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!
Sorry, it’s a little late. Dealing with a bit of an illness. Note that these week’s events happened before Monday night’s games. I’ll put an aside for some of these entries.
(PHOTO CREDIT: The Oklahoman.)
1) Knicks and Wizards Are Running Tables
The Knicks and Wizards are the hottest teams in the league. Knicks had won 9 overall while the Wiz were at 8 straight wins. The Knicks have become a Cinderella story in this league while D.C. has recovered from an awful 3-12 start. I don’t think anybody expected New York to make the playoffs. Some saw the Wiz but everybody thought Russell Westbrook was said to be washed up, overrated, or both.
(NOTE: Both teams lost on Monday night. It doesn’t take away on how incredible they’ve been in the last week or so.)
(VIDEO CREDIT: House of Highlights.)
2) Uncle Jeff is Having a Dunkfest
Jeff Green continues to be a walking highlight to this day. Besides that jam over Jaxson Hayes, he did a number on the Suns.
Let’s not forget that he went through heart surgery years ago. Remarkable.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group.)
3) Curry Never Stopped Making Threes
While Stephen Curry had that blip where he went 2 for 14 against the Wizards, he went 21 out of 40 in the other three games. He’s made 85 overall three-pointers in the month of April. Ridiculous.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Derick Hingle/AP.)
4) The Hawks Respond Without Trae
They lost Trae Young in a competitive game against the Knicks that went overtime. The Hawks respond with wins against the Heat and the Bucks. Resilient indeed.
(NOTE: And of course, they went on to lose against Detroit on Monday night.)
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jerome Miron/USA Today.)
5) The Mavericks Actually Did Capitalize
The Mavericks have a firm grip right now on the #6 seed. We talked about them not taking advantage while the Lakers are shorthanded. Then they beat the Lakers in back-to-back games to get within 1.5 games of them. They have made it known that they don’t like the play-in series. How do they avoid it? Win games. Especially against teams that are ahead of them.
(VIDEO CREDIT: House of Highlights.)
6) One of the Best Missed Shots You’ll Ever See
My gosh. To do this in one swift motion in less than a second is truly astonishing to watch. And because Joel Embiid is a powerful human being, the ball rattled in and out of the rim.
Imagine if he made that.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Rick Bowmer/AP.)
7) #1 Seed Jazz Can’t Beat a Wolfpack
It’s so weird. The Jazz blew a 17-point lead to the 15-44 Minnesota Timberwolve and lost. The Wolves have beaten the Jazz twice IN Utah. Against the rest of the league, the Jazz have only lost two other times at home.
(NOTE: To add insult to injury, the Wolves beat the Jazz yet again to actually sweep the season series. The Jazz are so lucky that Minnesota is terrible against the rest of the league.)
(PHOTO CREDIT: Benny Sieu//USA Today.)
8) The Sixers Did Not Win Last Week
The Sixers lost all four games last week and have fallen out of the #1 seed. I think they’ll be okay but it’s never a good time to have an extended swoon.
(NOTE: Solution: play the Oklahoma City Thunder. They walloped them on Monday night. OKC has lost 14 straight games.)
(PHOTO CREDIT: Steph Chambers/Getty Images.)
9) The Blazers Can’t Capitalize, Period
The clock has stopped working in Rip City because Dame Time hasn’t happened in a while. They lost all of their games at home in the last week and are stuck in the 7th seed. Luckily, the Pelicans are still 5.5 games behind and it’s going to be hard for Portland to fall out of the play-in territory overall.
(VIDEO CREDIT: House of Highlights.)
10) Denzel Valentine Plays Hero Ball
You’re on the way to a comeback against Miami. So what do you do?
Put up a 30-footer, Denzel Valentine! The announcers sounded so horrified.
(R.I.P. Terrence Clarke. What a sad sad story.)
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.