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!
March Madness had been happening. Well, it carried over to April Madness! Lookie here!
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
1) Jalen Suggs Beats the Buzzer
I can’t do this justice. This is one of the greatest games in NCAA history. And it was punctuated by a rare fantastic buzzerbeater to put Gonzaga in the title game.
It’s a shame that one team had to lose. But ya know, one team had to win. And Jalen Suggs did it.
(VIDEO CREDIT: NCAA.)
2) The Women’s Final Four
What a Final Four it was. Stanford escaped South Carolina after Breanna Beal and Aliyah Boston missed potential game-winners. Arizona upset Paige Bueckers and the UCONN Huskies. And then Stanford once again escaped with a one-point win as Aari McDonald, the star of the tournament, missed a shot at the buzzer.
It was so exciting. And it was quite a year for women’s hoops.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Ashley Landis/AP.)
3) Denver Nuggets Post-Deadline
This week, they took care of biz by beating the Sixers, Clippers, and Magic. They extended their winning streak to 5 and it started happening AFTER the trade deadline. They might have found their optimal line-up with Aaron Gordon in the mix.
(VIDEO CREDIT: MLB.)
4) Shohei Ohtani Blasts Off
Shohei Ohtani started for the Angels ON THE MOUND. He had a few 100 MPH pitches, which is INCREDIBLE.
And to add to that, he CRUSHED a home run that went 451 feet. RIDICULOUS.
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
5) Russell Westbrook Had A Nice Couple of Days
Russell Westbrook had a hell of a triple-double by going 35-14-21 against the Pacers on Monday night.
And then he yammed on poor Bismack Biyombo the next day. Good grief.
(VIDEO CREDIT: ESPN.)
6) The Kat/Embiid Tussle Resumes
We know that Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid has had quite the beef. But this one was decidedly different. This was just pure physical basketball. They exchanged flagrant fouls. KAT dunked on Joel. But no real animus happened during this game.
(PHOTO CREDIT: AP.)
7) Hawks Beat Spurs in San Antonio Two Years Straight
It did not happen for 23 years. The Hawks couldn’t get a win against the Spurs in San Antonio. Then they finally broke the streak last season.
And then they started their own streak this week! They won in overtime in San Antonio on Thursday night. That’s two straight years for the Hawks!
(PHOTO CREDIT: Kim Klement/USA Today.)
8) The Warriors Lost By 53
How the mighty have fallen.
At one point, the Raptors led by 61. It got pretty close to the record for largest margin of victory (68).
But I mean, you can relax if you’re up by 61. What? You think a team is gonna score 60 points in a quarter?
(PHOTO CREDIT: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times.)
9) Andre Drummond’s Laker Debut
Andre Drummond signed with the Lakers in the last week and then in his debut, he hurt his toenail. Not how you want to make an entrance in Lakerland. Get well soon, Dre!
(PHOTO CREDIT: Fox 13 Salt Lake City.)
10) The Utah Jazz Plane Scare
This was terrifying.
The Jazz’s charter plane collided with a flock of birds before having to make an emergency landing due to an engire fire and failure. That is just such a scary situation and I’m glad everyone turned out okay. Donovan Mitchell has a fear of flying (like I do) and took a day off after to compose himself. I would, too.
At least, we can all get past this now.
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.
R.I.P. Nala