerous. Durant was with a team official that had an inconclusive test. That team official had to have been around the other players, right? So they sat Durant out, at first. Normally, if players could be exposed to the individual with the inconclusive test, they’d hold them out. Remember when the Seattle Storm players had inconclusive tests? The WNBA postponed the game. And, sure, Durant and everyone else were negative. But why would they sit Durant out when Durant had also been around the players?
Anyway, the league decided it was okay for Durant to play. Until the team official came back positive. THEN they took Durant out yet again.
What difference does it make? The team official would be positive all along even before the inconclusive test came out. And Durant could still test positive down the line. Now the Nets still played some games. Durant is in quarantine until Friday.
I guess for now, I’m just glad everyone is okay. But this entire process has been confusing and dangerous.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.